Teachers often spend many lessons having students write various styles of poems which follow a specific theme or style of writing. Students are taught a kind of poem, how to write it, and maybe some literary devices to help them along the way, without always understanding the why people write poetry. What is poetry really?

My mom is a poet, and I once had my students Skype her so that she could give a reading of some of her poems. My students had never heard a poet read before and so I wanted to give them some insight on the passion behind poetry, the tone of a reader, and what inspires someone to write. I did a simple exercise with my students in preparation for this Skype call, which I believe teaches the purpose of writing poetry.

First, I had my students look at a picture of Piute Creek, a location in Yosemite National Park. An author who inspires my mother by the name of Gary Snyder has a poem titled Piute Creek written about this location. I had my students close their eyes for a minute and picture themselves there. What would you see? smell? be doing? Be in that picture. Next, I read my students Gary Snyder’s poem. This allowed my students to understand how feelings and experiences could be put into words.

Next, I read my students a poem by Robert Frost, The Pasture. This time I did the opposite. I read the poem first, and then after asked my students to tell me what a picture of this poem might look like. If I had had more time, perhaps I would have had my students each draw a picture, or interpretation of this poem. The takeaway from this exercise was that poetry is designed to bring out experiences, to tell stories, and to fill a readers head with imagery.

My students were inspired to find pictures from home or take pictures at home of something that inspires them to write poetry about as a next step. This lesson also directly connected to our unit of inquiry on imagination and inspiration.