Between Overflow and Analysis: Writing and Writing About Poetry

    

Writing poetry and writing about poetry are similar in that both require you to confront emotion and language head-on, but they come from very different parts of the psyche. 

    Writing poetry is personal and immediate. William Wordsworth once said that poetry is the spontaneous overflow of your own feelings, and he was absolutely right. I always considered Wordsworth's approach but it never fully hit me until I started writing my poem for our class. At first, I stared at the page blankly, completely unsure of what to write about or where to start. However, the second I got an inkling of an idea I started writing and it went on from there. It was an overflow of emotions that I did not even know I kept repressed for so long. 

Writing about poetry, on the other hand, is analytical. Writing about poetry asks you to step outside of yourself and into the mind of another poet in order to trace how their words carry emotion and meaning. This reminds me very much of teaching because it is as if you are grading the poet. I think the most important key to writing about poetry is to see how the poet's narrative connects to your own experiences. I found that the two processes constantly informed one another. When I wrote about poetry, I noticed details in language and structure that made me more intentional in my own writing. I became aware of how even the smallest choices (I.E an image, a rhythm, even a break in a line) carry the emotional weight of a poem. I was heavily inspired by John Keats' ballad style, although my spontaneous overflow ended up resulting in free verse. 

    What I learned from this experience is that poetry operates in two essential ways. Firstly, as an act of creation and secondly as an act of interpretation. I think both ways are valuable and extremely necessary. In future teaching, I want to give students access to both sides. Having them write poetry allows them to experience the vulnerability and creativity behind the words. Analyzing poetry teaches them how to think critically and connect literature to broader human experiences. I think it is crucial that we let students explore poetry in a creative, limitless manner because it just provides much more of a learning experience, and I think it can cause students to connect more with the beauty and power of literature.