Corbyn's Corner: Poetry - Let's Have Some Fun!

I knew in middle school that I wanted to be an English teacher. That never changed, and here I am, so many decades later enjoying my 24th year in the classroom as a high school English and Reading teacher. So English teachers are supposed to love certain things, right? Shakespeare, poetry, the "classics" of American and British literature. Let's suffice it to say that I didn't turn out to be one of those typical English teachers. Shakespeare and the classics are a story for another time, but today let's talk about poetry.

What comes to mind when you think of poetry? It's probably not the word "fun" as I mentioned in the title of this entry. Even growing up loving to read and write and heading toward an eventual English degree, I hated poetry. Why? I'm sorry to lay the blame at the feet of my English teachers, but unfortunately, that is where it falls. I can pinpoint specific instances in more than one teacher's class in high school and college where the teacher took a poem (always a difficult one to understand), beat the living daylights out of it with analysis of rhythm, rhyme, figurative language, symbolism, etc., etc., etc. . . . and then made the lot of us feel pretty dumb because we couldn't come up with the "correct" interpretation. No siree, not how I wanted to spend my reading time, thank you very much. (I bet you lots of money that there is not a poet out there who has written a poem hoping an over-zealous instructor will kill it with analysis. Well, maybe one or two of those old British poets, but otherwise, probably not).

Fortunately, I don't feel that way today. In fact, poetry is probably my favorite type of literature to read. I don't remember what turned the tide for me, but the poet was Robert Frost. There is such a rich variety of poetry out there now, all meant to be enjoyed and pondered, and maybe even memorized just for the joy of having it in our heads whenever we want it. This semester, we'll explore various types of poetry for children and young adults and what makes it wonderful. Hopefully, you'll find a gem or two waiting to become part of your list of loves.