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My Poetry Experiences....

In the past I have not had many experiences with poetry. In high school, which was a good 6 years ago, I took an English course which had some poetry in it. But I do not remember those poems from so long ago, as I have a short memory. I know I didnt like how long some of them were and the confusing words that I would have to write down to look up later, and then re- read the poem. I find it very intimidating due to that fact, as I think that some poets are alot smarter and know their dictionaries, which made me feel less intelligent.
For this unit and units to come, I will try to take on the poetry world and understand some of the hidden meanings in those writings. I will not look at them negatively, well at least until i see how long they are, although I will give them all a good try.
-Nicole Kunz

Poetry Experiences

I have never thought too highly of poetry. I remember vaguely having read some in high school, but that has been several years ago. The poetry we read, everything seem to rhyme. I remember writing love poems, but that's when I was a teenager. Trying to understand poetry is not one of my strong points. Some poems I need to read several times, so I can really understand what they are trying to say and even then I'm not sure if I'm right. People might see the poem to mean one thing and another person might have a total other meaning of the poem.

When I seen we would be reading poetry in this class, I did not see this as being very pleasing. I must say the poems I have read so far, have not been that bad. So my previous experience with poetry has not changed much with how I think of poetry today. I am hoping over the next couple of weeks, I come to enjoy it and understand more about it.

Poetry Experiences

I can honestly say that I have had very little interaction with poetry. I did take a poetry class back in high school but that was a long time ago and remember very little. Some of the readings sound familiar but are still very new to me. I like how poetry can literally be interpreted differently by everyone. I also like how it's able to make a strong statement with very few words. This may however be very challenging because I find myself already having to read each poem several times to try and understand what the writing is meaning. I do believe that music is also poetry, more sometimes than just a story but left open for interpretations. I am looking forward to just "biting in," as Eve Merriam had said.

Past Experience with Poetry

My experience with poetry is as far from academia as can be. Poems are much more than words on a page, and the spirit of poetry is not something that can be taught. Our- the student's- indoctrination with interpretation of poetry falls short in that it seems to be stale. Though I can't truly speak for everyone, I think that most would agree that poetry's presentation is about as archaic-seeming as liturgy (no offense intended). In this I am drawing a parallel to religious enlightenment, in that we can be taught how we are supposed to interpret a religious text or a poem. My problem with poetry, like too much of the bible, has been my inability to internalize it. Without internalization, our interpretation is superficial and of little value. Of course there is benefit to being taught how to read and interpret, but at what cost is it if our heart isn't in it? Here I would have to say that there is an important difference in the mode of presentation between the poetry of music, and the poetry we read on paper. In music we can hear the tone of the speaker's/singer's voice and understand the message the music is supposed to convey as the sound waves convert to brain waves in an electrical brain storm that stimulates to our deepest emotions. The physics of poetry in music is real. Without this mode, I have a hard time internalizing poetry. The exception to the rule is if it's from someone I know, including myself. I believe that the more we know someone, or why they are trying to convey what they are trying to convey, the more layers we explore and appreciate. Poetry as an art of academia is like poetry for the sake of poetry, and it doesn't strike the right chord in me. Poetry for the sake of spiritual awakening, as an art of the heart, is something I can appreciate.

I do like that poetry is creative and that it has the potential to awake your inner workings. I do find the idea of internalizing something I find dark, a bit detractive, almost intimidating. Because of my past experiences, I need to try to let the reading become more personal for me. It helps me to look at poetry as "ying and yang," in that poetry is both a word art and an art of the heart. It does bother me to think that someone may have written a poem solely to impress the critics that be, as opposed to a form of expression. I need to believe that poetry is an expression of the soul and I don't intend to let the readings detract from this. The readings haven't changed a thing, though I appreciate that we aren't necessarily told what the poems should mean to us.

