Saying It More Intensely: Using Sensory Experience to Teach Poetry Writing Author(s): Nicole Baart Source: The English

Journal, Vol. 91, No. 3, Teaching and Writing Poetry (Jan., 2002), pp. 98103 Published by: National Council of Teachers of English Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/821520 . Accessed: 25/05/2013 18:23
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Teaching

and

Writing

1 Poet ry

Saying
Poetry

ItMore
Writing

Intensely: Using

to Teach Sensory Experience

NICOLE BAART

hen I announced a poetry unit a few months ago to my favoritegroup of animat-

klill

edly mischievousninth grade students, I was more than preparedfor the barrage of groansthat accompaniedmy proclamation.Hands shot up all aroundthe room as I waded through a steadily growing sea of questions and complaints,replete

do we haveto learnthis stuff?" andunexpected, with the ever-original "Why Equippedfor I calledfor silenceandquotedwithgreatdignity a few linesfroma leftover sucha response, is] centralto each man's "[Poetry college essential,Soundand Senseby LaurencePerrine:
existence, something having uniquevalueto the fully
realizedlife, something which he is better off for having and which he is spirituallyimpoverishedwithout" (3). With the unswerving ideology of any first year teacher, I watched my students' faces in anticipation of the awe and understanding that I would find unfolding in their blank gazes. It never came. Teaching poetry to high school students is an arduous, thankless task. I remember my own nightmarish experiences with the odes of John Keats and the sonnets of William Shakespeare. To a fourteenyear-old, nothing could seem as impossibly boring and irrelevant as Dylan Thomas's: Do notgo gentleintothatgoodnight, bumandraveatthe closeof day; Oldageshould At fourteen you are still the invincible center of your own universe, and stultifying poetry by "old dead guys" is about as exciting as watching grass grow. While I prepared to teach my poetry unit for the very first time, I tried to keep this outlook in mind. And so, after enticing my students into poetry by offering them spiritual wealth and a fully realized life, I ended up reading them Oh, the Places You'llGo! by Dr. Seuss. The famous line, "Youhave brains in your head, You have feet in your shoes," if
M

not a pillarof poetic excellence,is at least appealing at anyage. It is no surprisethat manyEnglishteachers whenpreparing withthisage-oldquandary struggle I How can make theirpoetryunits: poetryrelevant I recentlyhad a conversation with andinteresting? a coworker during which we lamented the dichotomybetween the poetrywe shouldteach our studentsandthe poetrytheywantto be taught.Obviously,we cannot toss out the classicsentirelyin some ploy to be consideredthe "cool" teacher,but new trailsarebeingblazedas we implementeverymusic lyricsto modern thing from contemporary The real dilemma into the classroom. poets poetry whichpoems of teachingpoetryis not deciphering how but to teachandhowto teachthem, unraveling we can best teach studentsto write their own pointerpoetryrelevant, etry.Howcan I makewriting Dr. is Seuss and equally esting, possible?Mimicking as impossibleas pullingoff a decent sonnet. Afterstudying poetryforfourweekswithmy shallow ninthgradeclassof energeticandsomewhat but well-intentioned thinkers,I spent manysleepless nights ponderinghow to create lessons that would bringout the writersin my uninspiredstudents. Throughout the poetrycoursewe had tried

