Teachable Poems

[Il Penseroso]

I very well could start this in the Teaching section, but I think I'll get a more diverse response here, hopefully.

I am working toward a collection of poems I have come across that strike me as accessible for beginners to poetry while still being complex enough to generate interesting discussion and reflection pieces. Personally, I think the New York School poets, particularly O'Hara, Koch, and Padgett have an ease of style that can be appealing to younger (and older) readers.

Are there any poems or poets you think are particularly well-suited for teaching poetry in secondary grades (for students between 13 and 18 years old)?

I would appreciate some translated poetry as well as English pieces.

Thanks for your help.

[Dinkleberry2010]

Walter De La Mare
Joyce Kilmer
Emily Dickinson
Walt Whitman
Edgar Allan Poe
Robert Browning
Alfred Tennyson

[Il Penseroso]

I'm looking, mostly, for contemporaneous or otherwise non-canonical poems that are less like dead languages. I will also teach the traditionals, but I think, in order to get students interested in poetry, it has to be taught as something still living, a topic constantly being expanded as each lives disparate yet somehow unified moments of existence.

Who is Joyce Kilmer?

[OrphanPip]

Sylvia Plath
Theodore Roethke particularly ''My Papa's Waltz''
E. Arlington Robinson

All I can think of off the top of my head.

[quasimodo1]

The Oxford Book of American Poetry (chosen and edited by David Lehman) -- The Vintage Book of Contemporary World Poetry (edited by J.D. McClatchy) -all translated quite well into English q1

[mal4mac]

I wasn't that interested in poetry at school. Until Macbeth! I'm still not that interested in much contemporary poetry. So give teenagers like me a chance, assume that not all teenagers will react to modern poetry, but some might react to Shakespeare. (Dead language indeed! What could be more alive?) Other good plays that might work with teenagers, for obvious reasons:

Romeo and Juliet
Hamlet
Twelfth Night

Modern poets that might work: Philip Larkin ("They **** up your mum and dad" can't fail!), Ted Hughes ("Crow").

[LitNetIsGreat]

Blake might be a good option, simple yet complex and I've seen students take to it in the past. I would say that is a good idea to go with what interests you as well, if you have passionate interest in the things you are teaching I always think it is transferred, or at least, it has a chance of being transferred! Personally, where possible, I have come away from trying to pander to students' interests, as in only selecting things that are within their immediate circle, I think it is important to expand their immediate vision and hit them with things that they may not have experienced. For example I have no reserves about throwing Mozart on or of reading Checkov – I’ve done that with some success. I've yet to have the opportunity to use Milton, but why the hell not? Give them a few extracts from Paradise Lost book one or two, something fiery and descriptive:


...If there be in Hell
Fear to be worse destroyed: what can be worse
Than to dwell here, driv’n out from bliss, condemned
Where pain of unextinguishable fire
Must exercise us with hope of end
The vassals of his anger, when the scourge
Inexorably, and the torturing hour
Calls us to penance?

You could then maybe balance that with something more pastoral like from book 5:


Awake, the moring shines, and the fresh field
Calls us; we lose the prime, to mark how spring
Our tended plants, how blows the citron grove,
What drops the myrrh, and what the balmy reed,
How Nature paints her colours, how the bee
Sits on the bloom extracting liquid sweet.

I have come to think that if you think literature is worth teaching then you have to prove it!

[kelby_lake]

Some of the obscurer Shakespearean sonnets, as opposed to the overdone ones.
Blake's good.

Just because something's modern doesn't mean that they'll necessarily like it. Look for interesting fresh ways to look at the classic poems. I believe Rufus Wainwright set one of the sonnets (maybe 29?) to music.

[Nick Capozzoli]

It sounds like what you want to do is create an anthology, i.e., a collection of of exemplary poems. This is a great idea, and there have been many attempts to assemble such collections, such as the Oxford and Norton anthologies.

Lots of choices need to be made. Poems in English? (Do you include translations?). Types of poems? (Short lyrics, longer narrative and dramatic poems?). And of course the editor will want to choose "excellent" poems, which often comes down to picking poems that the editor admires, for whatever reasons. Most anthologies choose popularly admired poems, which means those poems that are taught in the schools, and which leads to a somewhat problematic (for some at least) definition of poetic "excellence" as that which is "popular." Stephen King, for example, is more "popular" with modern readers of fiction than William Faulkner. Maya Angelou's poetry seems to be more popular than that of Wallace Stevens.

My favorite anthology of short poems is one that I read for a composition class in college back in 1972. It is Quest for Reality, edited by Ken Fields and Yvor Winters. My only criticism of it is that it leaves out poetry that I like (including stuff that was written since it was first published).

[Il Penseroso]

I didn't mean to imply that I was not going to teach stuff like Blake, Keats, Shakespeare, and any number of other poets commonly found in textbooks, but that what I was looking for in seeking help here were suggestions that I couldn't easily find just by perusing an anthology of Britain's, America's, or World "greats." The suggestions thus far have been poets that are commonly found in anthologies, poets that in order to find their works all I need to do is look through the Norton Anthologies I already have. What I was hoping to find, instead, were poems not available in those anthologies, poems that may speak to unique experiences students have today. I appreciate what has been offered, but I don't think I initially made myself clear.

[Il Penseroso]

My favorite anthology of short poems is one that I read for a composition class in college back in 1972. It is Quest for Reality, edited by Ken Fields and Yvor Winters. My only criticism of it is that it leaves out poetry that I like (including stuff that was written since it was first published).

Could you refer me to any specific poems or poets that you particularly enjoyed?

[Il Penseroso]

Just because something's modern doesn't mean that they'll necessarily like it. Look for interesting fresh ways to look at the classic poems. I believe Rufus Wainwright set one of the sonnets (maybe 29?) to music.