Poetry - Past Experiences

I have really enjoyed most of the poetry that I have read in the past. I remember in high school having to write our own poetry and I loved doing that. I also remember in high school digging deep into poetry on what the poem actually means, and thinking critically about the poems. Most of the poetry that I enjoy reading is about relationships and life experiences. I also like to look at the lyrics in songs. Lyrics are truly a form of poetry. I think poetry is a beautiful form of writing, because one can interpret it in many different ways. By knowing this basic information I think I was well prepared for the readings for this unit. I also know that when reading poetry you want to read it over a few times to get the full understanding of the poem. Even the smallest element in poetry can make a huge difference in what the author is trying to convey. When reading the reading assignments for this unit, I was a little intimated. I forgot how many different types and styles of poetry there was! I also have not written nor read much of poetry lately. My only recent readings of poetry would be song lyrics. Having said that, I am excited to start this unit!

Poetry

I have always enjoyed reading poetry, but for some reason I have not read any for a long time. I like that they are full of emotion, and a lot of poems that I have enjoyed the most relaxed me when I read them. Some I have read, did not made any sense. I did not enjoy reading those kind of poems. I just hoped that I do not have to read the type that I don't enjoy, for this class. So far they have been good, and I had not heard any of them before. As a teenager, I did read a lot of poetry and I had always thought that music seemed like poetry because it is so expressive and has a rhythm, just like poetry does. So far I have not learned anything new about it , but I am curios to see if I do.

Of the poems that I have read so far for this class, I enjoyed reading "So Mexicans are Taking Jobs from Americans" by Jimmy Santiago Baca. I found it interesting to find a subject like this written as a poem because it seemed like it would have made a great article in a magazine or newspaper. But then I figured it would have lost some of it power. It was a very emotional poem and obviously the speaker had strong feelings about this subject. I related to the speaker because I don't think that it is fair to say someone can not come to America to work. America is a mixture of people from all over that came here to find a better life, or work, when they could not find it where they were from. Mexicans may have jobs here, but they also spend money here which creates the need for business, and business creates more jobs. I am glad to see someone find a creative way to express their feelings on a subject like this.

Poetry Experiences

I have had some experience with poetry, but not a whole lot. I went to a small high school and there wasn't much emphasis on poetry. I had one class that had anything to do with poetry and we didn't spend a whole lot of time on it. That class was my sophmore year so there isn't a whole lot that I remember about it. I like simple poems that are easy to read and understand and I like poems that rhyme because I find them easier to read and understand. I like to find the rhythm in a poem too. I find poetry intimidating because it's not all laid out for the reader. The reader of poetry has to actually think and try to find meaning behind it. I ended up reading through a few of the poems from this unit more than once because I didn't get a whole lot out of them after reading them only once. Based on my past experiences with poetry, I have mixed feelings about it. Some of the longer poems I found tougher than the shorter ones so that part was confirmed, but because of the poem "Jump Cabling," I was reminded that not all poetry is hard to interpret. I have mixed feelings about the rest of the units on poetry, but I am going to give it my best shot!

Poetry

I have not had as much experince in poetry as other things. I do, however, think it is very interesting and I am excited to be reading and doing poetry. I am not very good at writing poems, I do like to read them though. I always feel that poetry should rhyme, eventhough I know that it does not necessarly have to rhyme. Agian I am very excited about this unit!

Poetry and Me

I am very excited about entering the poetry section of this class as I find poetry extremely interesting. Unfortunately I don’t have that much experience writing poems other than recently writing my son a poem on his Valentines card, although it was the classic Roses are Red, Violets are Blue... he loved it. Reading it, on the other hand, I do have some experience with. When I was pregnant with my first child, my husband would read poems to my belly each night so I got familiar and started to enjoy poetry. I do find some poems intimidating due to the deeper meaning that I sometimes don’t get. I went in to this unit with an open mind and just started reading; I remembered a lot of what I read but also learned new things as well. Growing up, I had always thought of poetry as this romantic thing, only to have found out that it can be a platform for people to express their opinions on many other things besides love: politics, war, culture, and the environment. It can be pretty powerful.

