Up until recently, I never cared much for poetry. To me, writing (had) has rules--one must put commas and semicolons in the correct place, never start a sentence with "and," or always make sure that everything you write is coherent. And yet (see what I did there?) as I learned in ENGL 433: Modern English Grammar, I learned that the English language is always in flux. The rules, regulations, and norms of this dominant language are always changing, so as long as meaning is communicated, one's objective is met. 

This has been my longstanding issue with poetry until I became an English major. I could understand the inherent beauty of poetry that had meter and rhyme, such as John Keats' "To Autumn," but for poetry that defies conventional rules, I never quite understood the appeal. The meanings were vague, and because of this vagueness, I could not understand them. However, through gradual exposure to poetry that defied norms like "Knock Knock," I came to realize that poetry acts as a space for us to use words to convey emotion.

Even with perceived vagueness of some poems, such as this one on pg. 17 of From Sand Creek, it is through this vagueness that beauty is brought to them. Poetry does not have to abide to certain rules, although they can certainly follow genre conventions of poetry, such as iambic pentameter and an AB rhyme scheme. Instead, poetry "works in the spaces between experience and language" (Macaluso), and "by letting go of the mandates about...grammar" (Christensen), we can forge new meanings and connections that otherwise may not have been possible. 

In pursuit of like-minded people, I often talk about writing, literature, and discourse with my peers. It seems in general, many appreciated poetry in their high school and college English classes because it was different from traditional literature. In the words of one coworker of mine, "poetry is different because it's like lyrics in a song, and music for me is very meaningful." Thus, reading Ch. 1 of Christensen reminded me of the value of poetry and how it speaks to our human condition and touches our souls. It makes me consider how I can use poetry as a pedagogical tool in my future career as a teacher, and it makes me wonder if by implementing poetry in my pedagogical approach, I can reach more students than I would otherwise be able to through traditional reading and discourse. If this is true, then it is my duty as an educator to implement poetry in the classroom because I wish to inspire as many students as possible.


Comments

  1. You are right. You don't necessarily need to follow the rules in order to write a good poem. Like you said, its all about convening the meaning behind the poem and also the reader being able to understand the message from the poem. I believe that incorporating 'writing poetry' into the curriculum will not only make the students understand the simplicity of Poetry, but it will also improve the writing skills of the students.

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  2. I also disliked writing poetry for some of the same reasons you did, I am a fan of rules and for me poetry went against them, which made it confusing. Eventually I was able to analyze most poems fairly well, however I never really saw much beauty to them until I became older. I have had a similar experience as far as talking to other peers about poetry and not feeling the same way they do about it. I used to find poetry to be a bit of a chore to read, and I hated writing it even more. It seems as though you got a lot out of your 433 English class whereas I feel like I couldn't tell you much about what we did in that class.

    In terms of the form of your blog, I liked that you linked us to different poems and used them to amplify and explain what you were referring to, it was a smart strategy!

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