B430-NH1
Foray
Into Teaching Poetry
Copyright © Neil Hester 9/21/06
http://laevanesce.blogspot.com/
Ah, yes, the poetry unit. Every year in America we spend one
approximately six-weeks on the study of poetry. I consider this a good thing,
naturally, but there are certain changes that need to be made in order to create
an effective curriculum. Seeing as to how I've recently experienced poetry units
(I’m currently in the 10th grade), read poetry sections in generic textbooks,
and had teachers ‘enlighten’ me on the art of poetry, my position to comment
is rather good, wouldn’t you say?
The Textbook
All right! Behold, the multifarious book of doom that crams
fiction, nonfiction, poetry, plays, etc. into a neat little package that costs
$59.99 if you lose it. The typical poetry unit in a standard textbook will
feature a conglomerate of gold and its fools thrown together as equals (after
all, education can't judge in publication: it’s politically incorrect!). This
effect is similar to certain poetry anthologies published in the last couple
decades, and, safe to say, it’s a terrible one.
If the book is the cause, the effect is confusion. A priority in
poetic education should be flat-out exposure to greatness; only great
poetry should be taught. When good and bad combine, I doubt students will learn
to discern one from another. While the actual analysis or grading of poetry is
not something everyone is capable, I do believe most students could be taught to
separate the blatant doggerel from the blatantly divine.
Poetry selections also seemed to often be divided up into examples
of certain poetic aspects: a poem for rhyme, a poem for rhythm, a poem for
analogy. Instead, there should be great poems from different genres to
demonstrate the rather large circumference of the poetic sphere. A great war,
nonsense, coming-of-age poem, etc. should all be presented to cover a variety of
interests, possibly sparking some sort of verve in a percentage of the students.
Also, while more easily interpreted poetry should be used since the
average ability of deciphering isn’t very good, difficult poetry should at
least be presented to those taking English III/IV. At least give students a
*shot* at something like Wallace Stevens’ Yellow Afternoon or T.S.
Eliot's The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock: it brings an even further
realization of the complexity of poetry, not to mention the fact that poetry
does indeed go past Hallmark.
Finally, teachers: never make a comment you’re not sure about;
it’s bad for your health.
Aspects of Poetry
Naturally, the basic aspects of poetry (i.e. rhythm, rhyme,
stanzas) are taught and retaught year by year. That's fine. However, I believe a
look at what weakens poetry should be given. Teaching students that clichés are
no-nos and continuous couplets ([aabb] form) are more often than not a bad thing
would push the students to *gasp* attempt to avoid these things (assuming that
the teachers grade hard enough)!
Doing a basic run-through of different forms would also prove
beneficial; it’s important to understand that there’s more to it than
rhyming and free verse. Actually, forms are taught; but it needs to go past
limericks, acrostics, haiku, and ‘special’ forms just for teaching. Show
students how sonnets, sestinas, and villanelles work. Heck, watch them
metaphorically writhe in mental agony as they actually try *writing* a sestina
or villanelle in English III/IV; not only will it be somewhat amusing, but it
will bring appreciation for how difficult advanced forms can be.
It’s Time to Write!
Ah, yes, the part where the quills hit the oh-so-despised
parchment. Let’s get this straight; most students don’t like to write
poetry. Also, they’re not good at it. The ones who *do* like doing it still
usually aren’t good at it. While this is realized, we’re grading on a
teaching scale here, not a ‘normal’ scale. As mentioned before, there are
certain things that the students need to be pushed to avoid, lest they get a bad
grade:
* clichés
* annoying rhyme schemes (think repeating couplets)
* repetition without meaning
* bad punctuation
These are things anyone is capable of eventually avoiding through
revision. Restrictions like these will not cause students to write *good*
poetry, but they will better realize the difficulty in writing even a mediocre
work.
