Teach a poem

By EISO class students

KUIS EISO CLASS

Student writings: assignment

Teach a poem to someoneA task in the EISO class, 2013

Students of EISO class at KUIS and Tara Mc

I chose to teach my club member, Hana, who have known for three years. The reason why I chose her was she took an English poetry class with me last year, and I know she has a wonderful sense of poetry. Also she is so kind, so I thought she would help me for this assignment. I chose the poem ‘The Tyger’ by William Blake to teach. I chose this poem, because it is the most famous song in his works, and I studied it individually for an assignment when I took the class of English poetry, so I understand it well.

I and Hana always spend our lunch time together, so I met her as usual in classroom during lunch time on November 26th. First, I explained the poem and the meaning, paying attention to the existence of ‘the tyger’ in the poem. I thought the reason why the author used ‘tyger’ instead of ‘tiger’ was he tells it is not just a tiger. It means the tyger is beyond the range as an animal. After the explanation, she said “I agree with your opinion. From this poem, I imagine tyger is like a god. This idea is the most important to read this poem.” After that, she seemed to have trouble with vocabulary. I tried to explain all difficult words.

Moreover, I taught rhymes to her. There are many rhymes in this poem, so I pointed out them. She was surprised 1to 2 line and 3 to 4 line in all stanzas have rhymes ( e.g. paragraph 1has ‘bright’ and ‘night’, ’eye’ and ‘symmetry’ as rhymes ).

When she saw the last stanza, she asked me “why are the first and last stanzas same except the word "could" becomes "dare" in the second iteration?” I said to begin to wonder about the tiger, and its nature, can only lead to a daring to wonder about it. Also, I

Momoko

The Tyger by William Blake

2

explained the structure. The author achieved great power through the use of alliteration (‘frame’ and ‘fearful’) combined with imagery, (burning, fire, eyes), and he structures the poem to ring with incessant repetitive questioning, demanding of the creature, ‘Who made thee?’ In the second stanza the focus moves from the tiger, the creation, to the creator of whom the author wonders ‘What dread hand? And what dread feet?’ We spent about 20 minutes on the task.

I met her during lunch time two days ago, and asked what she felt the poem. She thought for a while and she said, “When I read the poem for the first time, I felt it is a little difficult because of vocabulary and structure. But your instruction was easy to understand. Now I like this poem because I can feel the power of the tiger.”

Overall, the experience of teaching this song to another person is very difficult, because the author didn’t mention his idea directly. It was hard for me to make her understand it. However teaching poem to someone was very helpful to improve my sense of poem and ability of reading. If I have an opportunity, I try to continue to teach a poem to another person.

William Blake, “The Tyger”

TYGER! Tyger! burning bright

In the forests of the night,

What immortal hand or eye

Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies

Burnt the fire of thine eyes?

On what wings dare he aspire?

What the hand dare sieze the fire?

.....

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright

In the forests of the night,

What immortal hand or eye,　

Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

Reference

Hironobu, H “Song of innocence and of experience”

http://blake.hix05.com/Experience/210tyger.html

3

I chose my mother to teach the song that is one of my favorite ones. The reason why I chose my mother was she really likes beautiful things such as arts, music, and buildings. I told my mother the song “Kristy, are you doing okay?” which was sang by The Offspring. Why I chose this song to tell was it has really deep meaning which is related to common problems for children all over the world. My mother’s job is kindergarten teacher, so I thought it was a good opportunity to think this issue together. I passed the paper that was written the poem in advance, and after 1 week later I arranged to meet my mother on November 27th at our living room. I manage to tell the meaning of the song by using the story I got inspirations from this song.

This song has some repetitions, rhymes, and personifications, so I especially focused on them.

