Can Poetry be for Everyone?

As a child, I always loved poetry. My dad introduced me to Shel Silverstein, and I loved it. One of my favorite poems follows:

A hippo sandwich is easy to make.

All you do is simply take

One slice of bread,

One slice of cake,

Some mayonnaise,

One onion ring,

One hippopotamus,

One piece of string,

A dash of pepper–

That ought to do it.

And now comes the problem…

Biting into it!

Silverstein’s poems are great for children. When I began to learn about other poems however, I hated it. Still to this day I find it hard to enjoy a poem that isn’t silly or doesn’t rhyme. I believe that most children feel the same way. I think it is because as students’, we are forced to read poetry that we do not understand, nor do we like. I remember reading poems that were several pages long and I had to explain what that poem meant. I found this part of poetry dreadful.

So how do we avoid this as future teachers?

To begin, we need to introduce all types of poetry to our students. Instead of only presenting poems that are silly and rhyme, we should introduce more meaningful poems at a younger age. As students’ get older, we need to still incorporate “fun” poems in the curriculum. Believe it or not, there is a type of poetry for everyone. We need to make students’ more aware of all of their options. Secondly, we should be more careful when we ask students’ to write poems. Instead of forcing students’ to write a particular type of poem, we should allow them some freedom. In the book, “Love That Dog,” Jack is a student who doesn’t understand poetry or why he has to write it. But because the teacher encouraged him to continue writing and allowed him a sense of freedom, he started to enjoy it. Also, we need to be considerate to students’ embarrassed about writing poetry. Young boys especially feel that poetry is for girls. So to end embarrassment, we shouldn’t force students’ to read their poems out loud. In “Love That Dog,” the teacher motivated students’ by displaying their finished work anonymously. This allowed students’ to read each others work without feeling embarrassed. By the end of the book, Jack became so confident that he signed his name. Jack’s teacher found poems that were relatable and inspiring to Jack. Because of Jack’s teacher, he finally could open up about his beloved dog through writing. After reading “Love That Dog,” I wonder how Jack’s attitude towards poetry would have been, had the teacher approached poetry in a different way…

I don’t understand the poem

about the red wheelbarrow and the white chickens

and why so much depends upon them.

If that is a poem

about the red wheelbarrow and the white chickens

then any words can be a poem.

You’ve just got to

make

short

lines.

                                                                                                          – Love That Dog