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the traditional "writeyour own poem" formats, and although my students had written something akin to poetry,it was stilted and devoid of any emotion. They spat out poetry as if it were a recipe to be followed. A little alliteration here, an ABAB rhyme pattern there, and voila!-a meaningless, one-dimensional poem that had as much personality as a cardboard cutout. I pored over poems that made absolutely no sense whatsoever but that were shining examples of the use of personification. I cringed when my students learned alliteration;every line of their poetry contained at least three words beginning with the same letter ("the marvelous, munching moon" was my favorite). Although I praised their efforts, I continually encouraged them to dig deeper and write poetry from their soul. They rolled their eyes at this flaky English teacher. In a last ditch effort to conjure up some inspiration, I returned to the book that had molded me personally as a poet and found a definition for poetry that stirred me: "Poetry might be defined as a kind of language that saysmore and says it more intensely than does ordinary language" (Perrine 3). The key was more intensely; I had to get my students to grow from simply saying it to saying it more intensely. What they were articulating was fine; they just needed to kick it up a notch. Poetry is the reflection of experience, and as I looked back on how I had prompted my students to write their own poems, I realized that I was creating an artificialenvironmentthatwas doomed to produce the cheap, thoughtless poetry that limited what they were attempting to express. Since I cannot realistically generate a setting in which my students can encounter the highs and lows and in-betweens of life, I decided the best way to help them write poetry would be to bring them to memories that would stimulate the expression of everything more intensely. The seed for my four writing workshops was the result of a lesson plan shared in my college Methods of Teaching English course. The lesson used the sense of smell as a launchingpoint for poetry writing. At the time, I considered it a cute and somewhat trite idea but never imagined that I would use it in my own teaching. Two and a half years later, I dredged up the memory, tossed in a handful of partially transformed ideas, and developed a set of writing workshops designed to facilitate poetry writing by appealing to the senses. These workshops teach students to look past the ordinary,be aware of the world around them, and find inspiration in perfectly nor-

mal, uninspiringplaces. The result is often a mixture of personal enlightenment and the expression of self. When I presented my workshops to my guinea-pig class, I was surprised by the response. The kids loved every workshop, and although not every student got something out of every session, they all got something out of at least one workshop. The poetry that emerged as a result of our in-class experiences was sometimes sad, funny, touching, sweet, or disturbing, but it was also multidimensional, and my students were expressing things in ways that continually surprised me. I have discovered that the workshops yield the best results when used sporadically.Too much workshopping can cause sensory overload. In addition, it is necessary to have a clear set of rules and regulations, or students may treat the workshops as a slack day. Before every workshop I clearly print the Rules for Writing Workshops (see Figure 1) on the board. Students must adhere to the rules completely, or they are asked to leave the classroom. To assist students with the "no talking" rule, I usually play music softly in the background. I find that playing classicalmusic only irritatesthem, so I try to stick to instrumental soundtracks.

ScentWriting Workshop
The Scent Writing Workshop is designed to evoke memory through scent. It also exercises the dexterity of describing something in a creative and unexpected way. Since students do not usuallyknow what they are smelling, they have to rely on their gut instinct and let the scent take them to a memory. For this workshopI use sixteen identical mini plastic containers. The sides and lids must be opaque; students should only be able to smell the item, not see it. First, I poke holes in the lids of the containers, making sure they are big enough to let
FIGURE1.
RULES FOR WRITING WORKSHOPS

1. Yourdesk must be clear of everythingbut a few sheets of clean paper and somethingto write with. 2. No talking.Allowyour imaginationto absorb what you are experiencingand do not interfere with anotherperson'sprogress. 3. Do not limit yourself in your brainstorming. Write down whatevercomes to mind, even if it doesn't seem to make any sense. No erasing!

