Poetry and Sex

Guess I should have seen that one coming.


I see you slipped the word poetry into your title to garner more views there. Very clever.

I recall, very clearly, what turned a lot of (largely) boys into if not lovers of poetry then at least acceptors of it: the poetry of the Great War.

That may not have especial resonance with your kids - but still, something to think about.

Well, I'm a 10th grader.

I can't really say much in this situation though. I remember HATING poetry when I was in fifth grade. When asked to write it I fussed and fussed. I'm guessing mainly it's because, most poetry is complex for young people. Make sure you get some poetry to read, where it's challenging but not TOO challenging. Ease them into it. Ya know? Though, how I started to love and write poetry on my free time was when my teacher actually sat down, explained to me how it all worked and actually made me write ten different poems. After that, I always viewed poetry as fascinating. I don't know why though. Just get a poem where the topic is relate-able and interesting and it should hook their attention. Make sure to explain the meanings behind it as you go along. That always helps.

And for the head in the gutters type of deal. Yeah, my classmates are just like that and it's so annoying. No matter how you word it or anything like that. They're always going to find someway to make it seem like it's sexually related.

Does academia kill my love of poetry. It depends really. I like studying poetry the most when I'm reading and studying a poem or poet and find his inspirations and reasons for writing. That, and the stories and forms of poetry are a particular interest. What can turn me away from poetry is when people try to insist that what they like in poetry must be what a 'good poem' is. Some say poetry is all about imagery, then what about William William? Some say poetry is all about beauty, but what about Childe Roland or the poems of WW1?

To me poetry is about whatever entertains you. It does not have to 'speak' it does not have to tell a story, it does not have to entertain you. It just has to be interesting and not-prose.

I never enjoyed poetry until I left school, so I guess academia does kill poetry in some sense. One thing I would suggest however is telling them rap or some types of HipHop are a form of poetry which is what originally got me started writing poems. Io would write "battle lyrics" or things just for a laugh, I never took it seriously to begin with. Over time I began to expand the topics I wrote about and take it more seriously.I don't know what type of school your from but that type of thing appeals to a lot of young people these days, famous rap artists such as Tupac had whole books of poetry (some of which is pretty damn good imo) which might appeal to some of your students more, and open their minds to what it's all really about.
http://www.alleyezonme.com/poetry/
You could even analyse popular song lyrics, some tend to be pretty poetic. Bob Dylans older songs for example tend to have some depth to them.

I'm not much of a poetry person, but there is one poem that has stuck with me for years. William Yeats - "Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven".
The reason why I like this one poem so much is because it's just so simple. It's easy to understand and empathize with, you don't need to dissect every sentence to understand what Yeats was trying to say.

I guess my advice would be to find something that your students can identify with. Something both simplistic and beautiful at the same time. I hope that makes sense.

I think for poetry to really reach someone, it has to relate to them in some way. Not everyone is going to be moved or inspired by the same poems. I studied lots of poems in school, but most of them didn't really stick with me. The ones that did were T.S. Eliot's work, most notably "The Hollow Men," because I felt like an outsider at the time and could relate, and Dylan Thomas's "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" because it spoke to the fighter/survivalist part of my personality. Likewise, a poem about unrequited love probably won't speak to me as much, but surely it would for someone else.

Since you're a teacher, you might like the memoir "The Freedom Writers" by Erin Gruwell and her students. The teacher started with issues in the students' lives, like gang wars and intolerance, and then picked books that related to those themes, like Anne Frank's diary and Romeo and Juliet.

You could do something similar- find out what issues affect the students most, pick poems relating to those issues, and analyze the poem in terms of how they might relate to it.

Good luck!!

LOL. Kids are cool

I wouldn't take it to heart. I probably would have started out with famous but funny poems. Or entertaining, or something that has a message that isn't to heavy. I didn't like poetry when I was a kid either. Not the "boring kind". But I loved the rhythm and rhymes of some because they were fun. I also liked the one that told stories like the Raven.

In the end though, kids make fun of stuff because that's what kids do I guess. If it's heavy emotions or a heavy statement, some are going to either laugh it off or doze it off. It's what I would have done, lol.

At least, if your talking about high school and down. Not sure what class you got.

Maybe you could have them bring in their own poems or poetry that they like. Even the ones who bring in something silly or goofy like the lyrics to Sir Mix-A-Lot's "Baby Got Back". Poetry expresses humor too and if it makes people laugh that's a good thing. Nothing wrong with being silly. It's still poetry in a way.

LOL. I'm imagining it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4he79krseU