I've written poetry for a majority of my life, and never really considered how much time and energy renowned poets put into their works.
Explicating is a fun and exciting process of understanding poems in new ways. Every individual may recognize a phrase to mean something other than someone else may think. That is the beauty of poetry. Thus far in my college career, I have been lucky enough to attend classes where explicating poetry was a huge factor, giving my experience under my belt in regards to knowledge of breaking a poem down to its core.
Writing poetry is now a harder challenge than it once was because I know how I can play with word usage, dialect, metaphor and simile, etc. Having fun with placing words together to form a secret meaning or the actual truth in a poem is very exciting. I love having the knowledge of what other famous poets have possessed.
It will be fun to introduce this new found knowledge into a classroom environment. Having high school and junior high students learn to read and understand difficult poems by poets such as William Wordsworth, Shakespeare, and the list can go on.
I am very excited to practice the new "exercises" I've learned in my future classrooms. These being: "wrecking the first person," "found poem" and the classic haiku. We also participated in a "poetry slam" and I think allowing students produce their own dramatic poetry, then acting it out would be a good relief and way of expression for them.
Now that my college education is near complete, I am looking forward to using the tools learned from CSUN and applying them in a classroom environmet.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I’m so glad to see the positive attitude you have towards all aspects of poetry. After all, not everyone can appreciate the effort that goes into both writing and explicating poems. I like the fact that you recognize that explication is not exactly a “one size fits all” process. Even though an entire class is looking at the same poem, it is possible that everyone will see something a little different in it. This can be good since it can easily lead to a class discussion about the poem. While it is possible that the class will eventually come to a unanimous agreement on a central meaning, each student may still have a slight variation of that meaning. One thing that I did find interesting is the fact that you stated that poetry became a little more challenging after you became aware of all the poetic devices that exist. While this could help some people come up with a fun new poem, it might be a challenge for others. After all, a person might focus so hard on trying to comply to certain poetic forms that it will take away from the poem. Perhaps writing in free verse would be a nice start and any additions/changes can be made from there. I also like your idea about letting students write their own dramatic monologues and allowing them to share them in class. It could be a fun way of either letting them speak their minds or allowing them to come up with a different persona.
ReplyDeleteHey CC!!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you completely about poetry explication, and how practice really does make perfect. In the beginning, I wouldn't consider poetry explication fun because I had a really tough time figuring all of it out. But, just like you, I was fortunate enough to have classes where poetry explication was a huge factor, and I was caught between either figuring it out and attempting it or FAIL! I chose to try, and it has worked out ever since.
Also, because I am also graduating and have had plenty of experience under my belt, I've found poetry explication SO MUCH easier than before. I still wouldn't consider it fun, but productively challenging. It's only fun when I finish and see how much I actually figured out. Hehe.
Anyways, I'm also pretty excited about incorporating the poetry assignments we did in class to my own classroom. It was really fun and I think I learned alot from everyone just from their poems that I think it would be a great way to discover and learn from my own students. So overall, YAY for us!!
Hi!
ReplyDeleteLike you, I was blessed with a class that focused on explicating poems and so for me that process seemed very easy. It weird how we get so comfortable in our writing styles whether its creative writing or a critical assignment. I agree that knowing the process that poets go through actually enhances our own personal poetry and makes us appreciate the editing they must do it. I find it interesting that a lot of people say that they would use the presentation or the “poetry slam” in the classroom, yet I felt that the class overall was dreading it beforehand. I also really enjoyed the found poem because unlike the haiku I had never done that before or even heard of it. The “Wrecking the first person” poem was fun too but I think I needed more practice for that. Anyway, I liked your blog and I will see you in class!
Hello CC, aka Name Copy Cat :)
ReplyDeleteIn regard to writing poetry, I agree with you that now that we have had the opportunity to study poetry in more depth, it becomes more challenging to write because the options are limitless. Something I thought about while reading your blog when you said you can “play” with words is the idea of creating poetry while typing on a computer. This probably sounds really strange, but right away I thought about me own process of creating and what goes on when I am creating poetry. Usually, I’ll write down a thought or idea in my journal (I take this thing everywhere, it make my purse so heavy) and then when I am feeling creative, I go back to it and put a pencil to paper and express my thoughts through words. However, when I on a word processor, I tend to revise almost simultaneously while writing poetry. For example, I’ll write a line, backspace, and re-insert that same line using different order or playing with synonyms. In a way, it seems like poetry created on a word processor produces more interesting poems because the poet (me) is more conscious of all the possibilities that exist for saying the same thing just in a different way.
It will be fun to introduce poetry in the classroom while teaching. In my experience, I remember high school poetry being very boring and non-engaging. However, with exercises like the “Wrecking” and “Found” poem, perhaps we can introduce excitement into the classroom and let out students know that poetry does not have to be tedious and stressful, and that it can also be fun!
See you in class tomorrow!
It truly is interesting to look back, in retrospect, and see one's view of something change. In the case of poetry, as you mentioned, learning more and more of its complexities in our college classes has aided us in becoming better writers. Sure, there is something to be said for natural talent, but once Pandora's Box of knowledge is unlocked, nothing is ever the same. It is interesting how writing poetry is now harder for you! I know that feeling sometimes too, how no matter what word or arrangement something is in, it still does not seem all that great.
ReplyDeleteI think that using some of the techniques that we have learned in this seminar can begin to give students a glimpse into more about what poetry genuinely is. Instead of simply understanding that a poem contains metaphors and line breaks, the students will begin to comprehend why poems possess these and what is their greater purpose.