And So Begins My Rant...

   I really love poetry, so I was looking forward to this unit, but now I'm not so sure that I'll like it. We're going to be learning how to study and analyze poems, and honestly I've always believed this to be a terrible idea. Poetry is not something that you sit together in class and learn about with a teacher. Poetry is something that you feel when you read it and when you write it. I don't like the idea of sitting there, being given a poem to read, and told to analyze it, to look for literary devices and purpose and audience, etc. You can't do this with poetry. If someone is to learn about and appreciate poetry, then they need to come to it on their own. People need to experience the desire to read poetry, they need to be in the right mood and feel the right emotions. They need to love it, not read it because the teacher forces them too.

   I also find this to be true about being assigned books to read in class. I love to read, but I hate when we are given a really good book to read in class and forced to do worksheets and essays and analyze it according to the educational systems standards. It honestly ruins the book for me and I think a lot of people feel this way. When I read a book on my own, I don't stop every five minutes to answer questions on a worksheet or write down important quotes that I may need to use later when I'm writing an essay, but I do analyze it in my mind. I study the author's technique, interpret their meaning, appreciate the way they worded something or how they used a symbol in such a great way, but I don't write it down in a 3-page-five-paragraph essay with a theme statement and claims and blah blah blah. I read books and poetry because I want to love them and study them and appreciate them. They make my life better and I hate how the educational system destroys them for me. Thus ends my rant...