Opening Their Eyes to Poetry – Starting with Contemporary Free Verse

 Charm Griffin

  The idea of writing poetry stops many students dead in their tracks.  They associate the poetry with endless, ancient, formulaic rules; rules on style, rules on meter, rules on rhyme pattern and rules on form.  This common perception of poetry is the reason many teachers shy away from teaching it with enthusiasm and interest and similarly, why many students approach the subject with contempt and exert minimal effort.  There is an incredible way to interest students in poetry – free verse.  To wet the palate of impressionable students, we should introduce them to poetry through the works of contemporary poets who write in free verse.  The content and style of these modern poets will spark an interest in students and open the door to exploring more traditional poets and their forms.  Rationale for Teaching Contemporary Free VerseWe, as teachers, have a responsibility to model and inform students of the many avenues that can be taken in poetry.  By easing students into poetry through the introduction of contemporary free verse, we can spark an interest in them to explore all the forms of poetry.  Poetry does not have to be written as a sonnet or sestina or haiku; poetry does not have to follow a certain meter or rhyme pattern; poetry does not have to follow any form at all.  But, poetry does have to come from the heart.  This simple statement must be our mantra when we teach poetry in our classrooms.  Contemporary free verse emphasizes personal involvement and the teaching of it must also emphasize this.  This is the main reason why free verse poetry is a great way to involve students in poetry without scaring them away with form.  Without form and meter to

follow, free verse focuses both the writer and the reader on the content of the poem.  We future teachers need to see the incredible opportunity which contemporary free verse provides us; a way to naturally develop, first, an understanding of poetry without forcing students to simply memorize fed information, secondly, and most importantly, the students’ love and appreciation for poetry as a whole.   Fred Barton, a teacher who has experienced with many approaches to teaching poetry found that students begin demanding form after they have experienced and experimented with poetry.  Barton then finds himself teaching “not forms build around an academic abstract, but forms built around students’ goals as poets.  Students learn that form enhances and extends their language, not the other way around” (55).  By starting students with free verse, a teacher is able to spark a flame of interest in poetry that may have been extinguished if begun with the forms and rules of traditional poetry.  Now some basic information necessary for us to know to begin our study of free verse poetry. A Quick Definition & HistoryAs defined in The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory, edited by J.A. Cuddon;

Free verse has no regular meter or line length and depends on natural speech rhythms and the counterpoint of stressed and unstressed syllables.  Though the origins of this form are obscure, there are signs of it in medieval alliterative verse and in the Authorized Bible translations of the Psalms and The Song of Songs.  Many poets throughout history have experimented with this form, including, Milton, Goethe, Bertrand, Hugo, Baudelaire, Smart, Blake and Arnold.  Walt Whitman is the poet commonly referenced for final development and implementation of the form.  Free verse would be widely embraced and employed by many poets, including, Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot, D.H. Lawrence and William Carlos Williams (331).  

Free verse, which Whitman embraced in his pivotal Leaves of Grass (1855), was a rebellion against European influence.  Whitman wished to distance himself from unnatural, imposed rules and Leaves of Grass served as “America’s great poetic Declaration of Independence” (Padgett 85).  It must be emphasized that free verse does not simply throw traditional rules of poetry out the window, but encourages the poet to create his or her own rules.  Free verse has rhythm; a rhythm created by the writer, within the writer.  A short but wonderful poem that demonstrates this fact is William Carlos William’s The Red Wheelbarrow:

so much dependsupon

 a red wheel    barros

 glazed with rainwater

 beside the whitechickens.  (Alison, et al. 945) 

Free verse allows the poet to create with only himself or herself as judge as to how effectively every word, space and line length contributes to the meaning of the poem.  Because of this, free verse, if instructed properly, can elicit a phenomenal, interested response among students who would otherwise be turned off and mortified at the mention of writing as well as reading poetry.  Individuality and personal involvement are central facets of contemporary free verse, two traits that are bound to strike a cord among adolescents. Approaches to Inspire CreativityGeorgia Heard captures the essence of free verse poetry when she says, “beautiful music and rhythm alone do not necessarily make a

