As I mentioned in my last post, poetry is my strength. I absolutely love to immerse myself in poems; whether reading or writing them. Therefore, I’m hoping it’s going to be quite prominent within my teaching practice, and my future classroom. Of course it won’t all be poetry, but poetry will be there (hopefully) as a positive influence.
I know the current anthology for GCSE is Moon on the Tides. My work as a Teaching Assistant has allowed me to read some of the poems included in the anthology, and to see some of them being taught. Absolutely fantastic experiences, and I really enjoyed reading the poems, but I’m not going to talk about that in this post.
I believe poetry’s got a bit of a bad reputation, especially among teenagers, so I intend to have a bit of a crusade to prove that poetry can be written and read by absolutely anyone. It does not solely belong to scholars, Oxbridge, the fabulously rich or the poor: it is for everyone. Now I’m not quite a one-man army: Shake the Dust is a fantastic opportunity for young writers and performers; and I’m gathering information about other performance poetry events, and more traditional readings. I hope to attend more of these during the coming year(s) so I can prove to students just how vibrant poetry can be; that it doesn’t just belong on the page; and perhaps even give them the opportunity to showcase their own work. [This is me being a dreamer again].
Until then, however, I’ve been doing what I do best: reading. I’ve been reading quite a range of poetry, from the established poets, to new poets and works I’ve stumbled across online; but I’ve barely even scratched the surface of the immense world of poetry.
So, I’ve been flicking through The Bloodaxe Book of 20th Century Poetry (ed. Edna Longley). The blurb describes this book as an “epoch-marking anthology”, in which “Longley shows you the key poets of the 20th Century, and through interlinking commentary points up the connections between them as well as their relationship with the continuing poetic traditions of these islands”. That pretty much sums it up. For a less professional review: this book is a great introduction to the work of 20th Century poets from Britain and Ireland. It features the work of 59 poets, ranging from Hardy, Yeats and Lawrence to Shapcott, Duhig and Armitage; via Sassoon, MacCaig and Adcock. Longley’s introductions accompanying each poet are great summaries of the poet’s works and place within the UK’s poetic traditions (Ok, now I’m stealing phrases from the blurb). I really love dipping in and out of this book. It’s already led me to go out and buy further works by some of the featured poets: Muldoon and Shapcott, particularly. I enjoy Longley’s writing style too. One day I will read her critical essays.
I know the current anthology for GCSE is Moon on the Tides. My work as a Teaching Assistant has allowed me to read some of the poems included in the anthology, and to see some of them being taught. Absolutely fantastic experiences, and I really enjoyed reading the poems, but I’m not going to talk about that in this post.
I believe poetry’s got a bit of a bad reputation, especially among teenagers, so I intend to have a bit of a crusade to prove that poetry can be written and read by absolutely anyone. It does not solely belong to scholars, Oxbridge, the fabulously rich or the poor: it is for everyone. Now I’m not quite a one-man army: Shake the Dust is a fantastic opportunity for young writers and performers; and I’m gathering information about other performance poetry events, and more traditional readings. I hope to attend more of these during the coming year(s) so I can prove to students just how vibrant poetry can be; that it doesn’t just belong on the page; and perhaps even give them the opportunity to showcase their own work. [This is me being a dreamer again].
Until then, however, I’ve been doing what I do best: reading. I’ve been reading quite a range of poetry, from the established poets, to new poets and works I’ve stumbled across online; but I’ve barely even scratched the surface of the immense world of poetry.
So, I’ve been flicking through The Bloodaxe Book of 20th Century Poetry (ed. Edna Longley). The blurb describes this book as an “epoch-marking anthology”, in which “Longley shows you the key poets of the 20th Century, and through interlinking commentary points up the connections between them as well as their relationship with the continuing poetic traditions of these islands”. That pretty much sums it up. For a less professional review: this book is a great introduction to the work of 20th Century poets from Britain and Ireland. It features the work of 59 poets, ranging from Hardy, Yeats and Lawrence to Shapcott, Duhig and Armitage; via Sassoon, MacCaig and Adcock. Longley’s introductions accompanying each poet are great summaries of the poet’s works and place within the UK’s poetic traditions (Ok, now I’m stealing phrases from the blurb). I really love dipping in and out of this book. It’s already led me to go out and buy further works by some of the featured poets: Muldoon and Shapcott, particularly. I enjoy Longley’s writing style too. One day I will read her critical essays.
