Poetry is a creative format that is meant to convey emotions through the use of various literary devices, such as metaphors, alliterations, rhyming, connotations, and imagery. When listening or reading poetry, the goal of the poet is to evoke a specific emotional and/or sensory experience.
But why is something so ambiguous taught in schools?
The purpose of studying poetry is not to transform children into poets, but rather to give students the opportunity to explore the complexities and variations available in language outside of the strict formal structures they are used to.
This opportunity is elaborated in four ways:
Analyzing Text: With its dense meaning and symbolism, a careful analyzing of a poem's text, structure, themes, and use of language allows students to develop their critical thinking abilities by placing them in an inquisitive mindset.
Making Connections: Poetry derives inspiration from culture, history, emotions, and nature. As a result, the use of abstract vocabulary pushes students to attempt to make other connections, whether they be worldly or personal, to build their inference-based skills.
Perspective-Taking: Since poetry is often thought-provoking and emotional, they are a great way to understand different perspectives and grow empathy, two things crucial to developing strong critical thinking skills.
Creative Thinking: As poetry not only is an exercise in emotional understanding, but it is also an exercise in creativity. Poetry requires a mind that can envision and paint words in order to create connections and deeper thinking.
So, for students that feel lost reading a poem, how can we help them exercise the aforementioned abilities?
Poetry can be overwhelming to a mind that has yet to fully develop and comprehend the complex emotions and perspectives that are often told through this form. Many learners fail to understand this and attempt to learn poetry in a very mechanical manner, when this literary form is so abstract, and no straightforward method can be used effectively for any child.
So what is an easy way to teach poetry, that is also open to adaptability? After you read through the poem, identify whether there are any words the child doesn't understand. Since poetry often uses more complex vocabulary, this will likely be something you come across frequently while reading.
Next, have the student pick out a sentence or stanza in the poem that stands out, or is memorable, or they just happen to like. The goal here is to get them to find some of their own footing first and then have you guide them along the way. This was you are also encouraging them to be more inquisitive with their learning. If they are struggling to find a line, then pick out one that you feel is minimalist and can be interpreted in both simple and complex ways.
With the line chosen, you can now probe deeper as to what the poet is saying, either in a literal sense or figurative sense. The great thing about poetry is while the writer may have a specific theme or idea in their writing, the poem itself can still be ambiguously interpreted. The ideal response is just to have the student make some sort of connection to the poetry that they can explain and make sense of. It does not matter how minimal or far-fetched it is as the idea is just for them to explain their thinking effectively. This then gets the ball rolling as now you can have them identify their perspective and now attempt to tie it into another line of the poem that may sound similar to the first one they had chosen. From here they can begin to visualize the poem as they connect the words and ideas that they have identified from the start.
The other day, one of our teachers was working with a high school student who was having trouble understanding what a poem about loneliness was trying to say, by using examples from nature. She ended up using the exact methods described earlier and as a result, by the end of the hour, the student was able to understand the poem in its entirety as well as be able to connect the whole work together.
Poetry is abstract and therefore the way we approach it must also be in some ways abstract as well. When students are first taught how to analyze texts, it's always in a very linear form, meaning they start at the very beginning and analyze in order. The study of poetry breaks this habit and forces you to start at an obscure point and then branch out to connect all the ideas together.
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