Poetry Response Assignment

AP/IB English 12: Mr. Thompson

First off, this assignment is not meant to torture you. The reason I am giving this assignment is to help you
overcome a ridiculous prejudice against poetry and, perhaps less importantly, to help you do well on the AP/IB
!am. I "now that almost all of you will cringe #or hide your cringing well$ when I tell you that appro!imately
%&' of (oth the AP and IB !ams is over poetry. )hy does every(ody hate poetry so much* )hy does
everyone thin" poetry is insipid or o(tuse or just plain stupid*
I dunno. But I love it. I can+t help it. A (eautifully turned phrase, a powerful image, a clever tric", a poem that
gra(s you (y the throat and s,uee-es the (reath right out of you..these type of things ma"e me happy #at least
temporarily$. I don+t pretend to understand all of poetry #or even li"e all of it$, (ut I hate that most people seem
positively afraid and despise the harmless genre.
This year in AP/IB nglish, we+re going to (e approaching poetry in two ways/
0. The Formal Way: )e will study poems in class, learning a(out the tools and devices poets use in their
craft, tal"ing a(out what a poem means or how it made you feel, or see"ing answers to ,uestions we
raised while reading or studying it.
1. The Informal Way: )e will (e reading and writing one poetry response each wee".
o! it !or"s:
Basically, I will give you a set of poems that I have chosen for my own o(scure and dar" purposes. 2ou will
hold onto this list and read it every now and then. For the first day of your class every other wee" #according to
your sylla(us$, you will turn in a one.page, typed response to one of the poems in the set. 2ou+ll turn these in
at the (eginning of the period, and I !ill not a##ept them late. I also !ill not a##ept them in#orre#tly
formatte$: 1 f%ll page& $o%'le(spa#e$& 12 point )or smaller* font& !ith a #orre#t hea$ing . There is no
partial #re$it+ it,s either $one #orre#tly or it is not. 2ou will have done eight poetry responses (y the end of
the semester which count for 1-. of your final grade. 3o they are an easy way to improve your average.
What sho%l$ I !rite in a poetry response/ I want to (e deli(erately vague a(out that.
2ou have several options/
0. )rite an analysis of the poem (y e!plaining what is going on in the poem and its theme.
1. 4elate the poem to a personal e!perience or memory that is somehow spar"ed (y the poem.
5. 4espond in depth to one line of the poem as the "ey to that poem+s meaning.
6. Point out a confusing part of the poem an$ theori0e a sol%tion to that pro'lem.
)hat I 789+T want is a page of (lathering a(out how awesome or pretty the poem is
or a page a(out how you could not understand the poem no matter how you tried.
or a page a(out how you hated a certain poem without specifics of why you felt that way.
)hat you do with the response is up to you as long as you say something.
o! !ill the poetry responses 'e gra$e$/
2ou get ten points for every complete, correctly formatted response turned in on time. If you do all of them,
you get 0&&' that in turn is 0&' of your final semester average. I don+t grade for grammar or insight or
(rilliance or correctness or whatever. I just want you to spend some time thin"ing a(out a variety of poems. I
"now you won+t li"e all the poems, (ut you may (e surprised to find yourself li"ing one or two #I hope$.
Poetry Response 11
Ra#hel arol$
AP English: 2
n$
Perio$ Bl%e
A%g%st 2& 2331
3o often it is said that you must love those who share your name and your (lood for the sole reason,
:(ecause they+re related to you.; I, li"e the woman who wrote :ven if 2ou )eren+t <y Father,; have the
uni,ue e!perience of not needing the natural, (iological, and legal connection to adore our parents and
relatives. I have (een (lessed with supportive, (right, loving, and positive influences on me through (oth my
parents. <y mother is gentle, "ind, and selfless. And my father is (rilliant, competent, and good.willed. I had
the honor of o(serving these precious ,ualities in him several wee"ends ago.
<y parents (oth wor" for non.profit organi-ations that serve the less fortunate, and my father has (een
a counselor of all types for many years. 8ne of his long.time patients recently got married.
The ceremony was held at the =entral 2<=A and pimento cheese sandwiches were served with the
ca"e. The (ride wore a pin", frilly dress and she slipped into tennis shoes immediately after the ceremony to
support her e!tremely overweight frame. The wedding was thrown together with a few hundred dollars (y
family and friends. The eccentricities of the vent filled the hallways li"e perfume and the scurry of last minute
details cluttered the hallway. <y mother and I sat down in one of the neat rows of folding chairs and I in,uired
where my father was. 3he responded, :4achel, your father is giving the (ride away.; 3lightly confused and
distraught that such a detail had (een left out of my "nowledge, I as"ed how this came to pass. 3he told me
that my father was responsi(le for helping this woman through numerous suicidal phases and he had ,uite
simply saved her life.
I watched my father, in a cheap sil" (outonniere, glide down the aisle with, on his arm, not only an
ecstatic woman, (ut a sym(ol of what "indness and goodwill can produce. That (ride would not have (een
there on the (est day of her life had it not (een for my father. But it was not his psychiatric tools that saved her
. . . It was his love, his gentle compassion, and his (oundless understanding. I learned that day many
important lessons a(out life and loving, (ut most I "new that even if he weren+t my father, I would love him
endlessly.
Poetry Response 12
Mathe! 4ohnson
AP English: 5
r$
White
A%g%st 2& 2331
I have avoided writing a(out :The =oming of )isdom with Time; since it+s short, (ut now+s the time.
The message is a fairly simple one and can (e essentially divined from the title. 2eats uses the metaphor of a
tree to e!press a commonly held (elief that youth is a time for shallow e!citement and discovery of the world,
and old age is the time when :real truth finally (egins to dawn on people.; This is seemingly an almost
universal opinion> we+re taught to respect older fol" and it+s a compliment to tell someone that he+s :wise
(eyond his years.;
I have to disagree with this (it of common "nowledge. Although it+s true that as human (eings with (ig
sensory tape recorders stuc" (etween our ears, we can (arely avoid learning some things as we grow older,
this "nowledge is another thing entirely from real wisdom, which can (e ac,uired at almost any age. 3ome of
the smartest people I "now have no idea what life is all a(out, and ,uite possi(ly never will. =onversely, some
less (right people can (e e!tremely with it, and I just wonder sometimes just how much that could have
accomplished with the added asset of (rains.
Perhaps it sounds a (it coc"y to assert that I "now what life is all a(out and other people don+t, (ut it
just surprises me how little most people thin" a(out the life that they+ve (een given and what they want to do
with it. )isdom is the reali-ation that there+s more to life than fulfilling the needs for food, shelter, and
reproduction. ?ust (y as"ing ourselves what we really thin" a(out life@)hat is life* )hat defines a human
(eing* )hat is love* )hat is our (asic purpose in life* )hat is morality* Aall things we "now deep within us
(ut never really thin" a(out@we can come up with an answer to almost any ,uestion. )isdom isn+t hard to
come (y, it just ta"es a small step. This, I thin", is the ultimate aim of all literature/ just to say/ :Thin", peopleB
It doesn+t matter whether you agree or disagree with what I write just thin" a(out lifeB; The (est literature is
that which allows one to see@no, forces one to see@life in an entirely new light. Figure out what+s the deal
with life, what+s right, what+s wrong, and what you can do to ma"e what+s wrong right. Then act accordingly.
7on+t leave the world the way you found it. )hen one can do this@merge the a(stract idea with a goal in
reality@that is wisdom.