First of all, I focused on the composition of the song. This song has 5 parts and each part is connected as a story of Kristy. This song is someone’s view which was keeping watching Kristy while she was being bullied. This person could not do anything to let her escape from the bulling, and is worried about Kristy even now. The most impressive phrase for me is “Don’t waste your whole life trying to get back what was taken away.” I guess Kristy has been suffered from the worst memories ever since she was young. This phrase means instead of looking back the past, trying to look forward because the past is the past. My mother asked me the meaning of two of phrases “A rose that won’t bloom” and “Winter’s kept you”. I explained the personification that “a rose” and “you” mean “Kristy”. She is not still able to be positive due to the bad memory. Moreover, I also explained that “winter” means the bad memory Kristy got, and it doesn’t let her be positive. My mother deeply understood what I thought about these phrases.

Secondly, I focused on repetitions. There are some repetitions in this song, such as “Can you stay strong?” “Can you go on?” and “Kristy, are you doing Okay?” I explained that “you” means Kristy, and these

Maki

Kristy by The Offspring

4

phrases are like strong messages for her. This song is kind of story telling by the person who watched Kristy when they were young. The phrase“Kristy, are you doing Okay?” is also the title of the song, that’s why I thought that what the person who watched Kristy really wanted to say is this. My mother also thought about that too.

Thirdly, I focused on the rhymes. I explained that “time” and crimes”, “Strong” “on” and “Okay” are rhymes. At first, my mother couldn’t understand what rhyme is, so I sang the song to let her understand it. After listening to my singing, she said that I could hear similar rhythms and sounds.

After I tried to let my mother tell the song of the meaning, she said that she began to like the song because it has a power to encourage someone who has emotional problems. She also said that there are lots of people who are looking back the past even though they are possible to change by themselves and this song is for them.

I thought the opportunity to talk to my mother about the meaning of the song let me think of what the singer of this song wanted to say again. Moreover, I felt happy when my mother sympathized with my view of the song. Though teaching the poem was difficult, there was the worth to understand and sympathize same things each other.

Reference

Kristy, Are You Doing Okay? By The Offspring

http://shionslyrical.blog72.fc2.com/blog-entry-174.html

Oh, waves of time

Seem to wash away

The scenes of our crimes

But for you this never ends

Can you stay strong?

Can you go on?

Kristy, are you doing okay?

A rose that won’t bloom

Winter’s kept you

Don’t waste your whole life trying

To get back what was taken away

5

Teach a poem, Identity, to someone

I chose to teach my friend, Natsuki, who I have known for 8 years in high school days. The reason why I chose her was simple. She is not Kanda University student, and she is not studying English, but she has much chance to listen to some songs or poems for infants in her job place, the nursery school. Because of that, I guessed she can compare Japanese and English poems and understand them well. In this assignment, I chose “Identity” which I have studied in this poem class because it is quite interesting and I thought it is easier to understand than the other poems for her who does not study English daily.

  I arranged to meet her on 3/June/2013 at a restaurant. Before starting teaching, I asked her how she can understand English. She said “I almost have not studied it after graduating my high school, so it might be difficult to understand all.”, so I prepared a vocabulary sheet to make this activity smooth. After she read this poem, she seemed to have trouble with the sentence structure. In this poem, there are no conjunctions

between words and a few subjects. For example, line 4 to 6 is mentioned,

I’d rather be a tall, ugly weed,

clinging on cliffs like an eagle

wind-wavering above high, jagged rocks.

In this sentence, there are no “and”, and it has just one subject. She felt such difficulty how each sentence has connection. To solve this difficulty, I recommended her to read those sentences impartially. Then she could understand this poem roughly. On the other hand, she could realize this poem has many metaphors. She said “This poem is like Japanese poem. Many literatures in Japan recommend us how we should live like flowers or trees.”I could agree with her opinion. We spent about 30 minutes on this task. After finishing it, I asked her “Did you enjoy this activity?”, and she said “Yes, but it is really difficult to read an English poem because it might not have accurate style of writing. After understanding it better, I could feel satisfied like I could solve complicated questions.” Actually, I also enjoyed this task after letting her understand this poem well.

Ikumi

Identity by Julio Noboa Polanco

6

  On 6/June/2013, I followed up on the first meeting by meeting her again. I asked her how you remember that poem, Identity. She said “I remember that content, but I already forget almost all vocabularies which you taught to me.”I felt disappointed to hear this opinion, but it must be usual thing for people who do not study English daily. At least, because of my teaching, she could remember this poem roughly.