poem.  We also need to speak the truth” (65).  The poet (both teacher and student) needs to realize that rhyme and rhythm alone do not make a poem, but neither does pure, unfiltered emotion.  An effective technique to display emotion without being cliché is through the use of creative imagery, which a necessary skill in poetry and other writing endeavors.  Instead of force-feeding technical information on form, meter and rhyme, Heard suggests that teachers begin with free writing to ease students into expressing their inner most (even random, seemingly meaningless) thoughts on paper.  Emotional attachment and involvement provide a starting ground to teach poetry.  A wonderful exercise suggested by Heard is to have students write about their favorite place, which they envision in their head.  For younger students, simply drawing a picture of this place is a great place to start.  Then after the picture is complete, ask the students to add words or phrases to enhance the meaning of the picture.  These words will help readers understand and make a deep connection with this place, just as the author had.  Some good questions to ask the students about the picture are: what are the images associated with this special place, can you remember a certain smell, sight, and taste or other sensory perception that affected your memory or vision of this place?   Continuing with an emphasis on sensory stimulation, your could present a sensory writing workshop, as Nicole Baart did, to incorporate details and stimulate creativity.  She suggests workshops that address only one sensory function, as “too much workshopping can cause sensory overload” (Baart 98).  In a scent workshop, you can place several various contrasting scents into unmarked, unidentifiable containers.  Next prompt each student to smell each of the containers and then spend a few minutes writing about what the smell caused them to remember, think or dream about.  You should encourage the students to use only the sense being addressed, if smelling, use only your nose, close your eyes and breathe the smell, and completely immerse yourself in it.  This quick, loosely focused exercise “teaches students to look past the

ordinary, be aware of the world around them, and find inspiration in perfectly normal, uninspiring places.  The result is often a mixture of personal enlightenment and the expression of self” (Baart 98).  You can focus on each sense similarly, with things to see (other students photographs viewed without explanation), with things to taste (described without using common words for tastes), with things to hear (songs that student may or may not know).  Each of these senses will naturally evoke certain associations that will provide the students with inspiration to write.  Geof Hewitt has also created other methods we can use to inspire and provoke our students to write poetry.  The first is the “Idea Wheel” (see Appendix A).  This wheel consists of three circles placed on top of each other, all sharing the same center.  The first circle prompts the student to pick a topic, any topic.  The next larger circle asks the student to brainstorm attitudes or emotions she has about the topic.  The largest circle probes the student even further, asking them to elaborate on circumstances associated with the topic.  These three circles represent combinations of attitudes and emotions that the student could then transform into poetry.  Next, provide students with a “Chart of Infinite Variables” (see Appendix B).  Though the title seems a little paradoxical, the chart covers important variables a writer should employ while drafting his or her poem.  The chart prompts the students to determine: voice, person, time of action, objects used as symbols, symbolic relationship of these objects, place, the senses.  This simple breakdown allows the students to conquer what at times may seem a daunting task, writing a poem.  To complete the writing process, provide your students with a template for making their own books (see Appendix C).  Knowledge that their work is going to be published and public provides students with extra incentive, motivation and pride to really put effort into their work.  The publication process finalizes, formalizes and provides the students with a formal audience.   Now we need to discuss ways to move beyond inspiration and guide our students to creation. 

 Beyond Brainstorming…CreatingStudents can be encouraged to put ideas into writing in several different, proven ways.  Many writers on this topic have found that a great approach to getting students to put their ideas, emotions, dreams, etc. onto paper is by simply asking them to write a short sentence or paragraph about what has been inspired in them, possibly through the use of one of the above mentioned brainstorming techniques.  Then ask the students to read aloud the prose they have written to find the natural rhythm in their speech.  Tell them at each natural pause, a line break can be inserted.  Hewitt provides his students with five ways to create line breaks: 1. Syllabics, 2. Rhythm, 3. For humor, surprise or other effect, 4. To undercut the meaning of the line that is being broken, or to establish an irony or contradiction, 5. For physical shape (69).   Once again, we see that form can be part of the creative process behind poetry, but form in itself does not inspire creativity.  Form should follow the creative, passionate drive that must be at the heart of any great poem.  A great example on how to transform prose into poetry through line breaks is provided by Fletcher’s “Waiting for the Splash,” which began as:

Last night after you hung up I wrote you a poem hoping it might change your heart.  This morning I tell myself: Get serious, Man.  Someone once compared writing a poem and hoping it will change the world to dropping rose petals down a deep well, waiting for a splash.  

