Writing Poetry vs. Writing about Poetry
In my experience, writing my own poetry has not informed my writing about poetry that much, but I think the inverse may be true. When writing about poetry, you are breaking down and analyzing the poetic devices and structure of whichever poem you choose to write about. This helps you create a sort of relationship with poetry and how it works. With that understanding of poetry, the process of writing it for yourself is easier. Furthermore, what I believe impacts my writing, both of poetry and poetic explications, the most is consuming more poetry. The more poetry you read, the better equipped you are to write it and write about it.
The more I am exposed to poetry, whether it be writing it myself or writing about it, the more i fall in love with it and the more excited I am to teach it. Overall, this experience gave me a better understanding and appreciation for poetry that I would love for my future students to have as well. I really like the idea of having them write their own poems and recite them to the class. I believe that this would help them to build a personal relationship with poetry and how it works rather than just having them read the works of other poets which they may not understand.
Hi Emma! I think you really tapped into something when you talked about your exposure to poetry influencing how much you enjoy it. I feel the same way, as I once thought poetry was pretentious and dry but now see just how far it can reach. I actually think that that same exposure, especially when exposed to literary devices when analyzing poetry, applies the same to writing poetry, and you might not have realized it. I know for a fact that I could not have written a Shakespearean sonnet in middle school simply because I had not been exposed to the form and style, so learning and analyzing that style later on allowed me to incorporate that into my own work. To put it simply, I think your analysis of poetry affected your writing more than you think, so you should give yourself some more credit when it is due.
ReplyDeleteHello Emma! I like how you brought up the fact that if you read more poetry, you will eventually get better at writing it and writing about it. It seems like such a simple statement, but it helped me realize how I always say I am bad at writing poetry, yet I do not tend to read poems unless they are assigned to me. I also believe this experience has helped prepare me for my future classroom as well. I believe allowing them to write their own poems, rather than simply reading and writing about them, will help strengthen their analytical skills and allow them to become more comfortable with poetry in general. I agree with your statement regarding how writing poetry became a pleasant task due to the fact that you were able to choose a topic that was interesting and personal to you. Due to this, I believe it is essential for students to experience this so they are able to properly express themselves and once again, become more comfortable with poetry.
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