Congratulations on reaching the end of a very trying semester. I’m proud of what our class has accomplished this spring, and I admire your creativity, flexibility and hard work. On the first day of class, we did a brainstorming exercise on the question “What is poetry?” Here’s part of what you came up with:
"Limitless" was my favorite keyword from this exercise. I am curious to know what you’d say now—after having spent a semester in this class, in strange times—about what poetry is, and what it can do? What does it demand of us, as readers? What are some of your favorite poems of the semester? Drop your thoughts in the comments.
On Feb 11, we wrote a poem together using the “exquisite corpse method,” during which we each contributed. We came up with these strange and beautiful lines.
Class Poem, "Musical Chaos" (composed by everyone, Feb 11, 2020)
Immense trumpet ran interesting basketball
Scary cat slipped in a spicy suitcase
Delicate temple flourishes transparent chocolate.
Loveable paper escapes with Spanish paint
Twinkly music walks.
Scary cat slipped in a spicy suitcase
Delicate temple flourishes transparent chocolate.
Loveable paper escapes with Spanish paint
Twinkly music walks.
I’ve posted this before, but I’m still entranced by this “Exquisite Corps” dance video (corps=body a people engaged in a particular activity) from 2016 that has resurfaced on the web during COVID-19. As you can see, the thumbnail is weirdly reminiscent of a Zoom video. Choregraphed individually, and showing dancers physically apart (and in many cases seemingly in isolation), the final product exemplifies what it means to collaborate together but apart: improvisational, speculative, and ultimately exquisite. It's something of this spirit that I'd like you to take from this class.
There’s no tidy way to wrap up a course about poetry, especially one in which we’ve emphasized improvisation and ambiguity: so for now I’d like to leave you with reflections from two of my favorite writers: Audre’s Lorde’s words about poetry, and Langston Hughes’ poem about words.
“Poetry is the way we help give name to the nameless so it can be thought. The farthest external horizons of our hopes and fears are cobbled by our poems, carved from the rock experiences of our daily lives….Right now, I could name at least ten
ideas I would have once found intolerable or incomprehensible and frightening, except
as they came after dreams and poems. This is not idle fantasy, but the true meaning of
“it feels right to me.” We can train ourselves to respect our feelings, and to discipline
(transpose) them into a language that matches those feelings so they can be shared.
And where that language does not yet exist, it is our poetry which helps to fashion it.
Poetry is not only dream or vision, it is the skeleton architecture of our lives.”
Audre Lorde, “Poetry is Not A Luxury”
Theme for English B LANGSTON HUGHES
The instructor said,
Go home and write
a page tonight.
And let that page come out of you—
Then, it will be true.
I wonder if it’s that simple?
I am twenty-two, colored, born in Winston-Salem.
I went to school there, then Durham, then here
to this college on the hill above Harlem.
I am the only colored student in my class.
The steps from the hill lead down into Harlem,
through a park, then I cross St. Nicholas,
Eighth Avenue, Seventh, and I come to the Y,
the Harlem Branch Y, where I take the elevator
up to my room, sit down, and write this page:
It’s not easy to know what is true for you or me
at twenty-two, my age. But I guess I’m what
I feel and see and hear, Harlem, I hear you.
hear you, hear me—we two—you, me, talk on this page.
(I hear New York, too.) Me—who?
Well, I like to eat, sleep, drink, and be in love.
I like to work, read, learn, and understand life.
I like a pipe for a Christmas present,
or records—Bessie, bop, or Bach.
I guess being colored doesn’t make me not like
the same things other folks like who are other races.
So will my page be colored that I write?
Being me, it will not be white.
But it will be
a part of you, instructor.
You are white—
yet a part of me, as I am a part of you.
That’s American.
Sometimes perhaps you don’t want to be a part of me.
Nor do I often want to be a part of you.
But we are, that’s true!
As I learn from you,
I guess you learn from me—
although you’re older—and white—
and somewhat more free.
This is my page for English B.
