DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH ABEDA INAMDAR SR.

COLLEGE PUNE UNIVERSITY

Name :- Shaikh Samina Sha i T!"i# :- The Tea#hin$ ! P!e%&' Pa"e& :R!(( N! :Ha(( Ti#ke% N! :M!)i(e NO :- *+,-.,/001

THE TEACHING OF POETRY

INTRODUCTION :

Poetry is one of the important forms of literature. Poetry can be defined as the best words in the best form. Poetry is a thing of beauty because it has beauty of language, beauty of form, beauty of thoughts, and beauty of emotion. This beauty, therefore, should be enjoyed by the learner. One of the aims of teaching language is to develop the emotional aspect of the students personality. It is supposed that poetry is to be caught and not to be taught. The basic idea behind this view is that poetry should be thought as an experience which is to be felt by the student. Poetry also strengthens and waters the interest, passions and feelings of the students. Teaching of poetry is uite essential at secondary stage as it arouses and develops the interest in learning !nglish language. This is one side of the coin. If we loo" seriously the other side of the coin, it is uite bewildering. Today poetry is least read and is least influential in any society. The teacher faces an unusual problem in handling a situation in the class when what is delight to him is often a despair or boredom to his students. #e is more enthusiastic to communicate this elatedness, but is met with

indifference, arguments and sometimes hostility. %et a genuinely dedicated teacher who has been under the influence of poetry, who has experienced that &poetry is nothing less than the most perfect speech of man ' and that one comes nearest to be able to utter the truth( )*tthew +rnold, devotes persistently his efforts to reap most rewarding results. +nother important point which comes in the way of teaching poetry is that the advocates of language teaching maintain that poetry can have no place in second- third language teaching be cause even at the higher secondary stage, the students struggle with the basic elements of structure and they do not "now essential words. The third persisting point is that there are controversial views

regarding the teaching of poetry in secondary schools. The fourfold s"ills of language learning, according to some experts, cannot be achieved by teaching poetry. It is also argued that as the social bac"ground of !nglish poems is different, the students cannot grasp it. The fourth point which obstructs reading and teaching of poetry is that the students find more easy to understand prose than the poetry because of unusual words, strange metaphors, imagery, and the fact that, being !nglish poetry, it often deals with matters which are uite outside the ordinary experience and life of the students. To overcome these problems and to create a genuine interest among the students, some learned scholars suggested . /, $, That the poetry we teach must be easy, very easy, to understand. Poetry should be part of a cursory reading and should not form part of intensive wor". 0, 1ollections of suitable poems should be used in *iddle and #igh classes.

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Poetry should not be an examination subject. 3o surer method of defeating our object of giving students enjoyment through reading poetry can be found than to ma"e poetry an examination subject.

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The students should be encouraged, but never forced, to learn by heart poems which they li"e, and to recite them. 5hatever the suggestions given by the learned scholars of poetry, and

whatever the controversial opinions about the teaching of poetry may be in existence, it is uite essential to come to the conclusion that teaching of poetry brings variety in teaching which helps to create and develop students interest in learning !nglish as a foreign language.

OB2ECTIVES OF TEACHING POETRY :

+s the nature of poetry is different than that of prose, objectives of teaching poetry are different. Teacher should "eep in mind the following objectives of teaching poetry. /, To enable the students to recite the poem in a proper way so that they may enjoy its music. $, To enable the students to understand the beauty of thought and imagination. 0, 2, To develop the aesthetic ualities of the students. To develop the appreciation power of the students.

PRESENT POSITION OF TEACHING POETRY :

+s compared to the other forms of literature, say fiction or drama, teaching poetry is totally different. This is perhaps due to the present conditions prevailing in the modern society. 6enerally it is seen that teachers do not "eep in mind the objectives of teaching poetry. They teach poetry only from the examination point of view. Poetry is taught by

explaining line by line. *ostly translation method is used. The result is that teaching of poem becomes dull, monotonous and prosaic. Poetry is a novel experience. The students can enjoy this experience only when teacher, while teaching, goes deep into that experience. 6enerally the students cannot comprehend the poem due to the lac" of conscious efforts and wrong approach of the teacher. Teaching poetry is a special art and it grows slowly with years of experience till it becomes a part of the teacher himself. Poetry re uires conscious and systematic approach. Teacher should use his imagination while dealing with the poem. Poetry, therefore, should be taught on the personal level. The teaching of poetry re uires a thorough "nowledge of figures of speech which is rarely "nown by the teacher. This "nowledge helps the teacher not only to digest the poem but also to reveal the poem to the students. Teaching of poetry, sometimes at higher level, re uires the

"nowledge of mythical and 7iblical references to comprehend the idea of the poem. Thus absence of imagination, the lac" of "nowledge of figures of speech and myths, faulty method of teaching ma"es the poetry lesson dull, monotonous and prosaic. #ence the purpose of teaching poetry cannot be

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served. Teacher, therefore, must deal with the poem consciously and systematically.

