Sunday, April 10, 2011

Spring, Spring!

My oldest son last year had to write some poetry for his High School English class.  (Note:  I never really quite understand why English teachers wish to inflict poetry torture on themselves, the kids they teach, and the kids' parents who will be asked to help them write the "poetry".  To the English teacher, why subject yourself to the torture of actually reading what your students write?  It will never be Shakespeare or anything like unto it.  So why???)  He came home and he wasn't quite sure what to write about, when I came up with the following "gem"...  (Please note that Spring 2010 was a particularly cold, wet, and snowy spring.)

Spring, spring,
Spring in the air.

Spring, spring,
Spring is everywhere

Spring, spring,
Spring is what I want to see

Spring, spring,
.....Dang it!  Its snowing again!


That sums up this year's spring as well.  Cold, wet, and snowy.  May you enjoy the last bits of winter before the heat comes and melts it all away.


1 comment:

A Paperback Writer said...

Your cousin, the English teacher, would like to point out that SOME of us actually TEACH elements of poetry to our students, then teach them to find and identify such elements in well-written poems -- all before even thinking about whether or not said class should be assigned to write a poem. (If the class in question is not an advanced class, I generally will give them some kind of formula with which to work and plenty of practice writing just similes, metaphors, etc. first. Never would I tell a class, "Just write a poem.")
The purpose of studying poetry is to get kids to understand symbolic thinking. Many adolescents have trouble grasping symbolism and layers of meaning. They want everything to be at face value, which is a problem later on in life.
My students, even my lowest level 7th graders, tend to like poetry by the time I get through the unit because I know how to pick poems they'll like. (Trust me: they LOVE Browning's "Porphyria's Lover," when I read and explain it to them. Abusive boyfriend, murderer, sick psychopath -- what's not to like? And they feel the rhythms of Poe's "The Raven." That's a favorite, too.)
So, like most things in English classes, poetry, if done right, can be a very good thing.