I think poetry is a way to express emotion through figurative language and form. I think poetry can send a message and describe something, a feeling, an object, an event. I think poetry demands us as readers to decode the message and understand the figurative language. My favorite poem was "I Hear America Singing" because I liked the list and diversity of people. Overall, I really enjoyed this class and learned a lot about poetry and different poetic forms.
ReplyDeleteI have learned that poetry is a way for the writer to express their feelings and ideas using various types of rhythm and styles and may include figurative language. Poetry is more powerful than I had initially thought it was, it has the potential to influence and inspire the audience it targets. As readers, poetry wants us to open our mind to different possibilities. Sometimes there seems to be a solitary message the writer conveys, yet other times poetry can be left to some interpretation. The reader must channel ideas and attempt to understand what is being said in the poems. I'm not sure as to what my favorite poem was but I would have to say that blues poetry seemed to be my favorite genre. I think doing my group project and midterm paper on blues poetry also allowed me to gain more interest in the genre and learn more about it. I did not come into this class with the greatest interest in poetry, but the way it was taught really helped me grasp topics and spark my interest.
ReplyDeleteAt the beginning of the semester I didn't really know what poetry was. I just thought there were a few types all of which had only a few lines and rhymed. However, continuing through the semester everything I believed poetry was, expanded to something way bigger than I thought. Poetry isn't just words just picked out and put into lines. It is feelings and meaningful thoughts that someone felt and put that into words. I learned that there is no one specific form that poetry is in and just like we learned in this class it has lyrics and might need a beat to make the poem whole. I think that's what made Blues/Jazz my favorite genre. It is very descriptive and uses words in different ways than they usually would be used. Overall, I am glad for taking this class because being someone who is not artistic and has trouble finding a deeper meaning in things, I definitely improved on my knowledge and skills for analyzing poetry. Thank you Professor Owens!
ReplyDeleteMatthew Gessner
ReplyDeletePoetry is a way for people to express the unexpressable or convey emotions that seem impossible to convey with normal english limitations. I believe that poetry having rules is counter productive and defeats the purpose of expressing one's interpretation of the unexpressable. Poetry should be reform in my opinion and slam poetry in my opinion was by far the best representation of what poetry should be. Poetry has different purposes depending on who you ask or what "expert" you ask, I am not saying that experts don't exist but I am saying that many of them have contradicting opinions on what constituets poetry. Furthermore, I believe the future of poetry will only grow if it becomes more unanimously universal and move past the arbatrary rules that they often follow.
I loved this class and limitless is definitely the word that describes the thought processes and the directions poetry can take you. This class has taught me that there is sound in everything. Especially in poetry. I learned a new way to write and read poetry in this class and I don't think I will be able to look at poetry the same again. There is sound and color and sight in poetry. There is smell, there is emotion, and there is touch in poetry. This class opened my ears to poetry and through the language and diction used in poems, I am able to live inside of the poems we read. The mind has limitless emotions, moods, and feelings that are trying to be perceived in poetry. Poetry opens the mind to limitless possibilities. I felt like in the past I have been deaf to the sound poetry makes and now, this class turned the switch. Poetry demands for a person to listen. Poetry is an ever growing and never ending form of expression that will forever be alive in this world. My favorite poem we've read was the poem Muse and Drudge. I found the quatrains lesson to be extremely interesting because I found it to be very interesting that 4 line could have so much meaning and rhythm. 4 lines could tell stories and make someone think. Also, I found the emotion in the piece to be very strong, too. Thank you for such an eye opening class Professor Owens!
