“…the best instruction you could ever give a poet: whether you’re examining a bad line in a poem or a bad motive for action, keep well your repining – meaning don’t ignore the honest muttering in your head.”  Alice Oswald

Whilst skimming through The Guardian the other day I came across this article from John Kinsella about poetry’s responsibility to bring change.

It’s one of a growing number of articles about the sponsorship of the T S Eliot prize for poetry. In short, two poets have withdrawn on ethical/political grounds from the prize following a sponsorship deal with investment management firm Aurum Funds.

I think Alice Oswald started it all off and it’s a difficult one to call. The Poetry Book Society had to look for private sponsorship following public sector funding cuts by the Arts Council.  Whatever your view, I know one good thing has come from this story;  I’m up for poetry now. Bring. It. On.

I’ve never really had the urge to explore the world of poetry and the poets.  Yet all this angsty, change the world or die, “linguistic disobedience” stuff stirs me.  Being an inquisitive soul, all this got me thinking “I don’t really get poetry”.  And then I thought, “Why?”.

Ownership

I don’t think I’ve ever owned any before this year.  Which is odd considering we have books everywhere. I grew up with books everywhere.   The piles of books by my bed could be mistaken for a paper tower of Pisa (a trait I learnt from my father). But how many of those books are by poets or on poetry?  Very few.  A dog-eared copy of The Nation’s Favourite Poems, which I am sure I have never bought so must have stolen, doesn’t count.

The reason for this? “Erm, probably Emma because of all the hours you spend in book shops you never spend any time in the poetry section.”  Completely unaware.  So I am now aware and open to the possibility that hanging in the Poetry and Drama sections of Waterstones may increase the chances of me upping my consumption.

Poetry is now on my mind.

Films, Television and Death

“Stop all the clocks.”  If I hear John Hannah reading W H Auden’s Funeral Blues I cry.  For me Auden is Four Weddings.   Actually most of the poems (or lines from poems) I can recite are because they featured in a film.  A sad state of affairs. This saddens me but it’s true so I should accept it and not feel the shame.

After films, my next realisation has been that funerals are where I have heard the most poetry.  Death is Nothing At All, Reflections, Do Not Stand At My Grave And Weep.  Somehow I feel a little out of balance now I realise most of the poems I know are about death, dying and grief!

So here’s to balanced anthology of life, nature and a bit of living.

N.B. Me and Mr Auden got nice and cosy as he read me to sleep the other evening.  We are starting to become properly acquainted.

Education

My schools days contained a lot of English lessons. Not unusual. In all the hours spent in the classroom during my secondary education I seriously cannot remember one lesson or one exercise or one piece of homework about poetry. Not one.  How can that possibly be?  It was a good school. Still is to my knowledge. And I had good teachers.

But I know for a fact that we never sat down and talked about poetry as a form of social or political observation. That would have been exciting.  We never talked about it being primal, being from your gut and in your bones. Not once did it cross my mind that all the madness inside my head was what poetry could be about.  It could have been therapy.  It could have been the light.  A fire inside me. Opportunity, wasted.

I hope that this isn’t a common experience. Poetry is a tool we have made. It should be used. It’s there to help us. It has purpose.

I had a quick look around (Google Search: national curriculum poetry).  Sadly I fear it may be all too commonplace…

“Poetry in the Secondary Framework.  Apart from broad references to ‘narratives’ and ‘multi modal’ texts, the Framework itself contains no references to specific types of texts. If teachers just consult this document, it could be all too easy for poetry (or other text types) to become neglected.“  Initial Teacher Education – English Website.

 

“Poetry is either sidelined or subjected to pointless questioning on the supposed ‘facts’ of a poem and children spend their time counting metaphors and proving that this or that makes a poem effective.  Effective for who? The children aren’t asked.” Michael Rosen Children’s Laureate in 2007.

I’d love to be reassured. Teacher friends – please restore my faith.  Who’s playing with poetry in our schools?

Poetry Un-School

I’m starting my own curriculum. A journey into poetry.  Beginning with a little help from Stephen May, Carol Ann Duffy and the Poetry Book Society.  I wonder where it will take me?