It's lovely being back at school again - I have a feeling that we'll end up having to close again, because there's still a massive volume of water creeping into Bangkok like the world's slowest disaster movie, but it's good to know now that most of us can access Edmodo and the blog from home. If and when we end up having to close again, you'll know what to do! :D
I know some people are having problems finding a poem to learn by heart; you DO need to show it to me first, because there are a lot of badly-written poems out there on the internet, and although I don't at all mind if your poem is one written by an amateur writer nobody has heard of instead of a famous professional poet, I do want to be sure that it's well done.
If you are stuck & cannot find a poem, here are some poets you could Google:
Spike Milligan - funny & silly
Michael Rosen - funny & silly
Shel Silverstein - funny
Ken Nesbitt - funny
Dr Seuss - funny & silly
Roald Dahl - funny and silly
These first few all write poetry aimed specifically at kids; it isn't usually very deep & thought-provoking, but it's fun! The next lot write poetry that you have to think about a bit more:
Carol Ann Duffy - serious; uses symbolism & makes you think; sometimes funny
Wilfred Owen - serious (World War II poet - he was a soldier on the front lines, writing the truth about the war); generally pretty heart-breaking
Ted Hughes - often writes about animals & wildlife; usually serious; makes you think;
William Carlos Williams - doesn't use obvious sound patterns of rhyme/rhythm - instead his poems tend to be vivid snapshots
WHAT MAKES A GOOD POEM?
We've talked about what makes a poem different from prose: you guys know that poems are a mixture of music and meaning, and that the pattern of sounds in the air is very important. You know that the way a poem is written down on the page usually tells us something about those sounds in the air. You know that a poem can be full of symbols and make you think about lots of things outside the poem. But what's the difference between a good poem and a bad poem? Is it just a matter of personal taste?
No.
Personal taste determines whether you LIKE something. But that's not the same as being able to make a sensible and reasoned assessment about whether or not something is well made. (I quite often like things even though I know that, objectively, they're not very good - for example, I like really terrible B-movies about giant sharks eating people. I also sometimes don't like things even though I can see they are done to a very high standard, like operas and football matches.)
A good poem (or any kind of art, really) should be able to move you. It should make you feel something - even if it only makes you grin because the words are fun to say and hear.
A good poem might show you something ordinary and everyday, but make you feel like you've really noticed it for the same time. Or it might show you something wildly new and unfamiliar, but make it feel relevant and meaningful and understandable.
It might communicate a story, or an image, or even just nonsense words that make enjoyable sound patterns and evoke images and ideas in your mind.
A good poem should be funny or beautiful or true. It might be a combination of these things, but it must be at least one of them.
What's more, a good piece of art (poem, music, painting, photograph, drama, whatever) should have nothing in it that's wasted. Nothing extra, or weak, or pointless, or flabby. Every bit of it should be carefully chosen, and purposeful.
So a GOOD poem is carefully built out of the very best words, and it does precisely what the poet wants it to do. That might mean it's musical, or silly, or heart-breaking, or clever, or that it puts bright and vivid pictures into your mind. There are all kinds of ways that a poem can be wonderful. A poem's job is to make a connection between the poet's mind and your mind, and to communicate something. It's like a message in a bottle that the poet tosses out onto the oceans of time, not knowing who will pick it up and read it.
A poem should be built just as carefully as a car designer would design a car - every bit of the poem should be there for a purpose, every word chosen because it fits beautifully and effectively with every other bit. There are lots of different kinds of car, just like there are lots of different kinds of poem. If a car designer is building a Formula 1 racing car, they will not build it the same way that they would build an off-road vehicle designed for mountains and deserts, or the way they would build a large family car for driving around the city. If a poet is building a funny poem for children, they won't build it the same way that they would build a poem about the meaning of death, or a poem intended to seduce somebody they fancy, or a poem intended to creep people out as they sit around a campfire.
Whatever kind of poem it is, it should be built out of the very best words for the purpose. It shouldn't be clumsily or lazily built. It shouldn't be trite or cliched. It shouldn't be dull.