ReplyDeleteTo me, poetry means anything and everything. Through poetry, individuals are able to convey any thoughts, emotions, ideas, themes, tones, in just about anything. Through this literary work, readers experience an emotional response they typically do not get through other forms. Through this class, I believe I have learned the true association and meaning behind "limitless" and its connection to poetry. Anything you write can be perceived as poetic if you want it to be, but not just through the typical form of free verse, but through poetic verses, poetic sounds, or how music connects to these authors words, as we discussed in class. Through poetry, we can elevate thoughts and ideas through the power of language, with so many factors that come into play, such as punctuation, the placement/emphasize on certain words, the ambiguity, the flow, mood/tone, speaker(s) and so much more. One of my favorite poems discussed in class had to be "Strange Fruit." From the simple elements such as alliteration to the powerful imagery, it became a poem I would never forget. Overall, this class conveyed the uniqueness of poetry, and how the possibilities in the realm of poetry are truly infinite.
ReplyDeletePoetry to me means an outlet for expression. It allows anyone to make sense of their thoughts, feelings, experiences, the past, present, future and basically any other factor in life. Poetry is not bounding to a certain theme or rules, it is what the poet makes out of it. Poetry can be make a great social impact in society and can also serve as an escape from society. Poetry gives creative freedom to the poet to address issues in a non-traditional way. To raise a voice in a way that is interesting and makes people want to listen/read. As readers, poetry makes us think deeper than just what is said and written. It pushes us to ask the question "Why?" a lot. We question the word choice, the objective, the context and much more. It is also great to know the historical context of the poem and even to poet to gain a better understanding of the poet. That is another factor of poetry, it can have many viewpoints and thoughts to each individual reader. It is hard to pick a favorite poem from this semester, but I have narrowed it down to "A New National Anthem" I chose this poem because it was the poem that pushed me to dig deeper and analyze the underlying message that can be coming from the poet. Mostly all the poems we have read in class gave the opportunity to challenge the thinking process. A poem is just much more than a few lines of strategically phrased sentences, it is indeed limitless.
ReplyDeleteAt the start of the semester, I would say that my understanding of poetry was very limited. Poetry is something that in my high school classes was not explored in much depth, and even the few times it was brought up, we always seemed to be pushed towards a “right” answer for the interpretation of its meaning. In this class, however, I really enjoyed being able to have class conversations in which we debated what the poems meant to us. I find that this is the purpose of poetry - to connect the text to your own life and experiences and give your own meaning based off of how it applies to you. Through this course I also began to understand and appreciate how much a single word can add value and give meaning to a text as a whole, especially when that word carries multiple connotations depending on context or it suggests a certain underlying mood or tone. I was surprised to see this specifically in the case of the more “musical” poetry types, especially because I never viewed poetry as having musical qualities before. I cannot select a single poem that was my favorite this semester, but I can say that the blues piqued my greatest interest because of the way that it is structured and the history behind it. I appreciate that we learned the historical contexts in which these poems were written, as it helped me to better understand what events, hardships, etc. contributed to them being written the way they were. In the future, I expect that more types of poetry will be developed, and the classification of what is considered poetry will continue to change with the introduction of new writing styles.
ReplyDeleteThroughout this class I learned that poetry is one way of expressing multiple emotions and ideas while sticking to one central theme through the piece. I think Poetry has the potential to gain an understanding of one another through the experiences and thoughts told within the pieces. I think my favorite poem was “Ingland is a Bitch”, the piece describes an immigrant’s reality of moving and living in the country that colonized his homeland. I especially enjoyed the piece because I was compelled to look further into the relationship that the British Empire had with Jamaica, and how that affected Jamaican citizens. The piece by Linton Kwesi Johnson further reinforced the sentiment that I believed that some Jamaicans felt towards their colonizers. This proved to me that poetry could provide a more human account of history that we may not always get within history textbooks.
ReplyDeleteEntering this class, I only knew poetry as another form of literature, and never gave it much thought. Leaving this class, I see poetry as one of the purest forms of language expression. Being able to communicate feelings into a string of words, sometimes enjoined in a pattern or rhyme scheme carries so much power. I especially appreciate poetry's connection with music now, as I never really connected the two until our deep dives into the beat of poetry. I have come to realize that the range of poetry is far and wide, stretching from traditional forms to many modern forms that resemble the tastes of my generation. Throughout the semester, I came to appreciate many different poems, but my favorites are definitely "I Hear America Singing" by Walt Whitman and Langston Hughes' "I Too Sing America". It's no coincidence that both poets influenced each other, and that in turn led to me especially appreciating both of their works. Poetry has showed me that text can carry a beautiful simplicity in the words alone, but when performed, it can elevate the meaning of the words to a level unforeseen.
