Poetry: Inside Out and Outside In...
An Overview
© S. Ingraham, lightshedder.com

Principles:

  1. Anyone can (and everyone should) write and understand poetry: it is not the providence of exceptional (or weird) individuals. It is not for especially gifted or talented people. Poetry, as a reader and a writer, is for everyone.
  2. To really understand and appreciate a process or skill, like poetry, we have to do it. We need to know poetry both from the Outside In (as a reader) and from the Inside Out (as a writer). Writing poetry makes us better readers of poetry. You can not understand what Poetry is for until you have tried it.
  3. Poetry is both exploration and communication, using objects and images of the outside world to express thoughts and feelings and insights of the inside world of the poet. The poet uses poetry to make sense out of his or her experiences, and to communicate that sense to others. The poet figures out what he or she feels and thinks by writing, and says what we all think and feel—says it beautifully, memorably, effectively—providing the images and the words that help us to make sense out of our own experience.
  4. Poetry is a creative marriage of the sense and the sound of language. The poet has learned to follow the wisdom built into the sounds and rhythms of the words and the language to unexpected meanings and surprising insights.
  5. Poetry is not really poetry until it is published (it might be good therapy but it is not poetry). Performance is publication. The poem on paper is only the score for the musical. The reader has to perform the poem to make meaning. Until it takes your breath and shapes your face, it is not poetry.
  6. Poetry, like God, is both is both imminent and transcendent. Poetry finds the universal in every particular, but it begins with the particular: the actual events of an individual human life. It should be unashamedly local. It should treat the normal stuff of life, the day to day occurrences. You could be, you should be, using poetry on a daily basis to make sense of your life. If you do, then those around you will too.

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Materials:
  1. Inside Out and Outside In theory guide (everything you need to know about poetry)
  2. Poems about poetry (Is poems and general poems on the craft for instruction and inspiration)
  3. Expanded activity descriptions
  4. Poems from the classroom (more at lightshedder.com/life*lines)


Activities:

A Picture is (Not!) Worth a Thousand Words:
An examination of how language works and its efficiency.

Poetry Is For People:
exploding the poetry myth

Lets Get Physical:
To introduce the concept that poetry is built out of the stuff of the external world, we bring in two objects each that have meaning, a special significance to the person who brings them, and two random objects. We put all the objects in a big pile on a table or in the middle of the room. We group up and are challenged to express concepts, ideas, feelings, or insights by arranging objects from the object pile. Each group presents their arrangement. The other groups try to figure out what the concept is. Three rounds, as needed, to move us from random arrangements of similar objects to actually building a little play from the objects to evoke the meaning. As an extension of the concept, we will be allowed to use words written on paper when no suitable object is available, or the action can't be mimicked.

Inside Out and Outside In
A presentation of the basic content of the Inside Out and Outside In theory, with emphasis on the Inside and Outside concepts.

Poetry is...Is Poetry
We read and discuss three small poems about poetry, looking at them specifically in light of the Inside Out and Outside In theory. We then look at the poems as a model: inside out—concept and image connected by the word is, image extended, pattern formed, see where it takes you—clothing a concept with what can be seen, heard, tasted, felt, experienced with the senses and the mind. The challenge is to write an Is poem of our own. To help with this we use a large group random writing activity. Expanding metaphor to image: generate a class list of concept nouns and object nouns on the board. Connect with is randomly and see where we can take the image that results. Zoom in on the object to make connections from its parts or details back to the concept, zoom out to see the object in its larger context and to make connections from the larger context back to the concept. First draft and daily revisions. Finished to publication quality.

Half the Work Is Done For You: Picture Poems
After presenting the Inside Out and Outside In theory of poetry, we write a poem based on a photograph of our own choice (from the resources available). Note: photographers do essentially the same thing as poets, only they do it without words by recording an actual scene that has meaning for them. Starting with a photograph means that part of the work is done for you.) We follow this procedure:

  1. Decide on what kind of pattern you are going to build—or—get your first line from the next step and let it determine the pattern
  2. Describe what you see, what is happening, who are these people, where is this place, etc.
  3. Think of what the image reminds you off, what feelings it causes—how do you connect to it in thought and emotion?
  4. Look for images, metaphors, similes etc. to to make connections to what you might feel or think—to insights inspired by the photo. Compress.
  5. Let the pattern take you to unexpected places.
  6. Pull it all together into a poem.
  7. Revise, revise for pattern, revise for meaning, revise, revise!
Shoplifting (in the supermarket of the senses)
To build on Picture Poems, we go out as a class and find (steal) an image or sound bite to make into a poem. Students will be asked to note things they see, things they hear, things they feel, things they smell, and things they taste. They return to the classroom to write, following the outline above.

Getting the Sound Down, Getting Down to the Sound: an examination of patterns and forms of poetry based on a collection of classic and modern poems. (see Inside Out and Outside In, Sense and Sound)

Digging out a poem:
Whole class or individual exercise as needed. As a class exercise, we write a descriptive paragraph based on the visual revision guide, to a prompt or of our own choosing, and then, using the Digging out the poem method sheet (attached) as a guide, we dig a poem out of it. As an alternative, we sometimes dig a poem out of someone else's descriptive paragraph.

Breath Taking, Face Shaping Poetry: wrapping your tongue around it / letting it take your breath / letting it shape your face
We read poetry "chorally" to build a sense of the physical effects of rhythm and run, and to develop an appreciation for the physical sensations that motivate the patterns of poetry.

The Element of Surprise: an examination of the ways in which poets use language in unexpected and creative ways to push the boundaries of understanding.

Key concept: creative usage surprises but has an element of inevitability. You never would have thought of saying it that way—but, once said, it is obvious and obviously true. (You can use poems from any good anthology, or even most good basic Lit texts)

Indian Giver: helping each other improve as poets (reader response on the poetry front)
We use the Indian Giver reader response protocol as a revision tool.

Outside In: reading poetry for the inside, from the outside in
From time to time, we apply the Inside out and Outside in concepts (see attached) to explore the meaning and structure of various poems selected from anthologies, etc. We are encouraged to bring in poems we would like to discuss.

Performance Publication:
We memorize or prepare a poem of at least 10 lines for oral presentation/performance to the class. (see performance rubric)
The objective is to reinforce the oral/performance nature of the art form and the role that the pattern plays in oral communication. This too is publication.

Publication:
We select at least one poem to revise for publication. Work is collected and printed. See the attached rubric for writing poetry. Each of us binds a copy of the class poems to create a small book.
 

Rubric for writing poetry:

Proficient
The student makes good use of the conventions of poetry.

work shows recognizable pattern

a. patterns of stress b. patterns of links, linked letter sounds within words c. visual cues and patterns
work employs at least one of the techniques of expression/compression
word choice and construction shows evidence of thoughtful revision

Distinguished

In addition to the above, poetic technique is used creatively to express a thought or feeling unique to the student.
similes and metaphors are extended into images
images are well developed
there is a clear outside reference
word choice is original and effective
the connection to the students own feelings, beliefs, and experiences is clear, and contains an element of surprise or self-discovery
Rubric for Poetry Performance:

Proficient:
Delivery

Expression Poise


Distinguished:
Delivery

Expression Poise


Novice:
Delivery

Expression Poise


Advanced:
shows all of the elements of proficient and some of the elements of distinguished but not all

NC
failure to perform, failure to finish poem
 

You should take into account the extra measure of difficulty involved in performing the poem from memory: A memorized poem performed at the Proficient level, for instance, might rate an Advanced performance level.