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scent through,but smallenoughthatif tippedover the contentswill not spilleverywhere. Next, I use a marker to number the containers one permanent throughsixteen. I place a heavilyscented productinside of each container, one tablespooningapproximately of the into the containers and spoon dryproducts soakingone or two cotton ballswith the wet products. I varythe scents;not everything has to smell or be a "kitchen" smell. I also good organizethe scentsin such a waythat each new smell is distinct fromthe one before and afterit. It'simportant not to groupthe sweet or floweryscents togetherbecause the nose becomes numbto the smell and it's hardto distinguish differences.The sixteenscents that I use for the workshop are coffee grounds women'sperfume(somethingstrong) garlic(a freshlycrushedclove is particularlypungent) cinnamon laundry detergent orangepekoe tea leaves onion (freshlychopped) shampoo lemon (a freshtriangleor lemonjuice) mixedherbs (Mrs.Dash or something similar) peanutbutter whitevinegar men'scologne (somethingstrong) groundblackpeppercorns or toothpaste mouthwash householdcleaner heavy-duty In class,studentspassaround the containers and experienceeach scent,writingdownwhatever
comes to mind as they smell it. I try to direct their encounter by encouraging them to close their eyes and breathe in the scent. If a particular memory or image pops into their mind, fantastic. If not, I ask them to explore what each scent makes them think of. Maybe a specific place, person, color, or feeling is associated with the smell. Students record all of their thoughts, matching up the numbers of the container with the numbers on their paper, and I then allow them to record a guess about what is enclosed
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in the container.As a fun bonus at the end of the classperiod,I revealwhat each scent was and give a smalltreatto the studentwho had the most correct guesses. After the Scent WritingWorkshop, I assign studentsto writea "memory based on somepoem" thing that they experiencedduringthe workshop. On the firstrun-through, I receivedpoems about from cinnamon rollson Sunday everything morning to the death of a grandfather and how the scent of deathis "notasominousas I hadhoped ... likeplastic, stalepaint,and my mother's perfume."

TasteWriting Workshop
The TasteWritingWorkshop is an exercisein disthe of detail. Thisis nota workcovering importance shop designedto cultivatespecificideas for topics andthemesin writing poetry.Instead,itspurposeis to equip studentsto write descriptively, payingattention to detail and approaching common topics froman uncommonangle.Althoughthis workshop is a "taste test"forstudents,it does not focuson the tastes specific presented.I handoutverysmallportionsof sixteendifferentfoods,andthe studentsexercise their powers of observationand abilityto in a highlydetailed,unique,and describesomething This unexpectedway. practiceenablesthem to find poetryin anyexperience. Tocarry out thisproject,I gathera collection of tastesandtexturesintendedto stimulateartistry in writing.Eachstudentreceivesa papertowelthat I will graduallyfill throughoutthe class period. I walkthroughthe roomhandingout samplesone at a time anddirecting the flowof ideasif studentsbecome hungup with the factthat"it's just chocolate, it doesn't make me think of anything."I also encourage students to try everything,not just the thingsthey like,althoughI do not requirethatthey eat all of the samples.The sixteentastesI use are
chocolate chips lemon wedge dry rotini noodles white bread peanut butter onion mustard Cheerios processed cheese

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coconutflakes pepperoni Dutch blacklicorice(saltedlicorice) peppermints brownsugar babycarrots raisins As studentsare exposedto the varioustexturesandtastes,I requirethattheyobservethe samwhat it lookslike, ple from everyangle, describing feels like, smells like, and even soundslike before they try to describewhat it tastes like. When they tastethe sample,I allowthemto illustrate eventually like but "taste words" the experience usinganything on of etc. Instead sweet,salty,bitter, sour, relying establishedconventionsfor characterizing food, students are forced to expandtheir experiencesand relatetheirideasin waysthatareuniqueandimagimoreintensedenative.The resultis anunorthodox, is of that ordinary. scription something

kittenwithhis bareheel hadjarredand shockedmy Across the roomI heardkidscrunching on students. their noodlesto mimicwhatthey consideredto be A numberof students the soundof bones cracking. used the workshopas a launchingpoint to rewrite describthe poem froma moresensualperspective, the with the sounds of kitten the dying, along ing of the skull and the and heartbeat, "heavy splintering deep,"of the boywho killsthe kitten. The assignment that flows out of this workis a based on alternative shop poem perspectivesin an unexpectedway. common seeing something Studentsare requiredto completea poem that adoccurrenceor commonmatter dressesan everyday in a new andsurprising manner. The mostinterestI waswritreceived from this assignment ing poem is Pink?" ten by a girlwho askedthe question,"What Insteadof relyingon sightto describeher color,she goodnight explained pinkas the colorof"amother's and "thefeel of nighton your skin"along whisper" with a number of other images that evoked pink visual. it to anything withoutcomparing

