Poetry Findings:
I don't know about my peers, but ever since middle school, I've hated our poetry units in English. I always felt like poetry was just created to confuse people and fill up empty lesson plans. I always get lost--remember that watermelon poem we read in class that was a metaphor for a pregnant woman? I was so lost that I basically gave up trying to understand. But now that we have an assigned book that explains poetry, I've actually started to understand it. Poetry is something that can be explained through metaphors and personification, denotation and connotation. Poetry gives us a new perspective on an event or object, like when we analyzed the poems about Nathan Morrison's suicide in front of the pentagon. Because there aren't any rule in poetry, an author can give his or her little twist or feelings about the event, object, or issue they are trying to discuss. In some cases, it is easier to write about something in a poem than put it through a documentary or essay, because poems can make the subject personal, whereas an essay can feel distant.
Poetry still is challenging to pick apart and analyze. Metaphors and similes can be used excessively, and the format can still throw me off when i read. "When In Rome" was a poem that irked from the start because of the funky, different format. I'm so used to reading a book or article that I don't like figuring out the new format or explain it in class. Now that I've figured out that those changes could mean a new speaker is introduced, or a different point in being expressed, it's clearer and less bothersome for me to figure out. I think that the four questions we always answer in class (Speaker, setting, main purpose, and explanation) are very helpful for me in understanding the point of the poem.
Our unit, so far, has showed me that poetry can be understood without having a Ph. D in English Literature and can be enjoyable.
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I agree completely with you. In middle school and past years we have only done poetry for a limited amount of time just skimming the surface. But now we are actually learning tools to help figure it out. This helps me personally better understand and enjoy poems i would have thought were meaningless before.
ReplyDeleteI agree with both Meghann and Sophie, poetry units in my past years of English have always been the most dreaded part of the curriculum for all most everyone, because we simply read the poem and then created one of our own. But, this year digging deeper into the meaning of the poem and how sometimes a poem creates a better impact on the reader, which might not have affected the person as much if it was in essay format.
ReplyDeleteSo, why do you think that some teachers simply want to skim past the poetry unit?
I think the reason why poetry is skipped is because that the teachers meet such resistance. Kids simply don't want to relearn poetry because they don't understand it. I always felt lost when i had teacher explain the artistic parts of poetry and didn't understand. Poetry is really hard to explain and justify to students, especially students who have made up their minds that poetry is stupid. Most of the time, poetry can be really time consuming when being taught, and the students might take a long time to really understand the symbolism/motif behind the words.
ReplyDeleteNobody liked poetry in middle school? To be honest, that was one of my favorite units in English...granted we never really had to take into account meter or anything. I did find this difficult in the beginning but I'm sure practice makes perfect. Actually, right now in Latin III we are translating "The Aeneid" by Vergil. We have to figure out the meter in Latin poetry, which doesn't even rhyme or even seem to have a definant pattern. When first put to the task of trying to figure out whether this foot was spondee or this one trochaic, I immediately thought, "If I cant do it in English, how can I do it in Latin?" The answer was practice, and I now that sounds really corny, but it works! :)
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