POETRY INTRODUCTORY UNIT -- Love Poetry The first part is to get your students used to the fact that poetry is used everyday. The second part will be to show them that they are involved with poetry everyday (via the radio). The third part is where you try to impress them with the fact that writers do pretty amazing things with words and form. Tell the class that there will be a test on this unit on September 31 (or February 30th, or March 32) They should pick up on the fact that there is no such date. How do they know? Because "30 days hath September, April, June and November, All the rest have 31 'Cepting February, which hath 28, Except in a leap year, when it has 29" (This doesn't rhyme because I just recite it in class; I don't write it out.) Now announce once again that they will be starting a unit on poetry -- a few will inevitably groan. Ask the students to write out one or two reasons why they hate poetry. (A few can do why they LIKE poetry). The reponses will be that: --it DOES or DOESN'T rhyme --it is too hard to understand --it is about weird or stupid things --"we have to do it" --it uses really weird language --it is not about anything they care about (it is irrelevent) Write their responses on the board and then tell them that you will find a poem that: --sort of rhymes --uses no hard words --is really easy to understand --is or was really popular --is about something that they all know and care about --people actually paid to hear. Read "I Want To Hold Your Hand" by the Beatles. If a few of them catch on that it is a song, finish reading it, and then play the song (Someone on staff will have a copy). Give out the handout below and tell them to listen to the song very carefully. **************** Eng. "The Poem" The following poem, although very simple, perhaps sums up much of what can be said about why people write and read poetry. Listen to the words very carefully and try to find the reason for the poem -- why it has been written at all. I Want To Hold Your Hand Oh yeah, I'll tell you something I think you'll uderstand, When I say that something, I wanna hold your hand, I wanna hold your hand, I wanna hold your hand. Oh please say to me You'll let me be your man, And please say to me, You'll let me hold your hand, Now let me hold your hand. And when I touch you I feel happy inside, It's such a feeling That my love I can't hide, I can't hide, I can't hide. Yeah you got that something, I think you'll understand, When I say that something, I wanna hold your hand, I wanna hold your hand, I wanna hold your hand. Repeat Verse 3 Yeah you got that something, I think you'll understand, When I feel that something, I wanna hold your hand, I wanna hold your hand, I wanna hold your hand. --J. Lennon/P. McCartney ************************ Teacher notes on "I Want to Hold Your Hand" I know that you are saying, "Oh my God, this is so simple"; but it is brilliantly simple. The song held the number one position longer than any other Beatles song -- about 15 weeks -- and sold millions of copies. It does everything that you said you would do in selecting a poem -- it has no hard words, the topic is universal-- a young man is trying to tell a woman he loves her,it sort of rhymes (it also has a strange mix of lines), it is not hard to understand and it says everything there is to know about why so many people write poetry. The young feller wants to tell her that he loves her but he can't find the words, so he wants to hold her hand. What would happen if he was talking on the telephone or writing a letter? He would have to tell her in words. He could just say "I love you". Have the whole class say "I love you"; then say "I love ice cream' and "I love my dog" --it somehow loses its sincerity. Listen to the song -- the music and the singing change abruptly when he gives the greatest definition of love I can find -- "when I touch you I feel happy inside". Therefore he wants to hold her hand to try to express what words can't --an emotion. A poem is just a way for a person to try to express an emotion in words because he or she can't touch you, or hit you, or kiss you or maybe even see you. And you have to say it in words that are better than "I love you". Go to the handout about what poetry is --you'll find it on the web site. This is a collection of great sayings that sum up all of poetry. You can be taught to know, believe or do anything, except feel. Also, a poem seems to take on a life of its own-- it may actually mean more to a reader than the writer. The reader may actually have a more complete emotion, or a different one than the writer. After this I play some really old stuff by John Denver. You can use other songs but the gist of the Denver songs is as follows: "Annie's Song" is about communicating love by talking about shared experiences that may seem dopey to others but hold great significance for the lovers -- such as "a night in the forest" (mosquitoes?), "a walk in the rain" (pneumonia?), "springtime in the mountains" (avalanches?). "The Music is You" is one minute long and is a brilliant cirucular metaphor wherein music tells stories, makes pictures, and is magic, and you are the music. Go on to examine how various poets and writers try to communicate love. Look on the web site for the amazing Shakepearian sonnet wherein he says his love's breath reeks and her hair is wire, but she is truly beautiful in herself, because most comparisons of a person's skin to snow and eyes to stars is phony. It's also a great way to introduce and teach the topic of the Shakespearian or Elizabethan sonnet. When you get finished with love, go on to some imagist poems and have some fun writing them - get the examples from the web site. Then get serious with love again by looking at Suzanne Vega's "Tom"s Diner" which is an imagist love song. I'll put the lyrics on the site.