How does a poem come alive?
How does one make a poem come alive?
How do you make a poem come alive? How do you share its secrets, its message, its power? How does one experience a poem? Experiencing a poem is different from understanding it at a mental level, making it a mere tool for vocabulary building, embellishment or garnishing essays. We are talking about the essence of poetry, about connecting the reader (especially if s/he is a child) to its essential treasures and touching the space from where the poem came into being.
A poem is a capsule of opportunities. We’ll share a few ideas how we’ve been doing this…
Making it natural
Take advantage of the setting. Everything can be poetic. A ‘welcome’ poem could be hung at the door, a poem on food could be in the kitchen pasted on the box of spices, a poem on books could (should!) be in the library. A poem need not be confined to the black and white pages of a book. A poem on the Jasmine flowers would be beautiful in a jasmine groove. The nature poets have to be found in the garden, perhaps a small laminated poem on the garden gate, or tied to a bamboo near the rose bush. It will live there and the fragrance will seep into the words as the child reads it.
Time it well
There is a season and time for all learning and absorption. Often in school, teachers are stifled with a very strict and rigid syllabus and there’s little time to improvise and ‘pick’ a slice of literature for an occasion, season or time. A space needs to be created for poems to harmonise and beat with the pulse of the time and mood, in and out of school. If the country is burning with controversies, teenagers who are aware of current events may respond more readily to a poem that resonates with the time. Poems should welcome seasons, should dance with nature, should support human exploration, within and without.
Imagine and empathize
A poem can take one on a journey, it can give the gift of a perspective. A new way of looking. The blade of grass becomes special, it is a ‘handkerchief of the lord’. The inner world of the child expands. The quality of imagination which is so alive in a child gets a direction and a sanction. Giving an empathy exercise (imagination you are the ant in the grass, the shoe that can think and feel) that leads to a poem or flows from a poem holds power. Imagination and empathy make one a more sensitive and aware human being.
Poems for creative experience
A poem is both a destination and a journey. To appreciate a poem for itself is complete. However, there there is so much more to it. It can be a catalyst to a potential sleeping in a child. The exercises that follow poems (especially in this blog) stretch beyond the realm of words - a series of activities springing from the ideas expressed in a poem. They can make a collage, sketch, photograph and use craft material as a visual expression of the poetic space. Here, the purpose is to use the poem to facilitate a wider range of experiences that can help the child to grow in a variety of ways.
Poems for more poems
The most natural exercises that can be done after reading a poem, is to follow it up with the writing of another poem. The rhyme scheme, theme, character, setting, an image or simply a phrase from the poem can be used to inspire another poem. A child can write on ‘leisure’ while using the images that represent leisure in her/his life. An animal in a poem can be imagined to be in a different setting. The idea is to take inspiration from the poem and to travel on a poetic road on your own after that.
How do you make a poem come alive? How do you share its secrets, its message, its power? How does one experience a poem? Experiencing a poem is different from understanding it at a mental level, making it a mere tool for vocabulary building, embellishment or garnishing essays. We are talking about the essence of poetry, about connecting the reader (especially if s/he is a child) to its essential treasures and touching the space from where the poem came into being.
A poem is a capsule of opportunities. We’ll share a few ideas how we’ve been doing this…
Making it natural
Take advantage of the setting. Everything can be poetic. A ‘welcome’ poem could be hung at the door, a poem on food could be in the kitchen pasted on the box of spices, a poem on books could (should!) be in the library. A poem need not be confined to the black and white pages of a book. A poem on the Jasmine flowers would be beautiful in a jasmine groove. The nature poets have to be found in the garden, perhaps a small laminated poem on the garden gate, or tied to a bamboo near the rose bush. It will live there and the fragrance will seep into the words as the child reads it.
Time it well
There is a season and time for all learning and absorption. Often in school, teachers are stifled with a very strict and rigid syllabus and there’s little time to improvise and ‘pick’ a slice of literature for an occasion, season or time. A space needs to be created for poems to harmonise and beat with the pulse of the time and mood, in and out of school. If the country is burning with controversies, teenagers who are aware of current events may respond more readily to a poem that resonates with the time. Poems should welcome seasons, should dance with nature, should support human exploration, within and without.
Imagine and empathize
A poem can take one on a journey, it can give the gift of a perspective. A new way of looking. The blade of grass becomes special, it is a ‘handkerchief of the lord’. The inner world of the child expands. The quality of imagination which is so alive in a child gets a direction and a sanction. Giving an empathy exercise (imagination you are the ant in the grass, the shoe that can think and feel) that leads to a poem or flows from a poem holds power. Imagination and empathy make one a more sensitive and aware human being.
Poems for creative experience
A poem is both a destination and a journey. To appreciate a poem for itself is complete. However, there there is so much more to it. It can be a catalyst to a potential sleeping in a child. The exercises that follow poems (especially in this blog) stretch beyond the realm of words - a series of activities springing from the ideas expressed in a poem. They can make a collage, sketch, photograph and use craft material as a visual expression of the poetic space. Here, the purpose is to use the poem to facilitate a wider range of experiences that can help the child to grow in a variety of ways.
Poems for more poems
The most natural exercises that can be done after reading a poem, is to follow it up with the writing of another poem. The rhyme scheme, theme, character, setting, an image or simply a phrase from the poem can be used to inspire another poem. A child can write on ‘leisure’ while using the images that represent leisure in her/his life. An animal in a poem can be imagined to be in a different setting. The idea is to take inspiration from the poem and to travel on a poetic road on your own after that.