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Stopping by Woods, again
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From: Linnea Hendrickson <lhendr>
Date: Sat, 26 Apr 2003 10:00:47 -0600
Ruth wrote:
I feel sorry for the little child who could not make her own pictures of Frost's "Stopping By Woods." Perhaps the time had not come for her to see the quiet journey.
My response: The student who could not make her own pictures of Stopping by Woods was a grown woman in her 20s or 30s, not a little child. So, I say, if Jeffers' illustrations could lead her to her own vision, finally, there is some good in them.
I agree that it is sad that so many children cannot seem to create their own pictures in their minds. I think we, as teachers, need to help them do this -- and sharing another person's envisioning with them, that of their classmates or professional artists may be one way to do this.
We could say that "Stopping by Woods" is being presented to children too young to truly appreciate it, or we can say that this is a poem that can have many meanings that change for us over the years -- and our understanding of it at age 8 or 10 is not going to be what it is at age 20 or 50 or 70. For an eight-year-old the poem may mainly be about someone going through snowy woods with a horse. And sometimes that is still what it is about for me.
Date: Sat, 26 Apr 2003 10:00:47 -0600
Ruth wrote:
I feel sorry for the little child who could not make her own pictures of Frost's "Stopping By Woods." Perhaps the time had not come for her to see the quiet journey.
My response: The student who could not make her own pictures of Stopping by Woods was a grown woman in her 20s or 30s, not a little child. So, I say, if Jeffers' illustrations could lead her to her own vision, finally, there is some good in them.
I agree that it is sad that so many children cannot seem to create their own pictures in their minds. I think we, as teachers, need to help them do this -- and sharing another person's envisioning with them, that of their classmates or professional artists may be one way to do this.
We could say that "Stopping by Woods" is being presented to children too young to truly appreciate it, or we can say that this is a poem that can have many meanings that change for us over the years -- and our understanding of it at age 8 or 10 is not going to be what it is at age 20 or 50 or 70. For an eight-year-old the poem may mainly be about someone going through snowy woods with a horse. And sometimes that is still what it is about for me.
-- Linnea Linnea Hendrickson Albuquerque, NM Lhendr at unm.edu http://www.unm.edu/~lhendrReceived on Sat 26 Apr 2003 11:00:47 AM CDT
