POWER OF TEACHING POETRY

Poetry is magical, with its exquisite language used, which can only be realized through proper strategies and activities to be given to learners.

It is constant among learners who engage in learning the English language to complain about dealing with poetry which for them made the subject even harder. Filipino learners remained to consider poetry as part of their English classes as tedious and uninteresting. Although Rusmana et al. (2020) explained that understanding poetry not only results in the effective acquisition of the language but also leads for the students to realize their full potential which is the highest level of psychological development as explained in Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

Comprehending the meaning of poetry between its lines and verses will support the learners to self-actualize for a better understanding of themselves and the world around them. Thus, it is imperative for language teachers to encourage learners to dig deeper into the meaning of poetry and consistently provide them with authentic and interesting activities which will transform the boring topic into an engaging exploration of the real sense of the lines and verses.

Since teachers are said to be the facilitators of learning, the first step of transforming poetry lessons into learnercentered instructions depends on them. It must always begin with an open mind because teachers of the present generation shall put behind the traditional conventions of teaching poetry and shall shift to more suitable strategies in the context of 21st-century learners. In this regard, Lorcher (2009) provided several suggested activities which will surely increase the comprehension of the learners and to the most extent will enhance their critical thinking skills while enjoying poetry.

Concentrate on Appearance: this suggests that as the teacher presents the poem to the learners, let them notice its physical form – the way it was written, the number of lines and stanzas, the words and punctuation used, and other physical structures of the poem. For example, if the teacher will teach an Acrostic poem (the first letters of each line are aligned vertically to form a word) entitled “LAUREL”, what he must do is that after giving a copy of the poem to the learners, he must gather their initial impression about it without reading it further. He must instruct his learners to focus on how an acrostic poem is written and tell them to give their definition of an acrostic poem based on what they have noticed in its physical form.

Perceive Sound Devices: After noticing the poem’s physical structure, it is time to read it. The teacher may demonstrate reading the poem to the learners so they will hear various blending and harmony of words used in it. From that, they will easily identify the same sounds that can be produced in the poem and will start to critique whether the writer intentionally, figuratively, or logically put the same blending sounds in each line, in the middle, or in the end. For instance, the teacher will teach a Tanaga poem (Filipino poem entitled “Palay” by Ildefonso Santos. After the teacher read a poem to the learners and they read it by themselves, the teacher will then ask them to notice the number of syllables in each line focusing on its similarities and differences. Let the learners also identify its rhyming scheme and ask them how it helps to make the literary text more poetic. The teacher will then elicit more responses about the effectiveness of sound devices employed in the poem to creatively express its message.

Examine the Figurative Language: Let the learners identify lines that are difficult to understand and try to disclose their meaning by trying to read between the lines. It is also better if the learners have prior knowledge even on the common type of figures of speech to make their comprehension of the poem easier. For example, the teacher will teach them the poem “Trees” by Joyce Kilmer. The poem which used basic figurative language such as personification and simile adds color to the language used. As the learners try to understand figurative lines, let them visualize what the line literally means and how it should mean based on the context of the poem. Encourage them to analyze the meaning of each figurative line through the teacher’s art of questioning.

Emphasize on Impression of the Title: Usually, the title serves the central theme of the poem. By trying to analyze the title itself, it will contribute to learners’ full understanding of the poem. They just have to see the connection of the title from the poem as a whole. In this case, if the teacher will present “The World is Too Much with Us” by William Wordsworth which is an example of a Petrarchan or Italian sonnet, from the title of the poem, elicit learner’s impression of what the poem is all about. Undoubtedly, they will say that the theme of the poem is about our nature, how mankind destroys the world, and many other concepts alike.

Make Connections: Try to let the learners feel that the poem is real by connecting it to real-life situations and experiences. It is best when what the learners learned inside the classroom can be applied in real-life because through it they will realize the importance of understanding it fully.

Once these suggested activities are applied in the classroom, teachers will be surprised that learners no longer need to be reminded of reading poetry. The interest in understanding poetry will happen unconsciously and voluntarily. It will naturally come out to their senses. That’s when they say that Poetry is magical, with its exquisite language used.

-oOoThe author is Teacher III at Rio Chico NHS