Poetry can be very tricky sometimes. I feel that writing about poetry is much easier than actually writing poetry. I love to communicate one on one with a person and i feel like poetry does not give me that opportunity compared to actually speaking to a person. When you write about poetry you are conveying what you think the poem is trying to say and you really get a chance to see where the author is coming from. I feel I am a bit private with my feelings and i think that poetry has the ability to strip you bare of your emotions and that vulnerable feeling allows you to truly feel one with yourself. I think that is why i don't feel comfortable writing poetry because i feel more comfortable listening to other people than having someone listen to me. That might sound weird but i enjoy listening to people and their problems because it is a great feeling when I can help a person feel better about themselves and the world around them. Writing about poetry is definitely within my comfort zone and although i don't write about poetry often, when i do i truly enjoy it.
I think some similarities between the two have to be the emotions that you have when you are faced with poetry. What is different is the actual emotion you feel for writing your own poetry and about poetry. What that means is that poetry can vary from person to person and the feelings poetry gives every individual is unique and special in itself.
As a future teacher, I find myself praying for the knowledge to help me to touch the lives of as many students as I can. I feel that each student is very special and i believe that a poetry slam like the one we experienced in class will help the students to get anything off their chest that might be bugging them. For some students i know poetry will be a stress reliever, and for others it can be a stress inducer. I think i can hopefully accommodate both types of students so that they will feel like they achieved something. I absolutely love children and i feel that although writing poetry is not my preference, if it will get students to open up then i will definitely utilize it in the classroom.
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Hi Tiffany, I completely understand and agree with what you wrote. Poetry is much harder when attempting to write it as opposed to actually reading and explicating it. I liked the part you said about poetry stripping you down to the bare emotions and the over whelming effect that may have on a person. That's really interesting because I've never thought of that before.
ReplyDeleteWriting what you feel or even portraying an emotion from someone else's standpoint is very difficult and heart renching, but it is just as difficult to read and empathize with the speaker of an emotional poem.
Your response was very straight forward and to the point, meaning you know exactly how you feel about writing poetry compared to reading and explicating it. Brava, I was in a tough situation to decide which is easier. But I do feel the actual writing is now smoother knowing terms, voices and fun tricks an author can force into his or her poem.
See you in class :)
I am going to have to disagree with you a bit. I believe that writing about poetry and writing poetry is at the same difficulty level, except I feel that writing poetry is much more enjoyable because it comes from within. When you are writing your own poetry you don’t need to cite a source or have to interpret/explicate someone else’s poem. Instead, you can enjoy writing your own poetry and have someone else analyze it. Writing about poetry seems to be more confined because you have to go line by line and explicate the meaning, while when writing about poetry you can let loose and write. Did you enjoy the exercises we did in class? The found poem and the wrecking the first person poem? I thought those were great exercises to get our feet wet with writing our own poetry. Just like you, I also want to be able to find a middle ground where students that can use poetry as a stress reliever and students that are overwhelmed with stress when dealing with poetry can meet. Maybe you can have everyone write a poem, but only those that want to share it will share it with the class? I thought reading it to the class was the most terrifying part haha.
ReplyDeleteHello Tiffany,
ReplyDeleteI loved the explanation on how poetry makes you vulnerable because it strips everything away. It is definitely true that one’s feelings are poured into the poem. I would rather write poetry then try to dissect it. I’m just not good with trying to analyze what certain things mean. I like having other people try to figure out what I tried to say! You are going to be a wonderful teacher because you love to listen! Kids need to know that their teacher cares and is not just interested in shoving information down their throats. I think as a teacher, I need to remember that some of my students will feel just like you. They might not feel as comfortable about writing their own poems. I think that having exercises like Wrecking the First Person and or Found Poems will let those kids write poetry without feeling too vulnerable. I would never want to have my students write a personal poem and having some of them feel uncomfortable.
Tiffany,
ReplyDeleteI find it so interesting that writing about poetry is easier for you because when you write your own poetry there is never a right or wrong answer! While I suppose there is no right or wrong answer for explicating, there always seems to be in the classroom. However, I do understand what you mean when you say poetry can “strip you bare of your emotions” and can leave you feeling vulnerable. Being vulnerable is scary, but at the same time, at least for me, it is a little bit liberating. For example, the poem I read at our poetry slam was scary and hard because I was completely vulnerable, but it felt kind of good in a strange way to say those words. I completely agree with your last paragraph. I hope I will be able to accommodate each of my students as well and hopefully they will feel good about themselves. See you later in class!
Tiffany,
ReplyDeleteI am glad to see other's views on the writing poetry and writing about poetry process, even if their views are different than mine. I have a different view on writing about poetry. I think that writing about poetry is much harder than writing poetry. This is the reason why I do not much care for writing about poetry. I understand when you mention that with writing about poetry you are only describing how you feel about a poem. This is the hard part. It is easy to read a poem and develop some sort of feeling toward what you just read, however writing that feeling down (actually putting it into words that other people can understand) is difficult. Writing poetry doesn't require an explanation. You say what you wish to say and it is the reader's job to do the impossible and figure out exactly what you said.
Just a suggestion on your comment about being private with your feelings: when writing poetry you do not have to write about yourself. Write about someone else or even make up a character. Remember that the speaker in the poem does not necessarily have to be the writer of the poem.
Hey Tiffany,
ReplyDeleteI agree with many of the points you made on writing poetry. I agree it is easier, I feel that poetry allows someone to use it as outlet to speak on behalf of their ideas, experience, feelings that are located in deepest darkest recesses of the mind or heart. Since, normally in our day to day life we encounter people and communicate to them according to socially ingrained conventional rules and therefore does not allow someone to freely and truly speak what is on their mind and make a real connection. Poetry fortunately does not adhere to these rules. Ironically I find that the people that do often truly speak their minds find people gravitating towards them, maybe people are starved for people they can truly or genuinely tell or communicate what they feel, think, believe ,or maybe it’s just my opinion ,I’ve heard others say is also where the fun begins.
I also feel Poetry resembles music to a degree and can be amplified on a global scale. In many cases in serve to reflect these deep harbored ideas or feelings and let them play out in the minds of others and see if they loudly echo or resonate with or find different ways to see the poem.
I also really like your uninhibited way of expressing yourself on the page it really is easy to follow as everyone else mentioned above.