Live Free Learn Free Blog » A Professor of Poetry <title> <link rel="stylesheet" href="http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/wp-content/themes/thirteen/style.css" type="text/css" media="screen" /> <link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS 2.0" href="http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/feed/" /> <link rel="alternate" type="text/xml" title="RSS .92" href="http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/feed/rss/" /> <link rel="alternate" type="application/atom+xml" title="Atom 0.3" href="http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/feed/atom/" /> <link rel="pingback" href="http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/xmlrpc.php" /> <style type="text/css"> </style> <link rel='archives' title='August 2007' href='http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/2007/08/' /> <link rel='archives' title='July 2007' href='http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/2007/07/' /> <link rel='archives' title='June 2007' href='http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/2007/06/' /> <link rel='archives' title='April 2007' href='http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/2007/04/' /> <link rel='archives' title='March 2007' href='http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/2007/03/' /> <link rel='archives' title='January 2007' href='http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/2007/01/' /> <link rel='archives' title='December 2006' href='http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/2006/12/' /> <link rel='archives' title='November 2006' href='http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/2006/11/' /> <link rel='archives' title='October 2006' href='http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/2006/10/' /> <link rel='archives' title='September 2006' href='http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/2006/09/' /> <link rel='archives' title='August 2006' href='http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/2006/08/' /> <link rel='archives' title='July 2006' href='http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/2006/07/' /> <link rel='archives' title='June 2006' href='http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/2006/06/' /> <link rel='archives' title='May 2006' href='http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/2006/05/' /> <link rel='archives' title='April 2006' href='http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/2006/04/' /> <link rel='archives' title='March 2006' href='http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/2006/03/' /> <link rel='archives' title='February 2006' href='http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/2006/02/' /> <link rel='archives' title='January 2006' href='http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/2006/01/' /> <link rel='archives' title='December 2005' href='http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/2005/12/' /> <link rel='archives' title='November 2005' href='http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/2005/11/' /> <link rel='archives' title='October 2005' href='http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/2005/10/' /> <link rel='archives' title='September 2005' href='http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/2005/09/' /> <link rel='archives' title='August 2005' href='http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/2005/08/' /> <link rel='archives' title='July 2005' href='http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/2005/07/' /> <link rel='archives' title='June 2005' href='http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/2005/06/' /> <link rel='archives' title='May 2005' href='http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/2005/05/' /> <link rel='archives' title='April 2005' href='http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/2005/04/' /> <link rel='archives' title='March 2005' href='http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/2005/03/' /> <link rel="EditURI" type="application/rsd+xml" title="RSD" href="http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/xmlrpc.php?rsd" /> </head> <body> <div id="headwrapper"> <div id="header"> <h1 id="title"><a href="http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog">Live Free Learn Free Blog</a></h1> </div> </div> <div id="wrapper"> <div id="content"> <div class="post" id="post-35"> <h2 class="posttitle"><a href="http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/2005/05/10/a-professor-of-poetry/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to A Professor of Poetry">A Professor of Poetry</a></h2> <p class="postdate"> May 10th, 2005 at 2:08 am (<a href="http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/category/unschooling-life/" title="View all posts in Unschooling Life" rel="category tag">Unschooling Life</a>, <a href="http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/category/musings/" title="View all posts in Musings" rel="category tag">Musings</a>) </p> <div class="postentry"> <div />When I was in my first few years of undergraduate school, I attended my hometown college. I had already decided to explore my passion for writing poetry in an academic setting (a decision I now question), and took a few classes with the resident “poet.” He was well-respected and was eventually given a symbolic title by the state usually reserved for at least better-than-average poets.</p> <p>That said, when I took his classes (the first a workshop, and the second a course on modern poetry), he made it very clear he didn’t like me much. I didn’t know why. I still don’t. Each poem he returned to me, though, was marked over with very harsh criticisms and no kind words. I glanced at the poems of others in the class (mostly about butterflies and dolphins and kittens - not that there’s anything wrong with these, but…), and saw remarks such as “Beautiful!” and “Very moving!” and “Nice imagery!” The remarks on my paper focused on individual phrases and were not positive by any stretch of the imagination. I tried to convince myself that the difference in grading had something to do with my talent (a hard sell, as I didn’t really believe I had talent, at the time). However, he never gave me any indication that he thought I had potential, or that he enjoyed my work.