More and more people nowadays seem to read less, or not at all -especially poetry- unless it’s something they have to read. Yet there are still those that you never seem to see without a book by their side. So what makes some people want to read more than others? Being able to connect with writing, whether it is fiction or poetry, is one of the most important aspects to making people want to read.
Ralph Fletcher is a poet and author of the book Poetry Matters. When many people think of poetry, they think about the rules and rhymes that they’re taught in school, the agonizing hours spent trying to think of what rhymes with “purple”, but Fletcher helps aspiring authors to think of poetry in a new way. Fletcher starts by talking about why we might write poetry; “I think the reason is partly because poems are so intimate. Often we write poems for personal reasons.” (7) Fletcher continues on to give examples of those times. This is a reason why people read poetry, the intimate feeling that you tap into when reading a poem by someone close to you, or just something a poet wrote that you can relate to makes reading the poem enjoyable and not boring and tedious to try to pick apart. Fletcher also talks about why some people don’t like poetry; “Of course, not everybody is a fan of poetry. I often run into kids who don’t like to write poems. ‘Poems are boring,’ one girl muttered when I visited her classroom. She complained that her teacher had spent hour after hour dissecting poems and pulling out similes, metaphors, and symbolism.” (8) Fletcher, like many other people understand that poetry isn’t always about finding the obscure meaning behind the poem, but rather taking the time to enjoy them.
Over about two weeks we had four professional authors from the area come into the classroom to talk about their writing. Deb Smith, a travel writer from the region, was my favorite author that I saw that came in to talk to us. At first Smith really helped us to understand that when writing, your reader has to connect with the story “…that underlying kind of human core to the story, I think, is what connects it across generations and people and cultures…” (Smith) Smith also talked about getting across the point of the story. She says, “What you want to know is what happens here next, what’s the story about? And that’s the thing when you’re writing that you have to keep in mind, that whole question: What is the story about?” (Smith) From this you really can understand that keeping the reader in mind is one of the biggest parts of writing because you have to know who you are writing for in order for them to understand it.
Another professional author that came into our class was Robyn Ringler. Ringler owns a bookstore and writes papers for various magazines. Ringler also mentioned the idea of your reader having to be able to connect to the story, but said it in a different way, using the words “universal meaning” to describe the idea of people understanding what you are trying to say, “…sometimes you write to entertain, you write for that universal meaning.” (Ringler) Ringler also spoke briefly about breaking the strict rules of writing. “You have the freedom to write in any way that you want to write,” (Ringler) she mentioned this after communicating that you learn the strict rules so that you can break them. By breaking the rules, sometimes your piece becomes more appealing to read because it can sound better. This is what poet Therese Broderick talked a lot about in our discussion with her.
Therese Broderick is a self-published poet from the area. When she visited she talked about how sound makes a big difference in whether you like or dislike a piece of writing, especially poems. Broderick spent almost the entire 85 minutes talking about how important sound is to poets like when she said, “Poetry is sound design…poets are sound designers, designers of sound…” (Broderick) Broderick read us poems, telling us that her favorite poems to read were the best because of how they sounded. Broderick also gave us some advice when she told us “…you have to follow the sounds you like and love.” (Broderick) While Broderick is an obvious fan of poetry not all of the people we talked to for this project were.
When finding people to interview for our documentary, we wanted to find two people that read on a regular basis and enjoyed it and two people that didn’t. We specifically asked about whether or not our interviewees read poetry or not. One interviewee, Jessie Doyle, told us “I don’t like poetry because I don’t think it’s crucial for real world application…” (Doyle) Jessie’s opinion is very similar to those of other students at GHS. It may have to do with what Jessie said; they don’t find a real world application for it, or it maybe that like the little girl quoted in Fletcher’s book, they’re just tired of analyzing every aspect of poems. However, some students –and teachers- at GHS do like poetry. Brian Magnan, another GHS student, shared his view on reading poetry; “I like reading poetry because it’s an art form.” (Magnan) Along with Brian, Ms. Sheppard, a substitute English teacher, likes reading poetry. When we asked her why she though people didn’t read poetry, she told us that people don’t understand poetry. Understanding poetry, or rather, a lack of understanding could be the real reason for disliking poetry. Both Ringler and Smith mentioned the idea that your reader has to connect to the piece of writing, but if you don’t understand what the author is saying, you can’t relate to the piece.
There is where we found our answer. People read because they can connect to the story, they can tell what the story is about and they understand what is being written. People don’t read because they don’t understand what the author is trying to tell them and, so, they cannot connect to the story, whether they want to or not. From the presenters and interviewees we were able to get a basic understanding of what makes people want to read.