Also, writing can go
one of two ways: a) the teacher has kids rhyming/writing in form all the time,
which causes a lot of forced rhymes and sing-songiness, and b) the teacher has
kids write everything in free verse so as to let them easily express themselves,
which causes ceaseless prosaic ranting about love, boys, girls, dogs, and
cookies. What to do? Do both. It’s not that hard, but it's a common mistake.
Another example of extremes in poetry units is the subject matter.
This can also go one of two ways: a) the teacher always picks the topic or has
the students write about the same topic as another poem, giving them no chance
to write within their interests, and the less common b) the teacher lets kids
write about whatever they want the whole time, causing them to stick to similar
topics, often the trite subjects mentioned above (gotta love writin’ ‘bout
love), and failing to push students outside of their comfort zone (an important
task from time to time). As said in the previous paragraph, moderation is
needed; assign some poems to be written with a specific subject, but also
give’em a chance to go wild... heh... ‘Okay, kids, it’s time to go wild
writing, guess what, poetry!’ Yeah right...
For middle school students, I can understand sticking to easier
things, like [abab] quatrains, limericks, and haiku. However, the difficulty
should slowly ramp up; in 9-10th grade, make’em write a Shakespearean sonnet
to give’em a taste of writing in stricter form. 12th grade? As mentioned
before: villanelle (and, if they want bonus, let’em write a sestina!). ‘But
Neil, that’s way too difficult!’ Hey, I didn't say write a *good* sonnet or
villanelle, I just said a sonnet or villanelle. With enough sweat, blood, and
erasers, I have confidence that anyone in an honors/AP course can write, at the
very least, an incredibly banal and crappy villanelle ~_^ That's fine; they went
through the experience, that being the point.
Finally, students should be shown great poems and the techniques
therein, and be encouraged to attempt mimicry. I’m not going to go in-depth on
this one; let’s just say that it's a good idea and leave it at that.
Analysis
I'm actually going to leave this one alone: there are some fairly
effective acronyms that represent various aspects of writing, such as DIDLS
(Diction, Imagery, Details, Language, Syntax) and a longer one that’s
specifically for poetry (I can’t remember it at the time). If there’s a
problem with this part of the standard poetry unit, it’s minor compared to
those mentioned previously. Honestly, I've experienced little/no frustration
with this area of poetic education, so I’m done bashing.
Conclusively
I gotta say, it’d be great if they took my advice and made some
changes. Unfortunately, I would need a *lot* of academics behind me for
something like that to happen, which I doubt is possible (maybe in my next
life?). Maybe I can bribe them if I become rich (and not in a filthy fashion,
mind you). Or, if I become a dict... actually, come to think of it, I don’t
want to be a dictator.
Perhaps I should address the parents instead; expose your children
to nursery rhymes. Then step up to a little humor or nonsense verse (read them
Lewis Carroll, please; if for no other reason, do it for me). When they’re old
enough to understand it, expose them to great poems that have a more basic level
of understandability (that's not to say such a poem isn't an onion; merely a
more agreeable onion to the young folk, y’know, sweeter or something of that
sort). From here, slowly ramp up the difficulty until they become teenagers and
inevitably stop paying attention to you. This is the part where you pray, or
cram poetry down their throats in some form or fashion. Your call.
Okay, so I got a bit off-topic the past couple paragraphs. Point in
case... wait a minute. Strike that, reverse it; poetry is being taught in an
incorrect manner, which contributes to the lack of concern/interest for poetry
in students. Shame, isn’t it? We can only hope that some slow reformation will
eventually occur...
[Dan replies: I agree with almost all your points in the real world. It is a shame that we live in such a deliterate- not illiterate- age. In the best of all worlds bad poetry would be taught as well, because one can learn as much from failures as from the great. Some great works are so perfect they are hermetic, and one cannot get inside the mechanics. The best poems to actually learn from are the near-greats, where one can see many good things, but there are a few weak spots that reveal the mechanics, in the flaws. I advocated mimicry in my recent essay on plagiarism. Soon, I will be doing a lengthy piece- before the holidays, likely, on artistic dishonesty vs. stupidity, and which is worse for the lay person.]
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