Now+Old,+Now+What?

Yvor Winters writes the poem, "On Teaching the Young," to express what he thinks about young people now that he has grown older. Now middle-aged, he aserts that when people are young, they speak without thinking first. They do not realize the repurcussions of what they say. Yes, this may be true, but it's crucial that we learn, and we learn best by making mistakes, correct? What about speaking quickly because they are not afraid of what others think? He feels that it's his job to set right in young people what he thinks is the acceptable way for them to be. He is at a point in his life, as a teacher and as a poet, he is free from doubt of his own convictions. Now maybe this is because I am young myself, but I don't think I would want this man as my teacher. He seems to think that he's better than the young. What happened to the young learning from the old and the young teaching the old something maybe they didn't realize before. Another thing, his cold certitude, doesn't seem all that it's cracked up to be, even though Yvor probably thinks of it as an honor that not very many people can say that they are in the same place that he is. When I'm old, I don't want to be there. I want to look on the young in a more endearing way. What does he have to say about love and family? When you are middle-aged and have your pride, what kind of life is that? It seems like a lonely one to me. Am I misinterpretting the poem here? 1205410297

Yvor Winters definitely presents himself as a hard ass. The thing I don’t like about his poem is how he’s intentionally reigning in the imagination and thoughts of the young. He is purposefully corroding our thoughts and teaching us to distrust what we know or how we see things. The fact that he uses the phrase “exacting what I must” makes it seem like he is on a mission or something to ruin the happiness of the youth. As a young person, I definitely do not appreciate this poem. However, this poetry compilation probably wasn’t meant for readers like us. There are plenty of poetry readers out there who probably believe wholeheartedly in what Winters is preaching. In some respects, he is right and we do need to learn sometimes that older people do know best. But then again, it shouldn’t be there mission to corrode us. I don’t know if he had a wife and kids or anything like that but I can say that I would certainly hate to be his kid. 1205455816

I don't think we need to take Winters' message personally--of course, as young people, we don't want to be limited. But really, having grown to be middle aged, he is right in saying that he has a right to teach the young. Really, we can't deny that age gives us wisdom. I mean, I think back to middle school or grade school, and when I think about some of the things I thought were funny or clever or cool, I cringe. While I still think back fondly, there are things I wish I could have done differently or been corrected in. Maybe I'm hard on myself, but the now-me would have appreciated a nudge in the right direction back then.

Sure, we might resent it when it happens. We think we are the coolest things ever, and that anyone who tries to limit us is stuffy and out-of-date. And while experience is valuable, it is still important, vital even, that our elders can contribute what they know to help us grow to be even better people than we might on our own. Think about the study of history--if we could learn everything by making our own mistakes, then the study of history would be useless. But I think that most people would agree that the study of history is of huge importance. Therefore, I think that Winters' poem contains an important truth, and that we should look beyond our current self-defense to see the validity of his ideas. 1205459040

What bothers me more is not the comment about him teaching the young, but his comment on what poetry is. I say let Winters try to teach all he wants, it doesn't mean that I will spend any time listening. But, when he saying that poetry is simply our unaware hands accidentally happening upon something I'm a little peeved. Then he goes on to say that few people are capable of creating poetry. Yes, it would be hard for people to become skilled in accidents. Anyways, he is saying that poetry isn't purposeful, and that seems rather contrary to the poetry we've read as well as the poetry I've written. He is also saying that a crowning achievement in poetry is old, rude, and coldly true. It's like he decides the rest of poetry is crap. I pretty much dislike him for that.1205463020

I guess it says a lot about my character that I found this poem highly amusing and right on the money. I think all teachers should teach a certain amount of distrust. In many ways, this is a more important life skill than the actual scholastic pursuits that we turn our minds to. And we learn corrosion every day. Christopher Columbus gave the natives infectious diseases. Thomas Jefferson owned slaves. Abraham Lincoln was mentally disturbed. Shouldn't we learn the whole truth about the world around us? This requires teaching a certain amount of negative information. But despite his opinions, I don't think that he is being a "hard ass" in his teaching. He doesn't exact for pleasure, in his eyes; he exacts exactly what he must. In other words, he is preparing his students for the road ahead.

Now his poetic ideals seem slightly more malicious. I don't really agree that poetry should be written only about the concrete; in fact, I would argue that poetry better serves to teach us about the abstract. But he is not nearly as condescending of poetry as he seems. He says that we should write about laurel - which can mean victory and achievement. Thus he would advocate a poem like Pope's "Essay on Criticism" because it instructs other how to succeed. He would adore the epic - the most archaic in form. In fact, any of the old truths he would approve of. Again, he would find a friend in Pope. Finally, rude does not have to mean "impolite" (although it very well might). Rude could also mean simple and sturdy, which would be virtuous writing based on what he has told us about himself. And really, haven't most of us complained about difficult poetry at some point? He would favor concrete, to the point writing, which can produce good work as well. But it doesn't really matter, as I am pretty sure this is a satire, don't you think? 1205466307