Poetry

For today’s guest speaker, Jennifer Whitaker discussed with the students about the form of poetry. Poetry is one the most common genres in literature, as it requires  aesthetic and rhythmic qualities of language, whether it rhymes, written as a haiku or follows a vibrant flow.  One of the most important concepts in poetry is symbolism, as the words are placed and carefully selected to describe the setting, inner thoughts and events.  Instead of reading a long passage of words that already explains the topic, a poem uses the words to bring meaning, images and feeling into the page as you speak.

During the discussion, Jennifer shared a few of her published works, such as one indicating the lifestyle through Cinderella's eyes.  Afterwards, she had the students write a quick draft of a poem describing something or someone they cared about.  For those who choose to read their draft aloud, indicated their visions and feeling so creatively.  So far, some of our students in the Young Writer’s Camp  are working on poetry for their presentations and decided to share some of their published writing.  This discussion provided some feedback and practice for them and from what I heard, their works are as amazing as Dr, Seuss, Edgar Allan Poe and Shakespeare.  


My favorite poem is Robert Frost’s The Road Not Taken, especially the line:


Two roads diverged in a wood, and I

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.


For me, the area of poetry provides life and meaning due to experience and feeling.  No matter how you read it, there is always a different point of view, but it always strike your heart.