Poetry Study Goals
1. Read the Title, and keep it in mind throughout the poem.
2. Be aware of who is narrating.
3. Read it aloud in my head.
4. Keep in mind the author and literary period.
5. Remember that poetry is first and foremost art.
So, I never read the title when I started on the diagnostic test, which was pretty foolish. So, that would be a good starting point. Being more aware of the voice and rhythm of a poem will make it more enjoyable as well as help me answer questions about it. My specialty for quiz bowl is actually literature, so I'm familiar with many of these titles and authors, and it helps to consider when a poem was written and which other works are in that author's cannon. As for my last goal, I actually really love reading poetry. One thing that has frustrated me in English classes over the years is when literature is merely used as a tool to teach about technique, rather than as art. I don't think that Shakespeare wrote his love sonnets so that students could analyze iambic pentameter. Before dissecting it as an academic exercise, a poem or a novel should be appreciated as a piece of art and as an experience you share in as a reader. I hope to learn things that will enrich this experience, and not impede it.
I'm glad that your Quizbowl background is proving helpful to you! There are many reasons to read a piece of literature--to appreciate it as art, to learn something about ourselves and our world, to escape from ourselves for a while, to "keep company" with the author and characters for a while, to learn about how to write, to learn about why our reading impacts us as it does, to improve our own critical thinking and analytical skills, and so on. We don't usually bring every one of these purposes into every reading situation--in school, we are far more likely to focus on the academic and scholarly aspects of reading literature because those are the areas that the community is paying teachers to help students improve in. That's not to say that the other areas aren't important, of course; it's just that we can usually accomplish them just fine on our own without academic training! =)
ReplyDeleteHi Emily :D
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate how you want to read poetry for ART. Of all the other blogs I've read... meaning 2 others, and from what I have talked about with other APL kids, it seems we are all so worried about analyzing everything, but I think if we take a step back and learn to appreciate it first, then we won't find it so hard.
Erin Donahue
Emily,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you and Erin about literature and poetry being art. It has been hard for me especially to appreciate the books I have read during school because they have us focusing so much on what everything means and how we can use it as evidence to connect to something else but when I read at home it isn't like that. I actually get to ENJOY what I am reading. Also, I really liked your goals I tend not to read the title of things myself.