tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343608.post2448866601273520127..comments2024-03-28T20:53:54.312-05:00Comments on Orange Crate Art: Poetry and difficultyMichael Leddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05547732736861224886noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343608.post-5874300570770343762009-04-28T15:42:00.000-05:002009-04-28T15:42:00.000-05:00Steven, I'm eternally optimistic when it comes to ...Steven, I'm eternally optimistic when it comes to students. I just did a two-month trek through <I>Bleak House</I> in one of my classes, following the novel's serial installments (one installment per class).<br /><br />In <I>Cultural Literacy</I>, E.D. Hirsch argued (way back when) that reading well depends upon all sorts of cultural knowledge, more than just knowing or even looking up words. And with poetry, one needs to know how to do things with poems, how to think about form, metaphor, whatever. I think that the difficulties of reading (at least for many students) are more than just looking up an occasional word. But I'm not willing to settle for, say, "Summer Storm" as my idea of what poetry can be.Michael Leddyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05547732736861224886noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343608.post-6817908908536259822009-04-28T12:10:00.000-05:002009-04-28T12:10:00.000-05:00Dear Michael,
I don't teach, so maybe I'm missin...Dear Michael, <br /><br />I don't teach, so maybe I'm missing a nuance, but I don't get how you could ever ask students -- assuming they are college level -- "to read what they simply cannot read."<br /><br />Reading is quite easy, once you've learned. Word follows word. If you don't recognize or are curious about a particular word that you've read, look it up.<br /><br />Of course, in contrast to watching TV or even going to a movie, or looking at a painting or listening to music, reading does require active engagement of the brain. This is what some (most?) students, today, yesterday, and forever, don't like to do. The poem about the patio allows them to read without too much bothering the brain. <br /><br />I appreciate you trying to break the poor thinking habits of people, via poetry in a classroom setting, and good luck!Steven Famahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13733977161680651117noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343608.post-78756542291121259622009-04-21T22:44:00.000-05:002009-04-21T22:44:00.000-05:00Two things that make me go "Aaaaaaaahh":
-the mom...Two things that make me go "Aaaaaaaahh":<br /><br />-the moment when loss of resistance against the epidural syringe signals that I've found the epidural space in a patient <br /><br />and<br /><br />-reading a post like this.<br /><br />Aaaaaah. What a pleasure. Zhank you!T.https://www.blogger.com/profile/09208990104460795917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343608.post-15550490443878175622009-04-20T23:55:00.000-05:002009-04-20T23:55:00.000-05:00Thanks, George. I'm sending my students to it on W...Thanks, George. I'm sending my students to it on Wednesday. : )Michael Leddyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05547732736861224886noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343608.post-9284089321238527692009-04-20T21:56:00.000-05:002009-04-20T21:56:00.000-05:00Just this evening my students complained about hav...Just this evening my students complained about having to read Emily Dickinson (!). She's too hard. What makes her great? Is it just because she's dead? It was great to have this to send them to.Geo-Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09228768953715204493noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343608.post-65680541500894729722009-04-20T18:39:00.000-05:002009-04-20T18:39:00.000-05:00I added a link to the poem and made it clearer tha...I added a link to the poem and made it clearer that I'm quoting only the first stanza. You might like the whole poem more. Or not.Michael Leddyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05547732736861224886noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343608.post-74253077119041700622009-04-20T17:55:00.000-05:002009-04-20T17:55:00.000-05:00Is this a poem? It seems to me a rather bland stat...Is this a poem? It seems to me a rather bland statement of a not particularly interesting fact. Without context, it doesn't sing of poetry. But then a lot of poetry doesn't . . .Slywyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01424323662407341123noreply@blogger.com