The+Death+of+Poetry

I know this was not a topic originally discussed in this essay, but I thought it was relevant nonetheless. My question is how has our schooling contributed to the death of poetry? By this I mean, how has our education not fostered any appreciation for poetry?

Anytime one of my English classes, throughout the years, has cared to discuss poetry or do a unit on it, it has always been in the context of form and function. These are the rules governing this style of poem, these are the rules for another. Now, for fun, why don't we all try writing one of each style and make a book of poetry. Then once we had moved beyond the basic form of poetry, gone past rhyme scheme, metaphors, alliteration, etc., we immediately moved into discovering the meaning behind a poem. Even with the upcoming AP test, we will be called upon to discover the author's meaning. While I understand this is the easiest way to test someone's understanding of poetry and language in general, it does seem to be missing the point. What br. tom said in class the other day really struck me. He said that what is the meaning is probably the last question we should ask. This was so contradictory to any poetry discussion I had had before that it stayed with me. Classroom discussions had long disregarded whatever response the poem created for you --- that response was irrelevant and not a part of the poem. I cannot help but remember, though, that this response is what the poet is writing for, so why should it be so easily discarded? What does everyone else think? 1203653935

Br. Tom's comment in class also made me think. We had brought up a poetry discussion from last year, which was vastly different from the type of poetry discussions we have in English class now. We were just looking for the right meaning... but perhaps there isn't a right meaning. I like to think of the day when Br. Tom passed out his poem in class and he told us that he didn't know what it meant. But the fact that we had read it as poetry and had begun to think it through gave it a meaning to us. While authors may have had an idea in their heads when they wrote their poems, they cannot realistically expect for everyone to comprehend the exact same thing. Like we were talking about the word "cat"--some people will picture tabby cats, some siamese, some black. So whatever meaning authors put into their poetry is very specific and we cannot hope to completely comprehend what they were thinking of. However, I think that just by looking deeper in poetry, we can find some sort of personal meaning, and perhaps just by thinking about a specific word or two, we can be brought to an understanding of language, expression or even life that we wouldn't have come upon otherwise. Therefore, I like the idea that our own thought processes can be far more valuable in understanding poetry than knowing exactly what kind of cat the author was talking about. 1203654373

For all of our years in school, we have always been assigned poems to read and to find the meaning. And then we discussed what was being implied. But the thing was, in school, at least in my grammar school, there was no room for error. We were force-fed some poems that were preposterously obscure, demanded to find the meaning, and shot down every time by our teacher. Alternate interpretations were not tolerated. It was YOU ARE WRONG AND I AM RIGHT. The same was true last year. I think that this is what "the death of poetry" is. We are often hindered from finding our own interpretation of the poem. We are not allowed to read poetry as we want to. What should happen is that we are allowed to read poems by ourselves, not having it shoved down our throats. For if we are not allowed to express our own opinions, to debate, how can truth be found? At least in this class, we are allowed to say what we think is right, and brother tom doesn't say that we're idiots.1203806940

On page 1 of the essay, Shepherd says, "that most poetry isn't hard enough, in the sense that's its not interesting or engaging enough. He doesn't blame the readers for the death of poetry, but the authors for not supplying poetry that engages and offers the readers a new experience. Our poetry book also touches on this idea of the death of poetry and more specifically elaborate sentences in poetry on page 104. __The Making of a Poem__ book blames readers for rejecting elaborate sentences and therefore rejecting forms of poetry such as blank verse.

As for finding meaning in I agree that many times our personal ideas about what the poem means to us individually has been ignored, but when it comes to writing poetry what meaning you can stir in the readers. I think that it is interesting that our personal ideas about the meaning is often discarded, but whether or not a poem is "good" is still determined by whether or not it can stir different emotions and meanings in individual readers. What does this say about the way that poetry is often taught?1203952328

Jhe's post really made sense to me. I really like talking about poetry in Br Tom's class because it's an open discussion where no ideas are blatantly wrong. Sometimes we could get a feeling about what Br Tom's opinions were and how they were different than one of ours, but we are always free to share our personal thoughts. For me, the worst thing about poetry is having to paraphrase what the poem means. My thought process immediately narrows to what I can find to be true in this poem. Without room for personal views, poetry turns abstract and distant. I would much rather be allowed to share how we read the poem and what we got out of it. I think the school system thinks they need to grade us in some way. And the only way they can objectively score the poetry chapter is to have us write out what it meant. This mentality then results in the "death of poetry" for students. 1203993802

I agree with kec, a big reason why there is all this right and wrong about poetry is that school would have no other way to grade us otherwise. Because of the way the school/grade system is setup there its nearly impossible to measure emotions. You could write an essay, but generally there are still guidlines or certain things a teacher will be looking for in the essay. And there could be problems with people writing their own poems. They could just come up with something 5 minutes before class and call it poetry. It would need to be accepted as poetry because the author said it was a poem, but it would defeat the purpose of the teachers lesson. I think all the rules and restrictions schools need to use have really turned people off poetry causing the "death of poetry." People just have a bad taste in their mouth after learning about in school settings. 1204239745

I think that when we get caught up in meaning we miss out on how good poetry, and any other art can be. When I hear a song for the first time I don't spend the whole time trying to figure out the message of it, or the possible meanings behind it. I just kind of enjoy some kind of blend of music and lyrics without letting any specifics sink in. Later after I've heard the song many times I might start to pick up on hidden meanings and themes, but not until after I've let the song sink in. I think that the same is true with poetry. When we spend too much time looking for meaning, or complaining about whether or not it qualifies to be a poem we miss out on the sensation of the art, which is what I think that it is really about. One of the things that I like about poetry is that I don't really have to feel like I understand it to enjoy it, and I can't always explain why but I would agree with the idea that meaning is one of the last things we should be looking for. 1204259855

AHa, sadly I don't recall Br. Tom ever telling our class that because it is an eye popping idea. Even when I read a poem, I immediately go for the meaning of the poem. What do these words mean? Why are these words capitalized? Why are the lines arranged in this manner? I have been told numerous times that I am an emotional person and yet when I read a poem, the last thing I think of are my emotions. I honestly cannot recall the last time I read a poem and then reacted to it, on the spot. But like AHa said, this is exactly what I should do. Maybe school's turn away from emotions and personal reactions because they don't really further any type of knowledge, but they are extremely important and I will most certaintly react to the next poem I read before I find it's meaning. 1205454082

I have always loved poetry because I feel that a lot of it is left open to interpretation. Yes, I am sure most people agree on the general idea of what a poem is expressing to us, but we may piece the poem together differently. I may focus on a particular image or striking sentence, whereas another person finds a different element--perhaps meter, punctuation, or rhythm--to focus on.

Of course (depending), school does not always supplant our creative interprerations of poetry. I had a great poetry teacher as a child, who would ask what we thought a poem was saying, and even if we weren't completely on track, she would guide us in the right direction. She was not trying to correct our point of views or ways of reading, but rather, foster our ideas so that we could see the greater connections and the big picture. I have had such English teachers who have blatantly pointed out when a student's interpreration of a poem was "wrong" (what makes it "wrong" anyway?"). To be honest, it was really offputting and intimidating for students in my class to voice their opinions in this learning atmosphere because, quite honestly, they were terrified that the teacher would exclaim in front of everybody, "You've completely missed the point!!" So, I would say that it depends on the teachers mostly in how they approach teaching poetry to students and whether there is a "right" or "wrong" view. Like many of you have mentioned before, circle time and the message board have helped to foster our understanding of poetry and of literature in general because we feel as though we can express our opinions without being judged or corrected. As students, we can help each other to learn and interpret together. 1205455154