</p> <p>During class, he talked often about the books he’d published, and he seemed quite proud of his career (to put it lightly). I was so upset with his treatment of me, though, that I never read his work. I didn’t want to give him that satisfaction. Perhaps it was silly, but I couldn’t bear it. I didn’t want to know how wonderful he was, how much better he was than I.</p> <p>Tonight, I found a (signed) copy of one of his books (a collection) at a Goodwill store. I’ve never actually seen one for sale before, so I picked it up. It’s ten years later, now, and I realize I should have read it much, much earlier. It was awful. Truly awful. There were good phrases here and there, and sometimes I’d run across a comparison that really grabbed me, but for the most part, it was almost laughable.</p> <p>Would I have felt the same about his writing ten years ago? Who can tell? I’ve read quite a bit between then and now, and I’ve written lots more. Maybe I would have admired it. He certainly did. Had I been unimpressed then, however, I would have missed the one thing I took away from his classes. He once said that a poem needed an anchor; it needed something to which the reader could personally relate. It might be nothing more than a salt shaker on a table, but the reader will hold onto that salt shaker. That’s the poem’s anchor. It was the most profound (and simplistic) piece of advice about writing I’ve ever been given, and I am grateful for it, no matter my feelings toward him. For that reason, I’m glad I waited to read his work.</p> <p>Also, interestingly, my work has taken on a regional focus over the past couple of years, much like his. Perhaps, if I had read his poems earlier, I would have begun writing about north Texas years ago. Perhaps, though, I would never have let myself focus on the area at all, trying to keep my style as far from his as possible. Who knows? In any case, I’ve begun to understand how much the notion of respect plays into the “teacher/student” relationship.</p> <p>I think about this experience when I watch Kenzie learn from others in his life. Instead of learning from people simply because they are respected in their fields or happen to be employed by an educational facility, Kenzie chooses from whom he wants to learn things based on how he feels about the teacher and her or his work. He chooses to have Terry teach him things about painting and metalwork because he admires his creations. He chooses to talk to his uncle, Sean, about mathematical concepts because he sees Sean’s love and enjoyment of math. As he grows, I think it will be difficult for him to accept a “teacher” based on blind faith. Just because a person is listed in the Fall Schedule doesn’t mean she or he is the person who should teach him. I’m betting he’ll be quite a bit more discriminating than I was. And, if he decides to take a class on poetry, I’m almost positive he’ll actually read the teacher’s work before enrolling! Thank goodness.</p> <div /> </div> </div>   <h3 id="postcomment">Post a Comment</h3> <form action="http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/wp-comments-post.php" method="post" id="commentform"> <p> <input type="text" name="author" id="author" value="" size="28" tabindex="1" /> <label for="author">Name (required)</label> </p> <p> <input type="text" name="email" id="email" value="" size="28" tabindex="2" /> <label for="email">E-mail (required)</label> </p> <p> <input type="text" name="url" id="url" value="" size="28" tabindex="3" /> <label for="url"><abbr title="Uniform Resource Identifier">URI</abbr></label> </p> <p> <textarea name="comment" id="comment" cols="60" rows="8" tabindex="4"></textarea> </p> <p> <input name="submit" type="submit" id="submit" class="submit" tabindex="5" value="Submit Comment" /> <input type="hidden" name="comment_post_ID" value="35" /> </p> </form> </div> <div id="sidebar"> <ul> <li id="meta"> <h2>Meta</h2> <ul> <li><a href="http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/wp-login.php">Login</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/feed/" title="Syndicate this site using RSS">Entries <abbr title="Really Simple Syndication">RSS</abbr></a></li> <li><a href="http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/comments/feed/" title="The latest comments to all posts in RSS">Comments <abbr title="Really Simple Syndication">RSS</abbr></a></li> </ul> </li> <li id="search"> <form method="get" id="searchform" action="/blog/index.php"> <p> <input type="text" value="" name="s" id="s" /> <input type="submit" id="searchsubmit" class="submit" value="Search" /> </p> </form> </li> </ul> </div> <div id="footer"> <p> <a href="http://wordpress.org" title="Powered by Wordpress, state-of-the-art semantic personal publishing platform.">Powered by Wordpress</a> · Design by <a href="http://beccary.com" title="Theme designed by Beccary">Beccary</a> and <a href="http://weblogs.us" title="Theme sponsored by Weblogs.us">Weblogs.us</a> · <a href="http://validator.w3.org/check/referer" title="This page validates as XHTML 1.0 Transitional"><abbr title="eXtensible HyperText Markup Language">XHTML</abbr></a> · <a href="http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/check/referer" title="This page validates as CSS"><abbr title="Cascading Style Sheets">CSS</abbr></a> </p> </div> </div>  <script type="text/javascript" language="javascript"> var sc_project=605365; var sc_invisible=1; var sc_partition=4; var sc_security="d224bf47"; </script> <script type="text/javascript" language="javascript" src="http://www.statcounter.com/counter/counter.js"></script><noscript><a href="http://www.statcounter.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://c5.statcounter.com/counter.php?sc_project=605365&java=0&security=d224bf47&invisible=1" alt="free stats" border="0"></a> </noscript>  </body> </html>