Unit 6 How to Write a Rotten Poem with Almost No Effort
Section One Pre-reading Activities
Watch the video clip and answer the following questions.
Script:
Mr. Keating: Keep ripping gentlemen. This is abattle, a war. And the casualties could be your hearts and souls. Thank you Mr.Dalton. Armies of academics going forward, measuring poetry. No, we will nothave that here. No more of Mr. J. Evans Pritchard. Now in my class you willlearn to think for yourselves again. You will learn to savor words andlanguage. No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change theworld. I see that look in Mr. Pitt’s eye, like nineteenth century literaturehas nothing to do with going to business school or medical school. Right?Maybe. Mr. Hopkins, you may agree with him, thinking “Yes, we should simplystudy our Mr. Pritchard and learn our rhyme and meter and go quietly about thebusiness of achieving other ambitions.” I have a little secret for you. Huddleup. Huddle up! We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read andwrite poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race isfilled with passion. Medicine, law, business, engineering, these are all noblepursuits, and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love,these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman: “O me, o life of thequestions of these recurring, of the endless trains of the faithless, of citiesfilled with the foolish. What good amid these, o me, o life?” Answer: that youare here. That life exists, and identity. That the powerful play goes on, andyou may contribute a verse. That the powerful play goes on and you maycontribute a verse.
Questions
1. Why should students of all majorsstudy poetry?
2. Are students’ expressions changing when theyare listening to Mr. Keating’s words?
About Poetry
1. History of Poetry
l Some of theearliest poetry is believed to have been orally recited or sung, closelyrelated to musical traditions, and much of it can be attributed to religiousmovements: rhythm, rhyme, compression, intensity of feeling, the use ofrefrains.
l Following the development ofwriting, poetry has since developed into increasingly structured forms.
Written composition meant poets began to compose for an absent reader.
l Much poetry since the late20th century has moved away from traditional forms towards the more vaguelydefined free verse and prose poem formats.
2. Classification
Three majorgenres:
l Epic poetry:a long story about brave actionsand exciting events;
l Lyric poetry: more personal, shorter poems intended tobe sung;
l Dramatic poetry: comedy and tragedy as subgenres.
