I found myself thinking about my ex-roommate during our class the last couple of weeks. She was a creative writer, and I was “the lit kid,” as she would call me. I read and then wrote based on what I had read and researched, but she just wrote. She would sit at her lap top, hours on end, whispering and murmuring the lines and words she juiced out of her just to finish the assigned poem or short story that was due the next day. The reason why I’ve been thinking of her is because of the in-class assignments we’ve been working on. I think—no believe—that had she taken a more hands-on approach during her writing process as we did recently in class, she would have enjoyed her undergraduate years for more than just a time of “blood, sweat, and tears,” as she calls them. I think that creating poetry actively and engaging more creative senses than just writing (like pasting, cutting, and coloring) would have helped her tremendously, and most important of all, it would have made her writing process much more enjoyable.
As the “lit kid,” I am used to reading and analyzing poems. I’ve also (like many of us) been introduced to the ‘technical aspect’ of poetry: the breakdown of lines, stanzas, rhythm and rhyme. I’ve also been introduced to the conventional, classic and contemporary poems and have had to analyze the content, context and devices used by the author to create the poetry. However, besides the odd creative writing class I’ve taken here and there, I’ve never really been introduced to the techniques or tools that could help me create poetry. I was always just expected to spit out a piece of work onto the page. I think that activities like these would help students not only become engaged within the class and with poetry, but I think the activities will help them gain a sense of control, because oftentimes, the hardest part of writing poetry is not knowing where to begin, or where to end.
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"I read and then wrote based on what I had read and researched, but she just wrote."
ReplyDeleteSevan, I think that was extremely cute. I really like what you said about how we Literature Majors or Subject Matter Majors are referred to as the “lit kids.” What’s worth calling to light to me, is that I’m a creative writing extended study. So what you said about your old roommate, and how she would have benefited from what we did really resonates with me. When I was in high school I just wanted to write for hours on end, and even my freshman year of college. What I didn’t know then, well at least I didn’t know too much of then, is that to be able to write well, and touch people I need to study techniques and know what I’m doing. If I didn’t ever write about writing poetry I would probably still be writing poetry and my short stories the same way. But because my teachers have challenged me to find specific details I like about poetry and give detailed reasons why, while understanding why I think most of the things I read are so beautiful, it gives me a new insight as to why I like writing so much.
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI could really relate to your blog because it was one of the unique things that I could relate to. I used to live with my cousin who was considered a roommate for me and she too did not like poetry. When she would have an assignment she hated the fact that poetry was involved. She would always write her essays in spite and would tell me that she would be doing anything else besides thinking about a stupid poem. To me that was the oddest thing that I had ever heard of. How can you not like poetry? I was the youngest in my family and I could honestly say that I was the only one in all my sibling and cousins who used to read poetry for fun. I started reading at an early age and now I am writing about it. I really enjoy poetry writing or reading about it.
Erna
I like to think of our many English major students as 5th graders. What did most of us get more stoked on, Grammar drills before recess or color/craft time at the end of the day?
ReplyDeleteYeah, I like to think of coloring and arts and crafts time as writing poetry. It's super fun, personal, and easy. Right? I guess not. It might have had the reverse effect for some people. But both are healthy exercises, and crucial.
Writing about poetry is crucial to writing it, in my opinion, regardless of how unpleasant it is to the "finger paint connoisseur".
Once you explicate a poem, you become frighteningly aware of how your poem comes across to someone else; what each word says; what connotation it carries; how it looks on paper; what THAT says about you, your, poem and what it's form evokes.
That said, I really want to spend my whole life writing creatively; I don't want to spend my whole life explicating others' works on paper. Though you do it once on paper, and you start reading poetry with a more refined eye for the rest of your life.
Cheers. Great Insight. You rock.