what a great question.
i think if parents had a look round the net for a half decent site and used a little supervision to put them on the right track it would be start. i came to poetry really late. like mark a poem in my household was something to scoff at, and i scoffed with them even though i class myself as pretty smart. how wrong i was. (probably on both counts) i more or less taught myself what to read, of course i had strict guidelines being a smart person, if i didn't like a poem, i never bothered with that poet again. eventually i came to the realization i was in fact a moron.
if i could help my grand kids in their poetical education, it would be with a book of eclectic poetry, or two.
of course a couple of my poets would be their to help. teasedale, rossetti, and a few of the romantics. i think hughes would be a good read for them as he touches on many relevant subjects, and as much as i'm not keen on bukowski, there's no doubt he knows his craft. (i love some of his stuff) i think the most important thng i'd give would be a pencil/pen and note book so they coulf write down all those great images i never did. the jabberwocky would be the first poem i taught them, and an emily dicky poem would be the last.
i think if parents had a look round the net for a half decent site and used a little supervision to put them on the right track it would be start. i came to poetry really late. like mark a poem in my household was something to scoff at, and i scoffed with them even though i class myself as pretty smart. how wrong i was. (probably on both counts) i more or less taught myself what to read, of course i had strict guidelines being a smart person, if i didn't like a poem, i never bothered with that poet again. eventually i came to the realization i was in fact a moron.
if i could help my grand kids in their poetical education, it would be with a book of eclectic poetry, or two.
of course a couple of my poets would be their to help. teasedale, rossetti, and a few of the romantics. i think hughes would be a good read for them as he touches on many relevant subjects, and as much as i'm not keen on bukowski, there's no doubt he knows his craft. (i love some of his stuff) i think the most important thng i'd give would be a pencil/pen and note book so they coulf write down all those great images i never did. the jabberwocky would be the first poem i taught them, and an emily dicky poem would be the last.
(10-25-2011, 09:21 AM)abu nuwas Wrote: Schools seem now to provide pretty patchy education in poetry. What should parents/grand-parents do? Which poems would you begin with, and carry on with? I began with many poems with a strong metre, mostly Romantic, or of the Imperial age, and then graduated to War Poets, and different types of structure in my teens, when I notice many children are susceptible, and memorise for the rest of lives. Or they did.