This post was guest-authored by student Veronica Pusateri. Veronica just completed ninth-grade in the classroom of 起点传媒member Michael Guevara at Southwest High School, San Antonio, Texas.
A collective sigh filled the classroom. The teacher just assigned鈥攚ait for it: Poetry. Yes, we students have to read and鈥攐h, the horror鈥攁nnotate a poem written long before we were ever born. On top of that, we have to wring some sort of meaning out of a confusing string of words and stanzas.
Many high-school-age students will admit to hating poetry and to only reading it when assigned. Would you care to change this scenario?
Then begin with poems that students are excited to read and topics we’re excited to write about. Forgo the analysis and dissection and begin with enjoyment.
According to my English teacher, Mr. Guevara, 鈥淧oetry should be as individual as the reader,鈥� like the poems he reads for leisure, which he describes as 鈥渜uirky, contemporary, and not exactly what you always see in the classroom.鈥�
Students aren鈥檛 naturally drawn to poems like The Raven, get discouraged trying to read it, and build their contempt for poetry on those experiences.
My classmate Cesar doesn鈥檛 like to read poetry because 鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to comprehend. If I鈥檓 reading a book, it tells me the story, but I don鈥檛 want to decode a poem.鈥�
Another classmate, Ian, has his own preferences for poetry: 鈥淚f you give me a poem that鈥檚 humorous, I will probably read it, but if you give me a poem that鈥檚 complicated, I鈥檒l probably ignore it.鈥�
It鈥檚 all about relating to the intended audience.
In 鈥淲hy (Some) People Hate Poetry,鈥� Adam Kirsch explains, 鈥淧oetry is a gauge of our mutual connection. If we can鈥檛 speak the language of poetry, it is a sign that human communication has been blocked in a fundamental way.鈥�
Too often students are never properly engaged or introduced to poems we may actually have a passion for. Students need poems that just might be 鈥渜uirky, contemporary, and not exactly what you see in the classroom.鈥�
Good poetry is honest and open. Today, people are more accessible than ever, especially those who think they need to share their opinions on everything鈥攇ood or bad. This makes young people less inclined to create and share. We get discouraged easily because we expect to write the next 鈥�O Captain! My Captain!鈥� on our first attempt.
Still, to learn how to observe elusive themes and the myriad rules of reading and writing, we have to be exposed to a wide range of poems, including some written in the days of Edgar Allen Poe and Emily Dickinson. Andrew Simmons explains in “Why Teaching Poetry is So Important” that 鈥淧oetry enables teachers to teach their students how to write, read, and understand any text.鈥�
There is a balance between building a foundation and reading simpler poems about more relatable topics. The key is to continue to be passionate with students even after the foundation is built, and remind us that every poet had to start somewhere. This validates our voices and lets us know that the world really wants our insights. And we may share them鈥攎aybe even in poetry.
Works Cited
Adam Kirsch, “Why (Some) People Hate Poetry,” The Atlantic. October, 2016.
Andrew Simmons, “Why Teaching Poetry Is So Important,” The Atlantic. April 8, 2014.