STEPS OF TEACHING POETRY :

3THE DAFFODILS(
&I wondered lonely as a cloud That floats on high over vales and hills, 5hen all at once I saw a crowd, + host, of golden daffodils8 7eside the la"e, beneath the trees, 9luttering and dancing in the bree:e. 1ontinuous as the stars that shine +nd twin"le on the mil"y way, They stretched in never;ending line +long the margin of a bay . Ten thousand saw I at a glance, Tossing their heads in sprightly dance. The waves beside them danced8 but they Out;did the spar"ling waves in glee8 + poet could not but be gay, In such a jocund company . I ga:ed ' and ga:ed ' but little thought 5hat wealth the show to me had brought . 9or oft, when on my coach I lie In vacant or in pensive mood, They flash upon that inward eye

5hich is the bliss of solitude8 +nd then my heart with pleasure fills, +nd dances with the daffodils.( 9ollowing steps or guidelines may be used by the teacher to achieve the objectives of teaching poetry. + systematic approach contributes to his effective and successful teaching.

STEP 4 : PEPARATION :
Teacher himself first grasp the poem by "nowing the imaginative and emotional spots, rhythm and rhyme of the poem. The teacher must also "now the experience, concept or idea contained in the poem. The teacher should thin" properly as to how the phrases, ideas, symbols and figures of speech can be illustrated to the students. The heart of the poem ' &The =affodils( ' is the scene and its effect on the poet. In getting the scene, the spirit must be one of friendly co;operation ' the teacher and the students wor"ing together to paint the scene. Preparation does help the teacher to ma"e his poetry teaching meaningful, successful and interesting.

STEP 1: INTRODUCTION 5 MOTIVATION:

The introduction should be brief and the teacher need not spend time on telling about the poet or his times unless it has direct lin" with the content of the poem. The teacher should not, also, explain what the poem is about as it "ills the >joy of discovery. +ccording to ?. @. Aain, at this stage poem from the mother tongue may be recited to establish the central idea of the poem. 7ut generally such accurate parallel poems are rarely found. There is probability of brea"ing the lin" and creating the misleading

atmosphere. Therefore, the best way is to narrate a brief story or incident related to the theme of the poem.

STEP 0: READING ALOUD:

?eading aloud has an important place in the teaching of a poem. The most stri"ing effects of poetry are achieved through sound, and the student must get an opportunity of listening to these sounds. The use of cassette; recorder will also be useful at this stage. + good reading of a poem is worth at least half the lesson. Cistening the poem has its own impact. understand everything after the first listening. The students may not 7ut he may grasp the

essentials. The teacher then can lead him to details at a later stage. STEP - : TESTING AND E6PLAINING: + few uestions should be put to test the comprehension of the poem. Duestions should be short, simple and pointed. There is of course no

guarantee of getting answers from the students. 5here the students are unable to give the answer, explanation must be given8 but this explanation should be as brief as possible. #ere at this stage teacher may use pictures or blac"board s"etches to illustrate the idea. =uring this stage the students may be encouraged to find out the best lines from the poem to ensure the comprehension of the poem. Teacher should spend ample time for this step. This step ends with as"ing again uestions to test the comprehension of the poem. 9or example .

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5hat does the poem, in general, deal withF ' life, death, war, beauty, animals, birds, children, about nature or about fair daffodils G and so on. 5hat words or lines lend support to your answerF

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#ow are the waves describedF +re the end words rhymingF 5hat is the impact of the daffodils on the poetF 5hat does the poet remember when he lies on the couchF

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5hat do you mean by >a jocund company, >pensive mood and >an inward eyeF 3ow to greater details stan:awise. In between the teachers exposition fills up effectively the missing

lin"s ' it joins together the chains of thoughts or impressions that are growing in students mind as the class is progressing. ?eading of words, expressions, lines, or even stan:as may be necessary. ii, 3ow, if some elaboration is needed in terms of explanation of lines

and stan:as ' it is offered. iii, Cet the teacher now read the poem again to reinforce the impact of it

as a connected and unified whole ' to go straight to the heart of the poem and show how the various pictures, the various details and a particular word here, on imagery there ' contribute to the beauty of the whole. iv, + discussion can follow now. Htudents can be encouraged to give

their interpretation of the poem. This should spea" of lot of confidence that the teacher successfully generated in their mind. This step is very common in our Indian colleges.