Music Writing Workshop

Instead of relying on sight to describe her color, she explained pink as the color of "amother's goodnightwhisper"and "the feel of night on your skin"along with a number of other images that evoked pink without comparingit to anythingvisual.
One particularly enthusiastic boy in my class brokethe code of silenceduringthisworkshop and blurtedout to the entireclassthatthe rotininoodle crunched like"theskullof a kitten!" Wehadrecently I readBecause NeverLearnedby Patrick Lane,and the imageof a youngboycrushing the skullof a dying

For lack of a decent sounding"sense"word, the thirdworkshop is titledafterwhatwe listento in the of whatwe do. This workshopis instead workshop aimeddirectlyat emotion;its purposeis to aid students in identifyingand employingdifferentfeelings in their poetry. Often students revert to predictableexpressionswhen tryingto communicate how they are feelingin a poem. We knowthat theyaresador happyor scared,but thisshallowness leaveslittleroomfortrulyunderstanding the depth of emotionthey are enduring. To effectivelycomplete the MusicWriting Workshop,it is necessaryto have access to a CD of songs.I tryto startoff playerand an assortment withdark,heavymusicandgradually tone downthe until we end one of with Beethoven's songs symphonies. By the end of the class period, students have a better understanding of how musiccan and does affect their mood. It is also importantto includesomesongsthatstudentsarefamiliar withand somesongsthattheyhaveneverheardbefore.Upon hearingsomethingrecognizable,it is obviousthat students will automaticallythink of particular people,places,andemotions.Thiscanbe a valuable exerciseif studentsdigintothoseemotionsandlook of whattheyareassociating with beneaththe surface
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the song. It is equally useful to expose students to things they are not acquainted with. This allows them to focus on the music instead of the words and attach meaning to sound. A list of songs that I have used in the past follows (in no particular order): "Enter Sandman"(Metallica) "Thief" (Our Lady Peace) "AmericanPsycho" (Treble Charger) "Wonderful"(Everclear) "I Want to Know You"(Sonic Flood) "Angel"(Sarah McLachlan) "Dive" (Steven Curtis Chapman) "Symphony No. 5" (Beethoven) This class period is dedicated to nonstop writI tell studentsthatthey must keep writingno mating. ter what, and if they cannot think of actual words to write, they should doodle or sketch. Some students become reallyinvolved in the process, and I have had a few show me up to six solid pages of writing-six pages of emotion, experience, and ideas that prove to be an excellent origin for meaningfulpoetry. In some cases the music had a much greater effect on my students than I expected. One student actually had to leave the room when I played "Wonderful,"a song about a child strugglingwith the divorce of his parents. I wondered if the music had been manipulative, but the student produced a heartbreakingly powerful poem. It was addressed to her father, and it accused him and loved him in a singularvoice. At the end of the Music WritingWorkshop,I assign my students to write a poem based on an experience or memorythat moved them to an acute and potent emotion. This workshop produced the most seriousand honest poetry from my students. I learned a lot about them as people and even found a new perspective on their personalities and motivations.

