Eighth Grade Education circa - 1895 - - (long)

[Steve]

---  "Carol" <justcarol67 at ...> wrote:
>
>...
> Carol responds:
> 
> ... It can also, often, sound majestic and beautiful, as it
> does in Shelley's ode (though he deliberately makes the meter
> irregular in places so that he avoids a strict da-DUM da-DUM 
> da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM rhythm.
> 
> ... Trochaic octameter, in contrast with iambic pentameter, 
> is highly unusual and not at all natural sounding. Poe wants
> the reader or listener to be fully aware of the meter, which
> creates an almost pounding and insistent rhythm: DUM-da DUM-da
> DUM-da DUM-da DUM-da DUM-da DUM-da DUM-da with only an 
> occasional and probably inevitable break in the pattern.
> 
> ...

bboyminn:

While I suspose it is necessary to learn the underlying'
structure and tempo of poety, that knowledge has all but
ruined poetry for me. When ever I read, I falling into a
pattern of ridged 'beat' and phrasing that make the poetry 
most unnatural, and I suspect every kid who has had the
underlying aspects of poetry forced on him, equally fall
into that dead unyielding phrasing and rhythm.

Despite having an underlying structure, poetry should be
read to one's self and out loud, in as natural of phrasing
and rhythm as possible.

The only way I can do this is, as I read, imagine John 
Lithgow reading the words out loud. That help, though I 
don't know why it's John Lithgow, but even then the 
ridged rhythms and phrasing keep creeping in. 

So, while I think understanding the underlying structure
has value, I think too many teacher fail to move past that
into poetry that has a less obvious rhythm and a more natural
flow. By that, I don't necessarily mean different poems. 
The same poem could be studied for structure, then subduing
that structure, read in a more natural voice to help kids 
understand the meaning and emotion behind the poem. 

One of my favorites is "The Drummer-Boy's Burial" by 
Anonymous from "The Illustrated Library of World Poetry".

All day long the storm of battle through the startled valley
swept;
All night long the stars in heaven o'vr the slain sad vigils
kept.

O the ghastly upturned faces gleaming whitely through the
night!
O the heaps of mangled corses in that dim sepulchral light!

...

I find poems about war very moving for some reason. 

Steve/bluewizard