My Relationship With Poetry

What do I think of poetry? I started thinking how reading poetry is kind of like a relationship with a guy. To put it simply, sometimes you love them and totally get it, and sometimes you just don't know what their point is or why you waste your time. My feelings towards poetry are very similar. In the past, I have found poems that really moved me and stirred a longing within to have same ability to capture such incomprehensible things, such as thoughts and feelings, in lines of black and white words. Other times, I have become frustrated with the vagueness or my own inability to find any meaning in a certain line or the entire work. But, I've learned it's the same with guys and poetry, you can always appreciate them for their unique ability to distract and entertain you, whether or not you fully understand their message. Keeping an open mind also helps!

Poetry and Me

I am really going to enjoy this portion of our class. Poetry has always held a special place in my heart. I took 2 poetry classes in high school--reading and writing poetry. I have written several poems, one of which was published when I was very young in our church bulletin and I won $5.00 for it at the time. I have not written poetry for quite awhile so that may be difficult for me now but I am a collector of poems and I have kept all of my favorite poems throughout the years and have even started a "scrapbook" with designer pages. I love applying poems to every day life and sometimes they make me sad, sometimes they cheer me up. We recently had to have our beloved cat of 14 years, Tuffy, put to sleep and it was very difficult for all of us. I read the poem, "Four Feet in Heaven" by Alice Chase and it was very comforting to me to know that Tuffy is being taken care of in Heaven.

My Thoughts on Poetry

One of my great grandmothers was a published poet. She was also one of my greatest role models. I wanted to do everything like her, so in elementary school, I wrote many poems. I love words and language, and I love rhyme and rhythm. I am one of the strange few who actually enjoys reading the dictionary. Maybe I should not have admitted that, but I really do love learning new words, playing with words, learning word origins, and so on and so forth. Thus, poetry kind of excites me, but only if it rhymes. I really have a hard time getting into poems that do not rhyme, and I know I will have to get over that for this class.

I spent some time studying poetry for my ninth grade English class and my tenth grade Language and Composition course. The poems we studied were very diverse, but some used very formal, antiquated diction that was incredibly hard to read and even harder to interpret. Symbolism in poetry intimidates me. I have a terrible time searching for "deeper meaning," as I often miss it altogether. I also have a hard time recognizing irony and satire when I am reading. When I do recognize the symbolism or satire in poems, however, it makes me feel like I've just discovered buried treasure. It can add so much more meaning to the poems. I hope that discussing the poems we read will help me to interpret them accurately.

Before I started reading the poems for this unit, I was nervous that they would be too "deep" for me to understand or too wordy to hold my attention. As I read them, however, I was pleasantly surprised to find that they were fairly simplistic in diction, although I was incredibly disappointed that none of them rhymed. Nonetheless, I did enjoy all of the unit eight poems (except "Moving Camp Too Far," which I could not find anywhere). I love that poems can shed new light on topics that have been over-discussed (in my opinion) in other genres of literature. "Jump Cabling" did just that. It provided a new, and somewhat humorous way, of looking at romantic attraction.

I am a little nervous about our poetry unit, as I am not sure if I will be able to comprehend the meanings of the poems. However, I am looking forward to reading some new material, and I am really hoping that some of the poems rhyme!

Past Experiences with Poetry - By Leah S

In the past I have never liked the thought of "poetry". It makes you think too much, there are too many interpretations, I don't understand it. It is all about rhymes and words that I don't understand. These are all things I have thought in the past when having to start studying poetry. After reading the five poems tonight I have a bit of a different outlook. Though I did not like all of them, I was able to understand them and also enjoyed a couple of them.

In high school I remember trying to memorize poetry by making it into a song. Sort of like the youtube video that was posted...though I was never that cool.

I think due to what I have learned in this class already, including classes from the past, I am much more open at this time to studying more poetry. I am not going to say I will like it but I will do my best to understand and comprehend it. Besides, the goal of the class is to learn is it not?