Students love to take their most impressive pictures, so if the picture is a precious family heirloom, they should make sure that it is protected in a slipcover or maybe even choose another picture. The photos can feature any subject-landscapes are as desirable as portraits. However, I prefer that the pictures do not include any recognizable people who will distract students as they are studying the photos. For this workshop I divide the class into groups of five. The students place their desks in a circle so they are all facing each other and can easily share photographs. Students are then instructed to pass their photos to the right.This is a timed exercise, and students are allowed three minutes to view each picture. In the first minute they must write down verbs, action words that describe what is happening in the photo. Some students have a difficulttime with this step if they are faced with a landscape, but after I remind them that almost everythinglives and grows they are usually able to continue independently. The second minute is devoted to adjectives and description:what in this picture leaps out at you? Finally,we devote a minute to filling in the emotional story of the photo. During this time I ask students to quickly write the story behind the picture. Since they only have a minute, students must be spontaneous and write whatever comes to mind. Young adults are amazinglyadept at reading between the lines, especiallywhen the photographincludes a number of different people. The followingis a sample of a student's interpretation of a photo containing a young couple, obviously romantic: Action-smile, sit, look, feel, wonder, touch, love, think, live, breathe, plan, hope sunshine, soft, happy, Description-blue, content, close, white, new, clean Story-This is a first date. You can tell because the girl looks shy and is looking kind of down instead of at the camera. The boy really likes her because he's leaning in and touching her shoulder with his. The three-minute photo interpretation continues until all the pictures have been passed around the group. Since I do not require students to analyze their own photo, each student will have four sets of Action/Description/Story. The next step in the Sight Writing Workshop is to allow students to choose a picture that they found particularly intriguing or personally appealing. I allow three addi-

Workshop SightWriting
The purpose of the fourthworkshopis to aid students in writing poetry from an outsider's perspective. Sometimes our experience is the result of mere observation and vicarious encounters. When we cannot find inspirationin our own lives, it certainly does not hurt to look for our muse in the world around us. This workshoprequiresa little help from students. At least a week before the workshop, I ask students to find a favoritephotograph and bring it along to class.
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tional minutes for the groups to discuss each picture together, takingtime to share ideas and insights. The only rule for this part of the exercise is that the student who knows the real story behind the picture cannot divulge any information to the group. The picture must remain mysterious! After all of the brainstorming, speculating, and imagining, I ask my students to write a poem based on the picture that captivatedthem most. This is typically a very easy assignment because parts of the poem are already written. In going through the three steps of discovery, students have put down words that might be meaningful in a poem about the picture.

Concluding Thoughts
Through these workshops I have aspired to assist students in understanding the profundity of their own imaginations. Poetry is inherently a part of us; it is identifying and conveying it that is so difficult. However, in attempting to teach my students to find poetry in any situation, I discovered that my "innovative"ideas were merely a reminder to students of the things that they already knew. One student shared that she read over her journal and found poetry throughout the whole thing. Another boy commented that when he went skateboarding at a local

skatepark,he felt ecstasyandfearandtriumphthat sentenceswith couldnotbe explained by "complete and and stuff." periods capitalletters art of the writing poetryis as easy Teaching of a snow-capped mounthe brilliance as explaining from a blind to tainon a luminous springday person birth. It is fraughtwith failurebut sprinkledwith successandwortheveryminuteof clumsyexplanations andblankstares.Andwhile studentsmaylove or hate it andchangetheirmindsa milliontimes in between, at least it is not an entirelythankless job. a walks with at least student Every singleline away thatspeaksto the soulandsaysit betterthananyone else ever could.It is ourtaskas Englishteachersto continuethe questforlessonsthatwillbringout the poetryin our studentsandhelp them saywhatthey meanto say,moreintensely. Works Cited
Perrine,Laurence.Soundand Sense:An Introductionto Poetry. New York:Harcourt,Brace & World, 1956. Seuss, Dr. Oh, the Places You'llGo! New York:Random House, 1990.

NICOLEBAART teaches at the Mennonite EducationalInstitute, Abbotsford,BritishColumbia.

EJ 75 YearS AGO
ManyVoices, One Nation
"Ifthe songs of a nationwrittenby an idealistvoicingthe best his people can hope are an important influence,what of highlyemotional, mustbe the influenceof the songsof a nationwrittenby thousands educated,ambitious partially
versifiers? Is it good or bad that poetry in America sounds like all the robins and blackbirds-and a thrush or two-in

the tops of all the trees in townon a springevening?"

Alice Bidwell Wesenberg. "The American Public: Poetry."EJ 16.3 (1927): 212-18.

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