I'll try looking up that Wainwright song.

I realize that there is never a guarantee that students like what their teacher finds interesting; however, I think making students aware that poetry is still happening by also including contemporary poems is beneficial for their learning. I also would like to have students do their own writing, and I would like them to have a picture of what skilled poets produce today. Too often, I think, students are led to believe that if a piece does not have a determined rhyme scheme, it's not poetry (even Whitman). I think this is partially because what is always taught is poetry that was written when end-rhyme was very much in fashion, which isn't necessarily the case today.

[Il Penseroso]

The Oxford Book of American Poetry (chosen and edited by David Lehman) -- The Vintage Book of Contemporary World Poetry (edited by J.D. McClatchy) -all translated quite well into English q1

Quasi,
Do you have any more specific suggestions for individual poets or poems?

[JBI]

Sir Patrick Spens [sic], much of Frost if you do it right - best to just get s primer anthology and work from there. As for modern poetry, depends who to be honest, as with all poetry.

[Il Penseroso]

As for modern poetry, depends who to be honest, as with all poetry.

That's why I was hoping for a variety of suggestions, to not rely just on what I like or think is "teachable."

[blp]

I like lots of the stuff that can loosely be referred to as the work of Black Mountain poets, which makes them closely related to New York School poets. I know I've mentioned these before on lit forum, but a couple of favourites are Paul Blackburn's short tribute to William Carlos Williams, Phonecall to Rutherford, and Robert Creeley's mildly psychotic If You. Both can be found with commentary in Joseph M. Conte's Unending Design: the forms of Postmodern Poetry, which is out of print, but, I think, well worth trying to get hold of anyway as it's a lovely read.

cummings usually goes down well, doesn't he? Might be interesting to talk about some of his pastiches on archaic English poetry, thy fingers make early flowers of all things, and all in green went my love riding, and how they relate to both ancient and modern traditions. In a similar vein, though much harder to decode (almost impossible, I'd say) is John Ashbery's wonderful A Portrait of Little J.A. in a Prospect of Flowers, much of which is written in an Elizabethan style and the title of which is a direct parody of a poem of Marvel's. Might be a bit much for a pre-college class, though. Or perhaps not.

Are you going to teach any Berryman? Some of his Dream Songs would go down great, I'd have thought, especially the one where Henry tries to remember whom he hacked up with an axe, but 'no one is ever missing.' I love that one.

Translated stuff. How about a bit of Max Jacob? Simple and funny, but unconventional. You could do it alongside some Gertrude Stein and show pictures by Picasso. 'All these people were friends and this is what they came up with. Make of that what you will.'

Duino Elegies might be rushing it, but you could go for some shorter Rilke. I especially love, You Who Never Arrived.

[Il Penseroso]

I think that Rilke could go over well, and I'll also look more into his poems responding to statuary (maybe "Archaic Torso of Apollo" could be taught to high schoolers, though I can envision little ****heads running off with themes of homosexuality). I've never even read the Duino Elegies.

I think ekphrastic poems in general could be fun and used as a prompt for their own writing.

I would love to teach Ashbery in a classroom, but I think he's (mostly) a bit intimidating, though "The Painter" could be used, and maybe "A Portrait of Littlle J.A." I've taught "Paradoxes and Oxymorons" in a college class of non-literature types and it was largely unsuccessful. I also think it would be fun to give highschoolers a few of Koch's avant-garde play/poems for performing and perhaps have them write their own.

Berryman and cummings are definite additions to my list, and surprisingly I had forgotten about the former. Thanks for the reminder :).

I'll look more into the Black Mountain poets. I've heard them mentioned often, but haven't read up on them.

[Il Penseroso]

James Tate might also be interesting, though the poems I like (from the few of his I've read online) are a bit "confrontational" for highschoolers.

Robert Hayden would probably go over well.

Margaret Atwood's "The City Planners" is good.

[blp]

Don't know Tate or Hayden. Will look them up.

As an aside, I used to work in an office where the writing department sent around a poem a day via email for a while. One of my picks was Ashbery's 'Rutabagas and Farm Implements in a Landscape', which I thought might have general appeal because it was about Popeye. Everyone was utterly stumped by it. One respondent declared, 'It's not a poem.' Still, an explanation of the sestina form brought it into focus for some of them.

[kelby_lake]

Could always do 'Education for Leisure' (can't remember if that's the exact title) by carol Ann Duffy. Recently caused a debate about whether it should be allowed on the GCSE syllabus, as it's about knife crime.

[Virgil]

I don't think you said how old your students are, but I take it around high school age. If you're looking for contemporary, that's always hit and miss. You know in the US we have an annual (or is it two year?) poet laureate and you can go down the list and sample their poems to see which would be appropriate. Here's a list of American poet laureates: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poet_Laureate_Consultant_in_Poetry_to_the_Library_ of_Congress. I've read something or other from many of those but nothing really sticks out in my memory. Check out Mark Strand. His work might appeal to students. Hass and Pinsky are outstanding poets on that list, though I don't know if they'll appeal to the young. You probably have a feel for that. I've currently been reading Denise Levertoff and find her work quite good. I guess she was never selected to be poet laureate. Also Dana Gioia comes to mind as someone I like. If you're looking for a fun poet from a previous generation, check Lawrence Ferlinghetti.

You can find some sampling of all those poets here: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/.

[Katy North]

If you're looking for uber modern, I'd go with Billy Collins... very clear and concise poetry that is easily understood, and somewhat "popular".

Another good poet for teenagers is Stephen Crane. Very stark, short, yet thought provoking poems.

Personally, as a teenager, I also enjoyed "My Last Duchess" by Browning, "Kubala Khan", anything by Walt Whitman, and Shelley's Ozymandias.