Voices Ringing Blog /

Whenever Poetry is brought up in an English class, there will inevitably be a series of groans. The perception of poetry is often that it is sappy, stuffy, or just impossible to understand. This genre can be rigid, symmetrical, controlled, and formal. However, it also can be uninhibited and written in a way that makes you wonder if the poet follows any rules (E.E. Cummings is a prime example). For most of us, our exposure to poetry are the poems we were given to read for an assignment or the writings of a Hallmark card. This is probably why each year when the Poetry Unit appears, it is accompanied by groans.

Our department’s goal is to help students realize the breadth and depth of poetry. My poetry class professor would start every class with a simple phrase: "I hope that today someone finds the voice she needed to hear.”  That is what poetry is. Ten people can read the exact same poem and take away ten different meanings. Poetry allows us a glimpse into someone’s thoughts, heart, and soul like no other genre does. When we read a poem that embodies the very thoughts we find that we ourselves cannot articulate, it becomes an anthem. Sometimes it even allows us to be brave enough to try our hand at it. Luckily, we offer our students the chance to experiment with their own poetic voices during class, and for those that wish to make these works more public, we have our Write On publication that takes submissions from all students and staff.  I hope you all have a chance to explore poems that speak to you. Our department has a few favorites we would like to suggest:

Ms. Claire O’Malley: The Summer Day by Mary Oliver

Mrs. Ann (Calderone) Bertke '88: Birches by Robert Frost

Ms. Molly Stanifer: B also titled If I Should Have a Daughter by Sarah Kay

Mrs. Marcy (Hemmert) Hughes '83: Hope is the Thing With Feathers by Emily Dickinson 

Courtney (Griffith) Thompson '16: Phenomenal Woman by Maya Angelou which is also a favorite of Marcy Hughes and Mary Kate Caserta

Mary Kate Caserta: Richard Cory by Edwin Arlington Robinson

Ben Joplin: To the True Romance by Rudyard Kipling

Ben Swick: Avocado by Chris Harris