When we started the poetry unit, I felt confident in my ability to analyze poetry and knew I would be able to incorporate what I’ve learned in my English classes up until this point. I wasn’t really fazed by the poetry analysis essay; I ended up enjoying the Edgar Allan Poe poem I picked. However, when we had to write our own poetry, I was definitely intimidated. I don’t consider myself that poetic or creative necessarily, so I didn’t know if I could create interesting or thoughtful poems. In the end though, I liked how almost all of the poems turned out, especially the two collaborative ones.
In writing about poetry, I like the idea of trying to find the meaning in someone else’s established text, coming up with different interpretations of sounds, metaphors and images. What does the text say to you, and so forth. But I think different elements are at work in writing your own poetry. Of course you might want to include a rhyme scheme, or a simile, or alliteration, but it’s different when you are the one constructing the text and making meaning out of it at the same time. When you get down to it, it’s up to you to choose the right words and metaphors to express what you want to express. For example, after I picked my topics for the three stages of the Wrecking the First Person poem, I found it difficult to get started. I was concerned with properly and coherently incorporating some of the elements of poetry---what words should I use, and do I need a rhyme here? That day in class, I wasn’t too pleased with my original Wrecking the First Person draft. When we had to post it to WebCT, however, I made sure to take the time to revise it and really think about what I was creating. In the end, it all worked out, and I had a poem I thought flowed. For me at least, I had to “get into the zone,” and understand what I wanted to get across; when I was at that point, the words just came to me naturally.
As for the teaching aspect, I think it would be a great idea to incorporate some of these assignments into the classroom. After reading so many poems, some students would probably want to try writing their own, and this would be the perfect opportunity. However, as I’ve learned from a few friends, it’s important to give the students guidelines or a template for the poem; that way they can be creative but not entirely without boundaries, so they don’t turn in something completely inappropriate or off-base. I remember writing some poems in middle and high school, and there was always a format to follow. I would definitely do any of these poems with my students.
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Hello Alex,
ReplyDeleteWow, I totally agree with your initial feelings about the writing portion of both our own poems and the one’s we analyzed. It weird, when I was doing this assignment I did not even think about the collaborative poems and those were probably my favorites too. I think that those would be fun to used in a classroom with kids. I also agree that it is much different when you are constructing your own poem and you can decide how to used to poetic devices to express what you want to convey. (I also disagree with your statement that you are not very creative because after reading your writing you seem very creative and interesting with words ) I also agree that the revision of the poems forced us to look at our own writing with a more critical eye. Even though you a wrote a lot, I enjoyed reading it and I’ll see you in class!
Hello Alex! Thank you for your feedback. I really appreciate it! I’m glad you liked my “Found Poem.” It was pretty intimidating having to perform my poem, but I’m glad we all did it. I think you did really well too! Everyone had something great to offer.
ReplyDeleteYou make some really good points in your blog. I agree that writing about poetry was helpful, as it gave us the chance to see the poetic devices in use. Poetry writing can be difficult, especially after reading the works of the greatest poets! But I also like that with poetry there really is no right or wrong, as long as you can get your feelings across.
Although, I do agree with your idea of giving students a template so they can at least have an idea of how to start writing poetry. I think working together as a group would be a good way to start introducing poetry writing because students can bounce ideas off of one another.
I am glad that you like how your poems came out. Perhaps you will be writing some more in the future! Honestly, it just takes a lot of time, practice, and frustration, to finally get to a point where one is at least consistently somewhat satisfied in their poetic creations.
ReplyDeleteWriting poetry, since it is usually so compact, offers many benefits, but also also a lot of challenges. Sure there are so many devices to use, but the whens and the hows can be problematic to decide. Ultimately, what matters is that you are satisfied with it. A poet's most important audience is themselves. Even if one constructs the "best" poem ever "clearly" pointing in a certain direction, a reader could come by, read the poem that was written, and decide that the theme is something totally different, still based on the text in front of them.
For students, it is certainly all about the process of explicating and creating. The end results are still important, but the journey along the way is where all the learning is done, and certainly using some of the tools from this seminar is one way to accomplish this.
Hola chica! (HEY GIRL!!!) I'm totally sitting next to you... And I could probably voice exactly what I'm about to write BUT I HAVE to type this out. So I'm going to speak as I type. ENJOY!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on the analyzation aspect. I too enjoy interpreting whtat others write. I also like to envision if the writer meant for their writing to be interpreted literally or if there is an underlying meaning to what they've written. Interesting stuff, huh?
I too was a little afraid to tackle writing poetry. But once I got started, it was a lot of fun! Right? (I know you agree) hehehe. Kind of like explicating poems... we were all afraid and lost at first. To this day in fact, I always am lost at the start. As you know, It's always that Thesis that takes the most work for most.
Hey Alex,
ReplyDeleteAgree with you on many a level, I felt like you plainly put things in perspective to what different literary concepts are meant to do for the writer therefore found myself frequently nodding my head to the whole time throughout reading your blog. For instance, you give multiple viewpoints on what is at work in writing on poetry, the writing of your own poetry and teaching of it.
For example when you argue literary concepts being there for the sake of your needs or disposition to communicate your poetic point or that every literary tool that surrounds you so long there is a need for you to find use for it. I think this great point and one that maybe we should teach to future students so they won’t die from boredom and at the same time gives them freedom
Another is not to give a student complete freedom to avoid hearing anything obscene which I think is very true since often students want to achieve some form of rebellious status or notoriety among their peers for their own validating reasons, I remember I was there, another great point.
Moreover, you Inform us on what your process of writing is actually like by letting us in to your mind while you created your poem .It helps see the process in a new helpful way by way of encouraging one to get in “the zone”, as you call it, which was also pretty funny and a familiar place I found myself when I did my poem