STEP / : P!e%&' : I%7 F!&m8 Lan$9a$e an: Fi#%i!n :

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Poetry, a special type of !nglish which touches our personal feelings most closely and personal feelings are as important in a foreign language as they are in our own language.

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It can help us to assimilate the typical rhythms of a language. It is easy to remember ' stic"s in our minds without conscious efforts repetition of patterns- sounds- words- lines.

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Topics are interesting and important8 it offers significant things to the adult learner to thin" and tal" about.

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It is the very image of life expressed in its eternal truth. @ey to the feel for the soul of a language. + variety- type of language use. 1an enhance a learners feel for the language by giving a sense of weight and uality of words.

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Powerful stimulus to the students own reflective thin"ing. *a"es use of a variety of linguistic devices . rhyme, the repetitions of rhythm, alliteration, inversion of grammatical patterns, the use of figurative language )similes, metaphors, personification,, the use of semantic ellipses where the reader has to fill in what the poet has left unsaid, the use of unusual collocations, the juxtapositions of unfamiliar elements, conventions appearance of a poem on the stage.

These various points enable the students to grasp the poem. The students are in a position to "now what does the poem contain and even how the ideas are conveyed. Prof. Aa"obson gives significance to the >word used in a poem. #e observes . &The aim of poetry is to point that the word is not identical with its referent, that there is a gap between linguistic meanings and the non;linguistic phenomena to which they refer.(

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+ critical approach has enmeshed the reader in a number of iambic pentameters, sonnet rhyme schemes, classical allusions etc. It has obscured the clear lines of the poem constructed behind it. Poetry must be seen as something concrete, useful and relevant. + critical approach to a poem depends upon the level of the class. If this is not seriously followed, the teaching of poetry will not serve its purpose, nor its objectives are fulfilled. #owever, the teacher is supposed to have this "nowledge at the bac" of his mind . /, $, 0, 6raphological ma"e;up )experimental, motivated, =iscoursal level Phonological level )orchestration of sounds, . . /st, $nd, 0rd person narrations a, syllabic structure b, metrical structure- rhythm )pulse of poetry, c, assonance )internal rhyme, d, consonance e, alliteration f, onomatopoea g, refrain a, contemplation of words b, choice of diction )poetic, archaic )usage, c, word;formation- neologisms- nonce; formation d, cohesion e, lexical deviance 4, Hyntactic level . a, warder order b, rhetorical uestions c, use- non;use of tense forms d, parallelism- clause structure f, deviation- shift of word class <, 9orm- 6enre . nursery rhymes, ballads, fol";songs, odes,

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Cexical level

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satires, parodies, epic, sonnet, lyric, elegy etc. B, E, I, Type *eaning Poetic devices . . . descriptive, reflective, assertive, narrative etc. general, detailed, intention, purpose, message etc. a, Htructural . contrast, illustration, repetition b, Hense . simile, metaphor, personification, deviation of register, code;mixing, defamiliari:ation c, imagery, symbolism, irony, allusions, setting etc. theme,

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CONCLUSION : To sum up the process of teaching a poem, we see three main stages. /, P&e"a&a%i!n, consisting in e uipping the student for a uic" grasp of

the main outline of the poem from the first reading of it, by familiari:ing the most important words and expressions and ensuring that the ideas involved are not beyond his reach. $, P&e7en%a%i!n and reading, including a great deal of reading, and

calling for intense concentration on the words of the poem, any paraphrase or summary being followed by a return to the actual words of the poem. 0, The Di7#977i!n S%a$e, which should be based on a thorough

"nowledge of the text of the poem, and be designed to lead to a deeper all;round perception of the poem and the ideas of embodies, and to expression. +t the end of teaching poetry, some assignments may be very beneficially employed as guides to preparation. In concluding part, it must be admitted the fact that no two poems are taught the same way. 3o two people teach the poem in the same way. +n effort undaunted if made by people interested in teaching students poetry, an exciting experience can result in.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY :

/. http.--www.guardian.co.u"-boo"s-$J//-nov-/E-author;author;daljit; nagra
$. http.--www.ericdigests.org-pre;I$//-poetry.htm