Poetry is fun.. kinda.

I’ve noticed from my long career as an English student that I’ve learned to really hate poetry. Although, I know I shouldn’t say that since as a prospective teacher, I know that I would have to teach poetry, but I never liked how poetry is very unpredictable. When I was in high school, my impression of poetry came from all the Shakespeare that I had to read (even though I know that that isn’t really poetry) but at the time I figured all poetry was similar in that it had a general rhyme scheme and pattern of organization. I was also forced to read a lot of Robert Frost poetry, which is usually pretty well structured. Then as I took classes in college such as contemporary poetry, I noticed that much of the poetry I was required to read did not follow any rhyme scheme and even the stanzas had varying rules to how they are structured. So I began to view poetry as a kind of puzzle where I needed to unlock clues to the meaning or structure (if there was any) and it was very frustrating for me. This is also the same reason why I didn't especially enjoy writing about poetry as well.

However, I noticed that I really enjoyed writing my own poetry because the loose rules to writing free form poetry seemed very liberating. I love how I can just take an idea stemming from a simple inspiration and I can just let my creative juices flow. Lately, I have adopted my own style of poetry that combines simple ABA rhyme scheme with some alliteration and it was actually pretty fun and interesting considering my generally negative view of poetry. Although I must admit that writing about poetry helped me learn how to properly structure my own poetry the way I wanted to.

As for how my experiences with poetry will inform how I teach it, as a result of my positive and negative experiences, I will teach my students to focus more on the emotions involved in reading poetry and to focus on the creative aspect and the freedom of poetry. This way, they won't feel bogged down by the frustration of breaking down poetry, but rather to indulge in the creative energy that it can evoke.