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Poetry in Literature for Children and Young Adults - Anecdotes
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From: Charles Bayless <charles.bayless_at_gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 07 Apr 2014 13:14:59 -0400
My observations regarding poetry and children are based solely on anecdotal experience which I know to be unrepresentative. I have three knowledge sets: what poetry our own nearly grown children (and their friends) liked; poetry that is popular with our customers (both individual families and libraries/schools); and poetry that is popular with Boy Scouts (age 11-18) who in turn represent two groups, one from Title I urban backgrounds/weak public schools and the second from more privileged suburban communities/intact families/multicultural immigrants, etc. While that represents some reasonable variety, it is difficult to derive any sort of overarching observation.
In addition, there are four factors that make this anecdotal experience
(with Boy Scouts in particular) non-representative: 1) Audience has a choice. No one has to listen; 2) This creates a need to focus substantially on what will appeal most powerfully to the largest number most quickly; 3) I rarely know any members of the audience in advance, i.e. I cannot preselect books based on known likes and dislikes. I have to make do with the 10-20 books I have brought; and 4) Boys 11-18 are a distinct audience.
. I rarely encounter teachers who are enthusiastically engaged with poetry (electively reading poems with some frequency for their own pleasure). Based on my limit sample (but across three countries), those teachers most passionate about poetry tend to be in lower grades and tend to be young teachers 3-5 years out. I have no idea why that might be, whether they simply burn out or move on from teaching or whether there is some other issue going on.
. Assigned poetry taught in later grades, particularly high school, is viewed as antiseptic. Little or no engagement. Just an exercise to be gotten through.
. I almost never see or hear of poetry integrated into other lesson plans. For example, virtually every significant historical event has poetry written about it and yet I have never experienced or heard kids reference poetry as part their history lessons.
. Collections by single authors have a generally low ROI. For any given audience, there are usually only 1-3 poems, at best, that appeal to at least a plurality. (There are a few exceptions such as Silverstein and Stevenson)
. Themed anthologies have a binary ROI. If the theme matches the interests of the audience, then a lot of engagement. If not, then again, usually just a handful of poems that will appeal to a plurality.
. High quality illustrations are a powerful factor to how poetry is viewed, particularly for younger children.
. The anthologies I use for unknown audiences and which get the best reception tend to be the most traditional. I have used a number of more contemporary anthologies and rarely get the same positive response.
. The anthologies I use that are generally the most popular are not only the more traditional collections, they also are general anthologies, i.e. not focused on children.
. Boys like very traditional, direct, action-oriented or big lesson poems. Horatius at the Bridge, The Boy Stood on the Burning Deck, The Wreck of the Hesperus, Ozymandias, Charge of the Light Brigade, etc.
. I very rarely get any sort of engagement from contemporary poems. I have a hard time finding contemporary poems likely to appeal. More specifically, it is time consuming to work through the huge volume of potentials to get to a very small group of likelies. There are exceptions. Billy Collins' The Lanyard is popular (there is a good YouTube video of him doing a reading).
. Matching a poem to a particular child is even harder than matching a book to a particular child. 70-90% of the time when I recommend a book, I will get positive feedback that they enjoyed it. For poems, it is more like 40-60%. It may just be me, but I suspect that there is a somewhat different dynamic going on.
. The younger they are the more likely they are to engage with a poem.
. Single illustrated poems (Example: Paul Revere's Ride, Owl and the Pussy Cat, The Library, Ballad of the Pirate Queens) of moderate length are distinctly popular.
. SES status doesn't seem to make much difference. Boys from inner city Title I environments tend to like the same types of poems as those from the suburbs.
. Language portfolio and cultural literacy are significant barriers to retaining poetry enthusiasm as children grow. For example. Emily Bronte's The Old Stoic is not hard to access (relatively easy and straightforward vocabulary) but is more meaningful if you have some rudimentary knowledge of Stoicism, comparative philosophy, religion, Ancient Greeks and Romans. Similarly with Brooks' The Soldier and McCrae's In Flanders Fields; it helps to have some historical awareness of World War I. Yeats' Sailing to Byzantium is popular with older boys but dependent on good vocabulary and some historical contextual knowledge. The Second Coming even more so. Generally, those that are the most voracious readers tend to be the most receptive to more complicated (vocabulary or concepts or historical context) poems simply because they have the better vocabulary and cultural literacy. I think a lot of kids disengage from poetry, not because of the form, but because their vocabulary and education don't enable them to access the poem. It is very difficult to sustain interest when you have to stop every few words to explain a word or an idea/fact/issue.