And progressed as (// representing line breaks):Last night // after you hung up // I wrote you a poem // hoping it might // change your heart. // This morning // I tell myself: // Get serious, man. // Someone once compared // writing a poem // and hoping it will // change the world // to dropping rose petals // down a deep well, //

waiting for the splash. And resulted in:Last nightafter you hung upI wrote you a poemhoping it mightchange your heart. This morningI tell myself:Get serious, man.Someone once comparedwriting a poemand hoping it willchange the worldto dropping rose petalsdown a deep well  waiting for the splash.                                                                                    (66-68)Through this simple and amazingly natural process, Fletcher was able to transform a few sentences into a very powerful and thoughtful poem of longing and desire.  After the students have inserted line breaks, have them read the piece once again to make sure the pauses enhance the meaning and do not detract from what they are trying to convey.  Fletcher says, “each line should suggest a single image” (68).  The line breaks allow the reader to virtually hear the poet’s voice while reading the piece, as though the poet were reading it aloud.  Along these lines, Heard states that “line breaks are a personal decision for the poet.  There is no right or wrong.  There is only what is best for the poem as a whole” (60).  The rhythm of the poem holds as much meaning

as the words themselves.  White space on the page has the same effect as line breaks – “it’s an issue of sound and silence” (Heard 61).  Let students play with the space between lines, even let them go so far as to write poetry in a shape.  Allow the students to choose a shape that emphasizes the meaning of the poem – lines do not even need to be straight!  Fletcher provides us with an excellent example of white space, perfectly designed to enhance the meaning and tone of the poem, which he wrote, entitled Where John Curtain Drowned;                                                He was a tall kid,                                                a magician on the basketball court.                                                He could dribble with both hands.                                                 I once saw him make a shot                                                from half court, perfect swish,                                                but he never learned to swim.                                                 On my brother’s boat                                                we sail past the spot                                                where John Curtain drowned.                                                 No buoy, no marker, nothing.                                                 When we get closer                                                I stop talking                                                 I hold my breath                                                 and don’t breath again                                                til we’ve sailed safely past.                                                                                                (71)Even altering the paper size, style, color, etc. can add meaning to the work and encourage personal expression in the student.   Poetry is and can be fun, at any age! 

 Encourage students to experiment with their work, try it several different ways, with different line breaks and stanza breaks.  They will naturally see how arrangement can alter the emphasis and meaning of a poem.  Heard suggests asking five questions while working with students during this revising process:

Do you like the way it sounds read aloud?What’s the mood of the poem?  What’s its rhythm?Do your lines and spacing help the rhythm?Is this the way you want your poem read? (64)

An example that Georgia Heard used in her classroom was to show students two different versions of William Carlos William’s “Poem”:

PoemAs the catclimbed overthe top of the jamclosetfirst the rightforefoot carefullythen the hindstepped down into the pit ofthe emptyflowerpot       

       

PoemAs the cat climbed over the top ofThe jamcloset first the right forefootCarefully then the hind stepped downInto the pit of the empty flowerpot          Heard’s students decided, after much deliberation, that the first form of the poem suited the content most appropriately.  They stated that the first poem sounded more like “the cat’s movement, creeping around the room and into the flowerpot” (Heard 59).  It is amazing how intuitive students can be if given the right material, motivation and encouragement.  After such a demonstration, students will more clearly understand the meaning and importance that line breaks, spacing and physical form lend to the poem.  They also now have seen how simple prose can be transformed into poetry.  A Poetry WorkshopThe idea of genre study has been long applauded by innovators in

the field such as Randy Bomer and Lucy Calkins.  They have both found that introducing a genre through in-depth exposure and analysis assists students in understanding key elements, techniques and style behind specific genres.  This knowledge and familiarity allows them to apply the knowledge learned about said genre by writing in genre they have studied.  Such an approach was developed and applied by a group of five teachers in Santa Rosa, California, to provide students with a new and interesting approach to learning to read and write poetry.  They had found that the traditional way of teaching poetry; teaching form and then having students mimic chosen forms was killing any interest in poetry among students.  Together these five teachers created a unit where the goals “were to have students read widely in a variety of types of poetry and respond to what they read, to have them read poetry aloud, to have them recite poetry and interpret poems via performance, to have them hear practicing poets read their work, to have them write original poetry and share it publicly, and to have them respond to each others’ work” (Kammer 64).  To begin the unit, you should present the students with a collection of poems, chosen by you and your colleagues (see Appedix D-K for ideas).  Give students time to review the collection and make any initial comments or ask preliminary questions.  Encourage your students to write comments, questions and responses in the margins of the collection.  In this very simple fashion, your students began connecting with the poems in a more connected, personal way.  You can even try to bring in practicing poets to read their own work to the students.  Seeing adults, who were passionate about and committed to poetry, encouraged and engaged students with the act of writing poetry (Kammer 64).  You can require students to keep a journal in which they would reflect on their understanding and appreciation for the genre.  You can also encourage students to collect any poems they find and like in this journal; it can serve as a catchall for anything poetry.  Within the school, provide students with class time to browse