I
mentioned Caroline Bird in my previous post, but her collection, Watering Can, really impresses me. I hope
to have a copy of this in my classroom, and I will be recommending it to older
pupils. It’s such a witty collection of poems. I especially like ‘Impartial
Information’. It is a poem that doesn’t get lost in tangled word-play. It is
raw, blunt, direct. Brilliant. This collection contains such a fantastic
variety of poetic styles and techniques. I really love it, and its potential as
a classroom aid and a good collection for older students to read.
I’ve also been reading Jen Campbell’s The Hungry Ghost Festival. This is a collection that I would recommend to both the older pupil and adult alike. It’s a collection about growing up, looking back on the growing up process. Again this collection demonstrates a wide range of poetic styles, but I think what really comes through here is a strong voice. This is story telling through poetry. This is what makes it so accessible. This collection is witty and poignant and strengthened by a sense of the real and the honest. I can believe the stories in the poems. I really hope to incorporate this collection into my teaching.
And finally, I stumbled across the work of Rachel Fenton. I really love it. I found these examples of her work. I think such poetry will be great to use as examples of how poems do not have to be written in Standard English. They could also be used as great starters to discussions as to why poets don’t write in Standard English; and what are the strengths and weaknesses of using colloquial spellings. So much potential.
As I said, I’ve barely even scratched the surface of poetry. I want to read more Laurie Bolger and John Agard to name but two. And I really want to use the next year to get more involved with the performance poetry scene- for both personal and teaching value.
I enjoy poetry even those I'm only a prose writer. I tried to write poetry as a child but could never bring it off. It's good to meet you here and read all these wonderful suggestions.
ReplyDeleteIt's good to meet you too, Elisabeth. I hope you can get enjoyment from reading the poets I've mentioned.
Delete"only a prose writer"? Oh, don't downplay that. Writing, in any form (perhaps not tabloids), is amazing and beautiful and an achievement and something to be proud of. :-)
I've been reading your blog. I like your writing style. Any news on the cat?
Thanks so much for the mention, Lotte. Good to be reminded that Standard English is just another variant, not the best one.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely. I think it's a real shame that pretty much all of my schooling focussed on poems written in Standard English. I definitely want to include other variants into my classroom. It's so healthy for readers of poetry to be aware of the huge diversity within poetry from a young age, I think.
DeleteI hope you’re also aware of the writing of the Scottish poet Tom Leonard especially his famous poem ‘The Six O’clock News’ which you can read in my article ‘English in its underwear’ where I talk about the Scottish language (and I’m not talking about Gaelic here). There’s also a bit at the end of the article which you might find useful where I reference the Trinidadian poet, Miguel Browne. I don’t write much poetry in Glaswegian but if you can be bothered there is one poem called ‘Bloody Foreigners’ online. You’ll need to download a pdf to read it. The ‘translation’ is part of the poem. It’s on page 18 and is based on a true story told to me by one of my trainees. You might find Leonard’s definition of a ‘real poem’ useful. I talk about it here.
ReplyDeleteHi Jim, thanks for the comment. That's a really fantastic article. Very very interesting. I'm going to have to read it a few more times to get all the points out of it. There are so many discussion points. I'd definitely like to raise some of these in relation to the creative writing element of English in schools. I had heard of Tom Leonard (some of his poems are included in the Edna Longley book). I love to read works with colloquial spellings. I hadn't read Miguel Browne before, but really enjoyed the poem on your blog.
DeleteThanks for the link. I have saved the PDF and look forward to reading 'Bloody Foreigners'. It'll probably be at the weekend, once I have enough time to commit to thoroughly reading someone else's work.