Title: Poetic Voices: Writing, Reading, and Responding to Poetry
Abstract: Poets Joyce Sidman and Pat Mora shared their creative processes attendees of 2011 CLA Master Class, while other speakers discussed poetry in classroom.POETRY AMERICA (Schwartz, Goble, English, & Bailey, 2006), a nationwide survey exploring poetry experiences of adults during their childhood and adult years, reported that 80% of respondents who considered themselves to be current poetry users recalled listening to nursery rhymes, Dr. Seuss books, and other types of verse when they were children. Of those respondents, 52% reported listening to other types of poetry as well. The findings were different for adults who labeled themselves poetry non-users. Only 68% of those respondents remembered listening to nursery rhymes or Dr. Seuss books as children, and significantly fewer, just 25%, listened to other types of poetry. Not surprisingly, results of this study indicate a relationship between experiencing poetry as a child and reading poetry as an adult. Exposure to a wide variety of poetry during childhood appears to be influential as well. Those who explored poetry as children and continue to read it as adults understand that voices in poetry invite us to experience rhythm and music of life.Poetic Voices: Writing, Reading, and Responding to Poetry was title of 2011 Master Class in Children's Literature. Woven into this session were insights of poets Joyce Sidman and Pat Mora who shared their creative processes and voices that inspire their poetry. In addition, Barbara Kiefer provided advice regarding how to connect poetry and art in classroom, and Patricia Bandre discussed how a class poetry study can increase students' understanding and love of genre. This article captures highlights of each speaker's presentation and also includes a description of a unit of study focusing on poetry of Joyce Sidman. The study was conducted in classroom of April Silimperi, a second grade teacher in Pennsylvania whose students wrote and illustrated poetry displayed at Children's Literature Assembly Breakfast at which poet Joyce Sidman was featured speaker.Joyce Sidman began Master Class by discussing aspects of process she uses to craft a satisfying poem. For Joyce, poetry is a way of living, a way of putting things together. It's instinctive, she explained. Joyce told attendees that writing a new poem always begins by answering two questions: do I want to write about? What do I want to say? Experimentation follows as Joyce explores use of different voices and poetic forms through which to express her ideas.When writing an early draft of a poem about baby snakes in winter, Joyce considered answers to her initial questions and listed specific words and phrases she wanted to include in poem, as well as scientific facts she desired to convey (see Figure 1). In a subsequent draft, Joyce decided to try using ghazal, an ancient Arabic poetic form, to express her thinking (see Figure 2). A traditional ghazal includes five to fifteen independent couplets that utilize a consistent rhyme scheme and a repeating refrain appearing at end of second fine of each couplet (Curran, n.d.). When drafting, Joyce found some of rhymes and phrases resulting from use of form effective, but realized it resulted in certain words occurring too frequently. Joyce told audience, You can't repeat a word too often unless it's part of a pattern. It loses power, and reader gets tired of it. When revising, Joyce says she fiddles with problem areas in her drafts and asks herself if the poem and . . . words [are] working as hard as they can work. Ultimately, in snake poem, Joyce abandoned ghazal form, but retained some of phrases and rhymes in order to achieve desired results. Meaning, sound, and rhythm must combine to move both mind and body - a visceral effect. [The poem Baby Snakes is scheduled to be published by Houghton Mifflin in 2013 in a book tentatively entitled Winter Bees and Other Poems of Winter]Joyce also talked about how she works children. …
Publication Year: 2012
Publication Date: 2012-04-01
Language: en
Type: article
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