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[CCBC-Net] Poetic license
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From: JaneYolen at aol.com <JaneYolen>
Date: Fri, 4 Apr 2008 15:08:48 EDT
I am not against discussing poetry. I do it all the time. You should hear me go on about my neighbor, Emily Dickinson and her work.
However, I am against the assumption that there is one and only one right way of understanding a poem. I am against a kind of catechizing of both poem and reader we find on those state tests that leaves out nuance, cultural baggage, personal luggage carts of both writer and reader, and changing values/word meanings/and bad translations among many other variables.
Trying to get a child to love poetry by starting with a test is--to me--a bass-ackward routine that ruins any possible appreciation for life. Let the children love the sound of a poem, how it bumps around inside the ear, how it burrows into the spaces of the heart, before we pressure them to seek out Meaning. Or before telling them What The Poet Means.
And of course I have learned from people who have loved a particular poem (or story) of mine, something new about it or me or them.
Jane Yolen
************** Planning your summer road trip? Check out AOL Travel Guides.
(http://travel.aol.com/travel-guide/united-states?ncid=aoltrv00030000000016)
Received on Fri 04 Apr 2008 02:08:48 PM CDT
Date: Fri, 4 Apr 2008 15:08:48 EDT
I am not against discussing poetry. I do it all the time. You should hear me go on about my neighbor, Emily Dickinson and her work.
However, I am against the assumption that there is one and only one right way of understanding a poem. I am against a kind of catechizing of both poem and reader we find on those state tests that leaves out nuance, cultural baggage, personal luggage carts of both writer and reader, and changing values/word meanings/and bad translations among many other variables.
Trying to get a child to love poetry by starting with a test is--to me--a bass-ackward routine that ruins any possible appreciation for life. Let the children love the sound of a poem, how it bumps around inside the ear, how it burrows into the spaces of the heart, before we pressure them to seek out Meaning. Or before telling them What The Poet Means.
And of course I have learned from people who have loved a particular poem (or story) of mine, something new about it or me or them.
Jane Yolen
************** Planning your summer road trip? Check out AOL Travel Guides.
(http://travel.aol.com/travel-guide/united-states?ncid=aoltrv00030000000016)
Received on Fri 04 Apr 2008 02:08:48 PM CDT