ReplyDeletePrior to this course, I had an interest in poetry from a creative writing class I had and from interest in Poetry Button on Youtube, which allows poets to perform their work. However, since taking this course, I have expanded my knowledge of poetry and prose significantly. I think the structure of this class really allowed us to dive deep into every form, with examples and class discussion. I really like how we watched Youtube videos on the topic and learned from presentations and the group project. The research component for the project was fun because it gave us freedom to express what we wanted, but also started conversation about poetry. I think this class allowed us to look at poetry through a modern lens that is often missing when talking about poetry. Before this class, I knew about sonnets and had heard of elegies in film, but I did not have a thorough understanding of the history behind many famous poems. I also liked the link between music and poetry in this course, because I think music is something that everyone listens to and it made the reading of poetry feel more accessible. I still loved the poetry and prose unit in the beginning of the semester, and the Invisible Man. I also enjoyed learning about Langston Hughes and Strange Fruit, because these are artists and poems I will remember outside this course. I think I have the same amount of interest in poetry as I did previously, but more of an in-depth understanding of the verse, styles, and language used. I am better at close readings now, because this class taught me how to properly search and analyze text through repetition and word choice.
ReplyDeleteBefore taking this class, I was not too familiar with poetry because I have never taken a class specifically about poetry. I was never opposed to creative writing and enjoyed that because you basically have the freedom to write whatever you'd like. I now realize poetry is pretty similar to that. Poetry is a form of creative writing because it is in fact "limitless." This class has allowed me to gain more knowledge on this topic. We have looked at different styles of poetry and I now know poetry doesn't necessarily have to be all rhyming or all shifted to the left of the paper and broken up into short stanzas. Poetry can really be written anyway you'd like and really about anything. This class has definitely made me appreciate poetry more and has made me take an interest in poetry more than I ever have before. My favorite thing about this class was probably the blues section because I thought the idea of how the poem has a beat and how you can add music to it was pretty cool. I liked how there would be videos we can listen to and hear the poems being read. It made it more enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteTo me poetry is a way for people to express their thoughts through a musical way of writing. Poetry can have different impacts on people because as we have established that people view poetry differently. Everyone will have different opinions about a poetic piece, which makes poetry special because it is subjective to your own imagination and sense. In addition, poetry gives writers a platform to secretively share their heart in a sense, because poetry does not require the writer to be specific. My favorite poem was Karintha, as it had a great voice and the reader was subjective to their own interpretation. In addition, learning about different styles of poetry showed me that, poetry does not really have a strict form. Although some styles may follow a strict format, but mostly it is just a piece where one can share.
ReplyDeleteFor a while now, I have always known poetry as the single most creative way for a person to express themselves. From writing elementary style poetry to know analyzing and interpreting more advanced writings from notable poets during the Blues era, my skills have definitely grown substantially. Having gone through this semester, I formulated my own interpretation of what poetry means. I define it as a literary piece that shows no boundaries and is limitless in terms of what can be conveyed. If there is anything I have learned from this semester, is that poetry does not have to follow a strict rule of thumb and that creativity oversteps order. I also believe that it is entirely subjective to who is reading the poem and how they want to interpret it, not how they should interpret it. Poetry demands an "open to interpretation" attitude from its reader which before this class, I did not have. Some of my favorite pieces (similar to many of fellow classmates) that we have gone over in this class include, "I Hear America Singing" and many of the Langston Hughes pieces including "I Too Sing America" and "The Weary Blues". These pieces are effective in sheding light on certain topics that would have otherwise never been looked at in the way that they were.
ReplyDelete^^Harsh Patel
Delete