through poetry collections, which you can arrange with the assistance of the library staff.  Students were also encouraged to find poems on their own, which would be compiled into a classroom anthology.  These journals were “not intended to be graded for accuracy or perfection of usage and style, [freeing] writers to express more individually their understanding, concerns, and questions” (Kammer 64).  You can require students to share weekly from their journals; be it their own poem, a poem they liked or a personal response to a poem.  Culminating activities centered on publication, response, and performance.  A website was created on which students were required to post two original poems and respond to at least five other student poems.  This simple process, while encouraging peer response, also forces the students to become aware of their audience.  Students should be encouraged or required to memorize and perform a poem of their choosing.  Finally, at the end of the unit, you can require students to participate in a poetry slam.  The rules of the slam conducted in Santa Rosa, California were as follows: “students could perform alone or as part of a group; they could incorporate music if they chose; they had a maximum of three minutes to perform and they were limited to a single, original, poem” (Kammer 64).  This generated an enormous response among the student body.  Shy, timid students stepped forward in the spotlight to shine and everyone who attended had fun and shared their newfound appreciation for poetry.  Most importantly, this activity supports our belief, as teachers, that poetry could be fun and well received, if packaged properly. A Note on Grading PoetryThough many people believe that poetry is so subjective that makes objective grading impossible, you must grade your student’s poetry.  If a student’s poetry is not graded, students get the impression that poetry does not matter enough to receive a grade, thus marginalizing its importance from the start.  There are several

grading options to consider while developing a poetry unit: no grade introduction piece, student created rubrics, collection evaluation and conferencing.  The no-grade introduction piece allows the student to become familiar with your expectations, without risking a grade or having it count.  A no-grade introduction piece, in this unit of study, is simply a poem written by the students to be mock evaluated by the teacher to establish goals and expectations.  Both the students and the teacher can determine the adjustment period, or number of no-grade pieces, needed for each new topic.  Once the class feels comfortable with the topic, graded pieces will begin.  A wonderful idea for grading student poetry is the student-designed rubric.  For this method of grading, students will work collaboratively to create a rubric on how they think their poetry should be graded.  For this exercise, have your class read several “great” poems (most likely from the canon of free verse), and determine what made these poems “great”.  Through this process your students will discern the characteristics of a “great” poem and will strive to incorporate determined characteristics into their own work.  Several categories that were suggested by students include: “creativity/originality, imagery, readability/flow, style, detail/development, clarity, mechanical cleanliness, conformity to curricular requirements (e.g. form), effectiveness/cleverness in use of language and language devices (e.g. simile, metaphor), and complexity of thought” (LeNoir 59).  This demonstrates that given the proper environment and encouragement, students can and will discover key elements in a successful poem.  Another option for grading student poetry is to collect student collections of their poetry.  By grading in this holistic manner, the teacher is able to grasp the students’ larger potential by viewing a broader range of work.  For example, “a student uses nonstandard spelling in one piece, but the teacher is not sure if it was an intentional attempt toward a particular effect, a quick look at other

pieces may offer evidence one way or the other” (LeNoir 59).  You can work with your students to establish criteria for these portfolios, to maintain student involvement and understanding of the grading process. Lastly, time permitting; a student’s work can be graded through a conference/negotiation process.  During this meeting, the student provides the teacher with background context, which allows the teacher to see the meaning that the student is trying to portray through the work.  Of course, this process also allows the student to negotiate the criteria by which his or her work is evaluated. Regardless of the grading process you finally choose, it is essential to provide our students with as much feedback as possible.  This can be through conversations discussing their work, through written responses to their pieces, through whatever means possible, but we must communicate with them.  We need to answer for students several questions that Hewitt believes any author desires to know:

·       Did the reader receive the message or feeling I intended?·       Did my message/feeling have any effect on the reader?·       What can I do differently, in this or future poems? (89) 

We cannot forget that though poetry is a wonderful, personal experience, we are still trying to hone our student’s skills into those of a thoughtful, skillful writer.  We must prepare them so they can succeed at the many high stakes tests they will face in this state throughout their secondary education.  By introducing them to contemporary free verse, then delving into more traditional forms of poetry, we can stimulate an interest in an area that is sure to show up on a test.  Through thoughtful analysis of poetry coupled with the creation of poetry, they will enhance their critical thinking skills enabling them to meet and exceed NYS Regents Learning Standards 1-4.   For these reasons, we must make poetry fun and accessible, something that contemporary free verse makes easy!

  

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