Ralph Fletcher is a poet and author of the book Poetry Matters. When many people think of poetry, they think about the rules and rhymes that they’re taught in school, the agonizing hours spent trying to think of what rhymes with “purple”, but Fletcher helps aspiring authors to think of poetry in a new way. Fletcher starts by talking about why we might write poetry; “I think the reason is partly because poems are so intimate. Often we write poems for personal reasons.” (7) Fletcher continues on to give examples of those times. This is a reason why people read poetry, the intimate feeling that you tap into when reading a poem by someone close to you, or just something a poet wrote that you can relate to makes reading the poem enjoyable and not boring and tedious to try to pick apart. Fletcher also talks about why some people don’t like poetry; “Of course, not everybody is a fan of poetry. I often run into kids who don’t like to write poems. ‘Poems are boring,’ one girl muttered when I visited her classroom. She complained that her teacher had spent hour after hour dissecting poems and pulling out similes, metaphors, and symbolism.” (8) Fletcher, like many other people understand that poetry isn’t always about finding the obscure meaning behind the poem, but rather taking the time to enjoy them.
Over about two weeks we had four professional authors from the area come into the classroom to talk about their writing. Deb Smith, a travel writer from the region, was my favorite author that I saw that came in to talk to us. At first Smith really helped us to understand that when writing, your reader has to connect with the story “…that underlying kind of human core to the story, I think, is what connects it across generations and people and cultures…” (Smith) Smith also talked about getting across the point of the story. She says, “What you want to know is what happens here next, what’s the story about? And that’s the thing when you’re writing that you have to keep in mind, that whole question: What is the story about?” (Smith) From this you really can understand that keeping the reader in mind is one of the biggest parts of writing because you have to know who you are writing for in order for them to understand it.
Another professional author that came into our class was Robyn Ringler. Ringler owns a bookstore and writes papers for various magazines. Ringler also mentioned the idea of your reader having to be able to connect to the story, but said it in a different way, using the words “universal meaning” to describe the idea of people understanding what you are trying to say, “…sometimes you write to entertain, you write for that universal meaning.” (Ringler) Ringler also spoke briefly about breaking the strict rules of writing. “You have the freedom to write in any way that you want to write,” (Ringler) she mentioned this after communicating that you learn the strict rules so that you can break them. By breaking the rules, sometimes your piece becomes more appealing to read because it can sound better. This is what poet Therese Broderick talked a lot about in our discussion with her.
Therese Broderick is a self-published poet from the area. When she visited she talked about how sound makes a big difference in whether you like or dislike a piece of writing, especially poems. Broderick spent almost the entire 85 minutes talking about how important sound is to poets like when she said, “Poetry is sound design…poets are sound designers, designers of sound…” (Broderick) Broderick read us poems, telling us that her favorite poems to read were the best because of how they sounded. Broderick also gave us some advice when she told us “…you have to follow the sounds you like and love.” (Broderick) While Broderick is an obvious fan of poetry not all of the people we talked to for this project were.
When finding people to interview for our documentary, we wanted to find two people that read on a regular basis and enjoyed it and two people that didn’t. We specifically asked about whether or not our interviewees read poetry or not. One interviewee, Jessie Doyle, told us “I don’t like poetry because I don’t think it’s crucial for real world application…” (Doyle) Jessie’s opinion is very similar to those of other students at GHS. It may have to do with what Jessie said; they don’t find a real world application for it, or it maybe that like the little girl quoted in Fletcher’s book, they’re just tired of analyzing every aspect of poems. However, some students –and teachers- at GHS do like poetry. Brian Magnan, another GHS student, shared his view on reading poetry; “I like reading poetry because it’s an art form.” (Magnan) Along with Brian, Ms. Sheppard, a substitute English teacher, likes reading poetry. When we asked her why she though people didn’t read poetry, she told us that people don’t understand poetry. Understanding poetry, or rather, a lack of understanding could be the real reason for disliking poetry. Both Ringler and Smith mentioned the idea that your reader has to connect to the piece of writing, but if you don’t understand what the author is saying, you can’t relate to the piece.
There is where we found our answer. People read because they can connect to the story, they can tell what the story is about and they understand what is being written. People don’t read because they don’t understand what the author is trying to tell them and, so, they cannot connect to the story, whether they want to or not. From the presenters and interviewees we were able to get a basic understanding of what makes people want to read.