I can’t wait to use this book teach poetic forms to my
students! In the introduction to his
specialized poetry book, A Kick in the
Head: An Everyday Guide to Poetic Forms, Paul B. Janeczko asks and answers
the question so many students wonder about: “Why…do poems have rules?” His answer: “…rules make the writing of a
poem more challenging, more exciting.” He
then draws a simile, comparing the rules of writing of poetry to the rules of
playing a game; the rules make the game more exciting. I chose to read this book this week because I
know that I should be teaching more poetry, but my students hate it and have hated it for years. When I saw this as a suggested text then
checked it out of the library, I couldn’t believe my good fortune. This was just the book I had been searching
for to make teaching poetry a little less painful for both my students and
myself!
From the front flap (it holds an acrostic poem) to the last
page, A Kick in the Head takes
readers on a journey through the most simple forms of poetry through to some of
the most complex in terms of rhyme scheme, rhythm, and meaning. Starting with the couplet and ending with the
pantoum, Janeczko offers examples of poetry by great poets along with a brief,
easy-to-understand description of each form. To simplify matters even more, he includes notes on each form at the end so that readers could also use the book as a reference.
All of the poetry contained in A Kick in the Head, for the most
part, easily understandable…meaning that none of poems require a huge amount of
time to get to their meaning. Students
(and I) get so frustrated when they just don’t get the poetry they have
to read. I really enjoy that, because
most of the poems are humorous, the book reads more as entertainment than as an
educational text, and Chris Raschka’s abstract watercolor, ink, and torn paper illustrations, sometimes involving a mule
who has gotten himself somehow involved in an aspect of the given poem,
supplement the light-hearted nature of the book. No longer is poetry a stuffy genre meant only for the brainiacs who stroke their beards as they ponder the meaning of life...it can be fun, too! In some cases, Janeczko offers silly versions of serious forms. For example, he selects a sonnet by William Shakespeare, then, on the facing page, includes a parody of that same poem by another poet using the same form. What is of particular interest is that the
description of the form is in tiny letters, hidden a little bit from view. The intention is that the reader will read the
poem first and possibly try to figure out what the definition of the form is
before looking it up.
Our reading in the text this week suggested beginning and
ending each day with a poem.
Unfortunately, I don’t know that it’s necessarily possible or realistic
for a high school teacher to do that. What
I could do, however, would be to introduce my students to a different poetic
form each week and encourage them to try their hand at writing each one. I don’t want to give them any more
constraints than the form with which to play because, in many ways, the form is
constraining enough! Since Janeczko
begins with the couplet, a relatively simple form, the students would have
something easy(ish) to cut their teeth on and build their confidence as they
work through to some of the more complex rhythm and rhyme patterns. Perhaps part of the assignment could be to
look up, properly cite, and publish a collection of famous poems written in
that week’s form along with the student’s own work on our class website. There are so many ideas floating around my head right now...
BIG QUESTION:...
Well, I can't really come up with a big question right now since the challenge for my students will come with further study and the attempts at their own poetry!
BIG QUESTION:...
Well, I can't really come up with a big question right now since the challenge for my students will come with further study and the attempts at their own poetry!
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