"Doe Season"

"They were the same woods that lay behind her house, and they stretch all the way to here, she thought...(paragragh 1). Thinking of this gave Andy comfort that things don't seem to chang in her childhood. This is why when she entered the woods things seemed different. This was the beginning of Andy's change into adulthood. As a child she had foundcomfort in knowing that things were always the same. The ocean had scared her and she did not feel comfortable walking into the unkown water. Her mother was not afraid and this made her think of the unexpected chages of becoming an adult. "Blowing through the treetops, it sounded like the ocean, and once Andy thought she could smell salt air." (paragraph 45) The wind in the woods reminded her of the ocean and how frightened she was by it. This symbolized her fear of the unknown in the woods and of shooting a deer. Andy is aware that a change his coming but is not sure what it is until she shoots the doe and saw it lying dead. At this point she realized that she had changed and she no longer wanted to be known as Andy.

Doe Season

Childhood can be compared to the description of the woods being "always the same", in that when you think as a child, changes don't impact you as much as long as you have the basics (mom,dad, home, food, school, etc.). A child's life is fairly simplified and a child will look at his surroundings and see them as just part of his world. When a child grows into a teenager and then an adult, "the woods", or familiar places (like home), become much smaller and life can be better compared to the ocean. In this "ocean", the world becomes much larger and more complex as the maturing mind begins to analyze everything around it and connecting oneself to these surroundings in a different way. Andy discovered that her actions had changed the world, a living being stopped existing because of her choice. In the same way, teenagers and adults begin to see how their choices render the consequences around them. For Andy, the shooting of the doe triggered her transition from a comfortable, simple existence to the "terrible, now inevitable, sea" of adulthood, wherein she has already discovered that many questions don't have easy answers and many problems don't have simple solutions. Even her name has lost it's innocence and she runs from the fallen doe with the thought that "she would no longer be called that [Andy]".

Doe Season

"They were always the same woods, she thought sleepily as they drove the early morning darkness." (pg.1) This was Andy's thoughts about the woods as her father and her leave on a journey that will change Andy's life forever. The woods in which they are about to retreat to are so large that Andy believes they connect to her home and cross country. This is well related to how she explains the ocean when she visited it. Andy was not afraid of the woods. In fact she was quite excited to be on hunting trip with her father; even if it also involved Charlie and his son Mac, a friened of her fathers. Andy was scared of the ocean the first time just as she was to shoot her first deer. If her father hdn't been so persistant she may not have shot at the doe. Andy's dream was quite disturbing yet it changed something inside her; almost as if she understood the doe. "huge and empty, yet always moving." (pg.45) This is the same as the ocean always has waves yet not people and the woods always has animals moving around in it yet without the wind or people. At the end of the story is no longer "Andy" after shooting the doe, she must then become Andrea.

Doe Season

In the story Doe Season. It talks about how the wind "blowing through the tree tops, it sounded like the ocean, and it frieghtend her." It was huge and empty and always moving". (459) I think Andy was hoping to become an adult, with going out and making her first kill, with the other adults. As the story talks about the woods being huge and empty like the ocean, which she was also scared of. She was scared to walk out in the ocean, afraid of how deep it was or what might be in there that she couldn't see. She was also scared to pull the trigger, scared of killing the deer. But when she was in the ocean, she was too scared to go out to deep, showing the child side of her. And when out in the woods, when she made her first kill, is when she went from childhood to adulthood.

"The Chrysanthemums"

There may be two different symbolic things here.
Elisa Allen is smbolic of women in the olden days who minded their own business and did what women were supposed to do. "When she heard him splashing in the tub, Elisa laid hie dark suit on the bed, and shirt and socks and tie beside it. She stood his polished shoes on the floor beside the bed."(p.638. 95) In this statement of her actions, Elisa had been the prime wife in those days symbolically showing her husband that she knows her place. Then there is the chrysanthemums.
The chrysanthemums are symbolic of what she would like to be. They seem to portray the idea that she would like to rid of certain things in her life and do more. "It's when you're picking off the buds you don't want." This is symbolic of her regret and desires all at the same time. The colors of the flowers may be used to interpret her longing to be bright (happy). "Kind of a long-stemmed flower? Looks like a quick puff of colred smoke?" he asked.p.635) "Quick puff of colored smoke": can symbolize a sense of boldness and independence, all things that she does not stand for (only desires to).

"The Chrysanthemums"