The experience of poetry

Urvashi Nangia

What Facts Does This Poem Teach you?’ by Rosenblatt and ‘How does a poem mean?’ by Ciardi are excellent resources for introducing poetry in the classroom. Both authors see poetry as an experience; a feeling that is much more than words. Words are given importance too, but the connections between the reader and the poem are treated as paramount.

Rosenblatt emphasizes that focusing on the facts being presented in the poem is not the correct way to introduce poetry. She draws from the work of both Piaget and Vygotsky and elaborates on the need to develop both the cognitive and affective abilities in children. She claims that in most schools, the efferent-information/facts based approach is given importance. There is a need to recognize the importance of developing an aesthetic literacy approach too. The title of her paper cautions everyone to avoid the reductionist approach of introducing poetry, i.e., of building on skills by just focusing on the text and its meaning in the poem. She treats a poem as a living event/experience or a dialogue between the text and the reader where there is space for multiple interpretations at one time or across time in a way that strikes a chord with the child’s own experiences. Whereas, Ciardi’s title of ‘How does a poem mean’ gives an insight into the author’s take that the how is more important than the why or what here. He says that asking “What does the poem mean is a self-destructing approach to introduce poetry. A more useful way of asking the question is – How does a poem mean? Why does it build itself into a form of images, ideas and rhythm? How do the elements become the meaning? How are they inseparable from the meaning?”ⁱ Further, he expresses that “poetry is a performance” and “what the poem is, is inseparable from its own performance of itself.”ⁱⁱ

Both authors elaborate on certain things which make a poem different from other literary forms. Rhymes, sounds, images, sense along with choice of words, the way the text is organized, the play of words amongst other things is what makes a poem different. It’s interesting to see that even a very young child, who doesn’t understand the words and what they mean, can be drawn towards and enjoy a poem. This is because a poem is much more than words; the child is drawn towards the rhymes, sound and the experience of the performance. I feel it’s the same with songs…I have seen very young children, pick up songs in different languages and enjoy their tunes, rhythm and sound, even though they don’t understand them. These feelings and associations that happen via poetry must be recognized and given time. Space must be given to discover the poem and immediate explanations must be avoided.

Another key takeaway from the two papers is that words themselves have limitations. Rosenblatt quotes Vygotsky who says, “Sense of the word…is the sum of all psychological events aroused in the consciousness by the world. It is a dynamic, fluid, complex whole…which has several zones of unequal stability. The dictionary meaning of a word is no more than a stone in the edifice of the sense.”ⁱⁱⁱ She says, “Language as a system of public meaning must be individually, privately, internalized”,^iv and goes on to emphasize the importance of both efferent and aesthetic literacy approaches. She emphasizes that “Nurturing both efferent and aesthetic linguistic abilities, from the beginning and throughout the curriculum, will ensure success in teaching both kinds of reading,”^v i.e., cognitive and affective. The approach should include relating to other art forms, free discussions of experiences, space for children’s spontaneous comments. She holds the view that formal methods for analysis and literary criticism can be left for later years. Whereas, Ciardi’s paper starts with the following paragraph, “There lingers a belief that the dictionary definition is a satisfactory description of an idea or an experience. Language of experience is not a language of classification… with poetry – the concern is not to arrive at a definition and to close the book but to arrive at an experience. There will never be a complete system for judging and understanding poetry. Neither can take place until the poem has been experienced. And still the understanding will be incomplete in some of the best works.”^vi

Ciardi gives many brilliant examples throughout his book but I really liked how he discusses the poem by Robert Frost. In his analysis on using the last line twice, he feels that the poet got trapped in the game that he was playing. Ciardi says that even the poet doesn’t know what he is going to write – it is a process of creation and he says that it is the same with rhyme as in any game, “set your difficulties high and meet them skillfully”^vii! Further, he elaborates on the additional benefit of connecting with poetry and its impact on the readers’ thinking process. The reader as well as the poet changes intrinsically, with the experience of reading or creating the poem. Very interestingly, he feels that, “Technicalities of poetic devices and the human insight of the poem are inseparable”^viii, which he also compares to the inseparable relation between a dance and the dancer. There are many elements, other than words and meanings, which make a poem a powerful performance.

Through my observations in various schools, I feel that the approach to introducing poetry in classrooms must be a foremost an uninterrupted experience. Inserting questions and explanations after every line/ para or page breaks the flow. Asking direct questions after or introducing difficult words before may help in enhancing understanding but emphasis also needs to be given to indirect, open-ended and creative questions. Openness to different answers, different connections being made by every child is imperative. Poetry classes can be a lot of fun and an interesting way to learn about many more things beyond language.

i, ii. Page 4, How Does a Poem Mean
iii. Page 6, What Facts Does This Poem Teach You
iv. Page 7, What Facts Does This Poem Teach You
v. Page 11, What Facts Does This Poem Teach You
vi. Page 1 and 2, How Does a Poem Mean
vii. Page 12, How Does a Poem Mean
viii. Page 13, How Does a Poem Mean

References

1. Ciardi. John.1975. How does a poem mean? US: Houghton Miffl in.
2. Rosenblatt, Louise. M. 1980. ‘What Facts Does This Poem Teach You? In Language Arts, 57, Pp.386-394.

The author is currently working as an Independent Consultant in the Development Sector. She holds a Masters in Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Sciences and an M.Phil in Education from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences. She can be reached at urvashinangia@gmail.com.