Charles
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Received on Mon 07 Apr 2014 12:15:57 PM CDT
Date: Mon, 07 Apr 2014 13:14:59 -0400
My observations regarding poetry and children are based solely on anecdotal experience which I know to be unrepresentative. I have three knowledge sets: what poetry our own nearly grown children (and their friends) liked; poetry that is popular with our customers (both individual families and libraries/schools); and poetry that is popular with Boy Scouts (age 11-18) who in turn represent two groups, one from Title I urban backgrounds/weak public schools and the second from more privileged suburban communities/intact families/multicultural immigrants, etc. While that represents some reasonable variety, it is difficult to derive any sort of overarching observation.
In addition, there are four factors that make this anecdotal experience
(with Boy Scouts in particular) non-representative: 1) Audience has a choice. No one has to listen; 2) This creates a need to focus substantially on what will appeal most powerfully to the largest number most quickly; 3) I rarely know any members of the audience in advance, i.e. I cannot preselect books based on known likes and dislikes. I have to make do with the 10-20 books I have brought; and 4) Boys 11-18 are a distinct audience.
. I rarely encounter teachers who are enthusiastically engaged with poetry (electively reading poems with some frequency for their own pleasure). Based on my limit sample (but across three countries), those teachers most passionate about poetry tend to be in lower grades and tend to be young teachers 3-5 years out. I have no idea why that might be, whether they simply burn out or move on from teaching or whether there is some other issue going on.
. Assigned poetry taught in later grades, particularly high school, is viewed as antiseptic. Little or no engagement. Just an exercise to be gotten through.
. I almost never see or hear of poetry integrated into other lesson plans. For example, virtually every significant historical event has poetry written about it and yet I have never experienced or heard kids reference poetry as part their history lessons.
. Collections by single authors have a generally low ROI. For any given audience, there are usually only 1-3 poems, at best, that appeal to at least a plurality. (There are a few exceptions such as Silverstein and Stevenson)
. Themed anthologies have a binary ROI. If the theme matches the interests of the audience, then a lot of engagement. If not, then again, usually just a handful of poems that will appeal to a plurality.
. High quality illustrations are a powerful factor to how poetry is viewed, particularly for younger children.
. The anthologies I use for unknown audiences and which get the best reception tend to be the most traditional. I have used a number of more contemporary anthologies and rarely get the same positive response.
. The anthologies I use that are generally the most popular are not only the more traditional collections, they also are general anthologies, i.e. not focused on children.
. Boys like very traditional, direct, action-oriented or big lesson poems. Horatius at the Bridge, The Boy Stood on the Burning Deck, The Wreck of the Hesperus, Ozymandias, Charge of the Light Brigade, etc.
. I very rarely get any sort of engagement from contemporary poems. I have a hard time finding contemporary poems likely to appeal. More specifically, it is time consuming to work through the huge volume of potentials to get to a very small group of likelies. There are exceptions. Billy Collins' The Lanyard is popular (there is a good YouTube video of him doing a reading).
. Matching a poem to a particular child is even harder than matching a book to a particular child. 70-90% of the time when I recommend a book, I will get positive feedback that they enjoyed it. For poems, it is more like 40-60%. It may just be me, but I suspect that there is a somewhat different dynamic going on.
. The younger they are the more likely they are to engage with a poem.
. Single illustrated poems (Example: Paul Revere's Ride, Owl and the Pussy Cat, The Library, Ballad of the Pirate Queens) of moderate length are distinctly popular.
. SES status doesn't seem to make much difference. Boys from inner city Title I environments tend to like the same types of poems as those from the suburbs.
. Language portfolio and cultural literacy are significant barriers to retaining poetry enthusiasm as children grow. For example. Emily Bronte's The Old Stoic is not hard to access (relatively easy and straightforward vocabulary) but is more meaningful if you have some rudimentary knowledge of Stoicism, comparative philosophy, religion, Ancient Greeks and Romans. Similarly with Brooks' The Soldier and McCrae's In Flanders Fields; it helps to have some historical awareness of World War I. Yeats' Sailing to Byzantium is popular with older boys but dependent on good vocabulary and some historical contextual knowledge. The Second Coming even more so. Generally, those that are the most voracious readers tend to be the most receptive to more complicated (vocabulary or concepts or historical context) poems simply because they have the better vocabulary and cultural literacy. I think a lot of kids disengage from poetry, not because of the form, but because their vocabulary and education don't enable them to access the poem. It is very difficult to sustain interest when you have to stop every few words to explain a word or an idea/fact/issue.
Charles
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Received on Mon 07 Apr 2014 12:15:57 PM CDT
