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[CCBC-Net] CCBC-Net Digest, Vol 33, Issue 4
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From: Kristy Dempsey <kdempsey>
Date: Fri, 4 Apr 2008 13:10:19 -0500
Of course, I agree with you, Marilyn. I *almost* removed that sentence before I posted because it was definitely overstating for effect, but decided to leave it in because it seems, just as you said, there's been such an overemphasis on analysis. I'm a poet, myself, so of course I hope it matters what the poet has to say!
But I also think that in the classroom, it's easy to put meaning into authors' mouths that might not have been intended, or at the very least to assume it was purposeful when it might have just been coincidental during the writing process. I think this potentially complicates the creation of their own poetry, too, for children, if they get the impression that all poetry must be full of layers of meaning and devices they don't yet understand, or it's not "good" poetry.
There's a balance, I suppose, because children should learn to analyze poetry academically. But I sure wish we could somehow teach them to fall in love with it first. I'd also be interested to hear how the teachers on list have balanced these issues in the classroom.
Kristy Dempsey Belo Horizonte, Brazil
-----Original Message----- From: ccbc-net-bounces at ccbc.education.wisc.edu
[mailto:ccbc-net-bounces at ccbc.education.wisc.edu] On Behalf Of WriterBabe Sent: Friday, April 04, 2008 2:26 PM To: ccbc-net at ccbc.education.wisc.edu Subject: Re: [CCBC-Net] CCBC-Net Digest, Vol 33, Issue 4
Hmm. While I completely agree that poetry has often been taught badly with too much analysis, I find that I get irritated by the question
"Does it matter what the poet was trying to say?" Of course it matters! I used to be a high school English teacher and I remember stumbling through a class when I was being observed by the chair of the English dep't. We were discussing a poem (can't remember which) and the students kept coming up with interpretations, many of which were flat-out wrong (if sometimes interesting). But, because I wanted to be encouraging, I kept saying, "Oh, that's a unique interpretation" and never saying, "Uh-uh." I got chewed out by the chair, of course.
Now, I believe I was right to be encouraging, but wrong to encourage every interpretation as right. The trick about poems, imho, is that they DO mean something to the person who wrote them. But that something can have different personal meanings to the reader. In other words, it DOES matter what the poet was trying to say, but it also matters what the poem is saying to the child.
So, I throw this back at teachers and librarians--how do you "teach" poetry so that it includes the author's meaning and readers' resonances? I can't claim to have been successful at that, so I'm not asking a rhetorical question here. Inquiring minds really want to know...
Marilyn Singer<------------who's much happier these days writing poetry than attempting to teach it.
Received on Fri 04 Apr 2008 01:10:19 PM CDT
Date: Fri, 4 Apr 2008 13:10:19 -0500
Of course, I agree with you, Marilyn. I *almost* removed that sentence before I posted because it was definitely overstating for effect, but decided to leave it in because it seems, just as you said, there's been such an overemphasis on analysis. I'm a poet, myself, so of course I hope it matters what the poet has to say!
But I also think that in the classroom, it's easy to put meaning into authors' mouths that might not have been intended, or at the very least to assume it was purposeful when it might have just been coincidental during the writing process. I think this potentially complicates the creation of their own poetry, too, for children, if they get the impression that all poetry must be full of layers of meaning and devices they don't yet understand, or it's not "good" poetry.
There's a balance, I suppose, because children should learn to analyze poetry academically. But I sure wish we could somehow teach them to fall in love with it first. I'd also be interested to hear how the teachers on list have balanced these issues in the classroom.
Kristy Dempsey Belo Horizonte, Brazil
-----Original Message----- From: ccbc-net-bounces at ccbc.education.wisc.edu
[mailto:ccbc-net-bounces at ccbc.education.wisc.edu] On Behalf Of WriterBabe Sent: Friday, April 04, 2008 2:26 PM To: ccbc-net at ccbc.education.wisc.edu Subject: Re: [CCBC-Net] CCBC-Net Digest, Vol 33, Issue 4
Hmm. While I completely agree that poetry has often been taught badly with too much analysis, I find that I get irritated by the question
"Does it matter what the poet was trying to say?" Of course it matters! I used to be a high school English teacher and I remember stumbling through a class when I was being observed by the chair of the English dep't. We were discussing a poem (can't remember which) and the students kept coming up with interpretations, many of which were flat-out wrong (if sometimes interesting). But, because I wanted to be encouraging, I kept saying, "Oh, that's a unique interpretation" and never saying, "Uh-uh." I got chewed out by the chair, of course.
Now, I believe I was right to be encouraging, but wrong to encourage every interpretation as right. The trick about poems, imho, is that they DO mean something to the person who wrote them. But that something can have different personal meanings to the reader. In other words, it DOES matter what the poet was trying to say, but it also matters what the poem is saying to the child.
So, I throw this back at teachers and librarians--how do you "teach" poetry so that it includes the author's meaning and readers' resonances? I can't claim to have been successful at that, so I'm not asking a rhetorical question here. Inquiring minds really want to know...
Marilyn Singer<------------who's much happier these days writing poetry than attempting to teach it.
Received on Fri 04 Apr 2008 01:10:19 PM CDT
