Should teenagers be taught how to write poetry?

This is the place for readers of poetry. Discuss poetry and literary art. You can also discuss music here, including lyrics. Also, you can discuss poets themselves, in addition to poetry.
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Do you think that poem writing requires skill?

Yes...
177
77%
No...
37
16%
I am not sure...
15
7%
 
Total votes: 229

Tommie H Odom
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Re: Should teenagers be taught how to write poetry?

Post by Tommie H Odom »

First of all. We all have opinions. My opinion is that if children want to. They should. Many probably would since poetry is music set in motion. I don't believe that they should be forced to because then they would lose interest. Some people are just not interested in poetry.
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johappy
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Post by johappy »

As a teenager, I learned a lot about poetry, but when it comes to writing it, I find I can't ever implement the things I learned. I have to go with what I feel and write what I'm inspired to write.
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constantine265
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Post by constantine265 »

People were writing poetry before it was introduced in schools. Learning techniques without true inspiration is pointless in my oppinion. And who would teach poetry? Most of the teachers are not a good poets.
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Post by H0LD0Nthere »

I agree with you. Teenagers are naturally poetic, so they may as well have some training to make them even better at what they are going to be doing anyway.

However, you don't have to wait until they're teens. I have grade-school-aged kids. I have found they are capable of memorizing a poem, and then writing a poem in the same style. The key is that the poem has to be one with a subject that piques their interest. For example, one boy memorized "Tiger, Tiger" by William Blake. Then I had him write a poem inspired by that: "Ninja, Ninja ..."

If we took this approach, kids could love instead of hate poetry.
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Tommie H Odom
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Post by Tommie H Odom »

Poetry is very important to some people and yet some people don't care for it. I don't believe as a individual that it is something that I would require my child to do. We as individuals have a choice to decide what we would like to do. It is a different thing. That is if it is a part of a study program. If it is required in school. Then yes. It is something that should be done.

-- 16 Mar 2017, 22:23 --

Poetry is very important to some people and yet some people don't care for it. I don't believe as a individual that it is something that I would require my child to do. We as individuals have a choice to decide what we would like to do. It is a different thing. That is if it is a part of a study program. If it is required in school. Then yes. It is something that should be done.
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ollesternberg
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Post by ollesternberg »

Yes ofcourse they should learn how to write poem for them to express themselves
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Post by Clive Johnson »

I don't believe anyone can be taught to write poetry without the impetus to convey their thoughts and feelings. My love for poetry grew from reading it aloud in front of the school. I was chosen each year to compete in an elocution competition. I was given no choice about getting up on the stage and reading from a prose passage from a page dancing in my tremulous hands. Then I had to recite a poem. I might get half-way through it and then the words vanished from my mind. The woman who taught verse speaking would keep me until the other contestants had gone and then wave her arms frantically to the beat of the verse. The trouble was, I had my own ideas about how the poem should be read and that the sense of the words should guide the sounds coming from my lips.
I never won and I am no longer any good at reading aloud. I prefer to write poetry. I am lost without rhythm, but I frequently don't need a rhyme. Much modern poetry lacks imagery as well as rhyme. I don't regard flat statements about what is seen, heard, touched, tasted, felt or thought as images. I see no point in esoteric symbols. There should be common ground for writer and audience.
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Amagine
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Post by Amagine »

Teenagers should be taught to read and write any and everything. It's good for people to learn to write many different things: poetry, short stories, songs, etc. Writing poetry is just a good craft skill to know.
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Alyssa Malkin
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Post by Alyssa Malkin »

I think it is an important skill to learn, and students should definitely be given the option. I took a creative writing class where we wrote poetry for half a semester and I really enjoyed it. I felt it changed my writing style completely and that I found a part of me that was missing. But, just because I gained a lot from the class, doesn't mean everyone will, so while I believe that all students should be given the ability to take a poetry course, I do not believe it should be mandatory.
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Clive Johnson
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Post by Clive Johnson »

I remember an English teacher trying to teach us iambic pentameter without giving examples of its use we could either love or hate. The teacher's method in "Dead Poets' Society" was a fine way of getting young pupils to draw on their own creativity.
The trouble with responding to established works is that teachers, particularly university lecturers, have their own political, cultural and ethical agendas and impose them on the interpretation of the words.
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Post by Renee24 »

Well what about starting earlier? I remember as a child sitting in my room writing poetry, tho my Mom wished I had played with dolls instead. lol But, I think it is a skill that can be taught, but only if the person has a creative gene. Not everyone can be creative. My Grandma tried teaching me to paint, but I was lousy at that. I think it all depends on the kids. They should have a choice in the matter, if they want to learn or not.

-- 25 Mar 2017, 14:37 --
Clive Johnson
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Post by Clive Johnson »

At junior school, I was given a booklet to fill with poems. no advice was given about choosing subjects or poetic forms. All I knew was that a poem usually rhymed. I am sure once I knew how to express emotion with images, I would produce something. It is just as well I didn't mention the lack of understanding and fairness of teachers that would have provided abundant material for expressing feeling. Writing poetry is inescapably revealing.
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Post by Ama Idim »

Poetry requires some skill, if it must be thought, the interest must actually be there
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Clive Johnson
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Post by Clive Johnson »

Years ago, at my technical college, an English teacher imagined that by teaching us metric forms she would help us to appreciate poetry. I believe that poems should be rhythmic, but often modern verse appears to be indistinguishable from prose. I suppose exalted ideas expressed flatly can be deemed poetic, but they do not move me. Robin Williams portrayed a teacher who believed that persuading students to evoke their thoughts and feelings without following formulaic principles would enable them to appreciate the works of dead poets, but he justifiably earned the displeasure of senior masters by ordering his pupils to vandalize their textbooks containing principles that were more appropriate for learning geometry. His demonstration of the difference between following a set of rules and responding to genuine emotions should have sufficed.
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ritah
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Post by ritah »

The Bookaholic wrote:Poetry has been such an important part of human history for many years. Poetry has preserved folk lore and songs that would've otherwise been lost. Bards were the pop stars of their day and the gift of eloquence was prized. The development in poetry has posed deep question such as can poem writing be taught?

Is the ability to write beautiful poems inherent or is it somethingt that can be taught at school? I feel that poetry writingrequires some basic skill but can be developed like anything else with teaching. I feel that as well as learning about poems written in the past, teens should also be taught how to write poetry and the value of enjoying a good poem.
I agree with you. I too, am of the opinion that even though writing beautiful poems is inherent, it's something that can be and should be taught as well. Though I also feel that 'natural' talent would probably beat 'learned' talent.
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