  Finally, I asked her to repeat this poem to me, and I perceived she could read through it totally better than first time. It is a normal thing because she read it many time to understand, but I was satisfied with what I could help her as much as I can. In this task, I could study that it is highly difficult to teach something to someone and it takes long time depends on how it is complicated. Also, I thought when we teach something, we must prepare for it carefully to answer every question from students.

(561 words)

Identity by Julio Noboa Polanco

Let them be as flowers,

always watered, fed, guarded, admired, but harnessed to a pot of dirt.

I'd rather be a tall, ugly weed,

clinging on cliffs, like an eagle wind-wavering above high, jagged rocks.

To have broken through the surface of stone,

to live, to feel exposed to the madness

of the vast, eternal sky.

To be swayed by the breezes of an ancient sea, carrying my soul, my seed,

beyond the mountains of time or into the abyss of the bizarre.

I'd rather be unseen, and if

then shunned by everyone,

than to be a pleasant-smelling flower, growing in clusters in the fertile valley, where they're praised, handled, and plucked by greedy, human hands.

I'd rather smell of musty, green stench than of sweet, fragrant lilac.

If I could stand alone, strong and free, I'd rather be a tall, ugly weed.

7

Teach a poem to someone

I chose to teach my friend, Mizuho, who I have known for 7 years. The reason why I chose her was she is so kind, serious and we understand each other well. Also she is my best friend so I thought that she would help me for this assignment. I chose the poem “In Spring” by Shuntaro Tanikawa to teach. I chose this poem because I have known this poem since I was an elementary school student and I like the atmosphere of this poem. We are not at same university so we met at café on March 30th and we talked about 15 minutes.

There is some rhythm in this poem which is written in Japanese. However, there is no rhyme and rhythm in this poem which is written in English so I focus on the composition of poem and the stressed words which is emphasized in this poem.

First, I explained about composition of the poem to her. This poem has three parts. First part (from “what is this feeling?” to “Welling up inside me, making me wants to shot out loud”) said about wonderfulness of life. There are many creatures and things on the earth and they have lots of energies. They are restricted

their activity during winter. But it starts again when it came spring so we can feel their energies in spring. Second part (from “What is this feeling?” to “trying to flood over”) means that we have various feeling and feel lots of emotions in our life. We are stimulated from many things on the world. As a result, we feel many emotions like happiness, sadness and admiration. Third part (from “What is this feeling?” to the last sentences) said about human’s desires. Many creatures take back their energies again when spring came. For example, putting forth leaves. From looking the breath of spring like that, human take back energy again, too. They thirst for doing what they want to do. After I finished explain the composition, I asked her whether she has the sentences which she did not understand or not. She answered, “I have learned this poem when I was an elementary school student so I almost could understand. But I did not understand the second sentence from the last. What is this mean?” I answered her question. “I think this sentence says about sadness of finishing the winter. It describes the pleasure of coming spring in this poem, but it includes a sad feeling in this poem because of finishing the winter. I think author expressed

Ayumi

In Spring by Tanikawa Shuntaro

8

this emotion as this sentence.” After that, she seems to be accepting my answer.

Moreover, I explained the stressed words “What is this feeling?” to her. This phase is used at four times in this poem. It is repetition and emphasis of poetic expression. After finishing my explaining, she said, “I also think this phase is so important in this poem because it is used at many time.”

Two or three days ago, I called her and asked what she felt about the poem. She thought for a while and she said, “I like this poem because I sympathize with author’s thought and I like the atmosphere of this poem. Also there are not difficult words and composition is easy to understand. So I like this poem than before.”

I found that teaching a poem to someone is interesting but not easy because it needs to understand the poem’s content well. However, while I was teaching and talking with my friend about the poem, I considered again about the meaning and what author want to say. And then, I could deepen my understanding of the poem. I thought this assignment is good opportunity for me.

618words

In spring  Shuntaro Tanikawa

1.    What is this feeling?

2.    This invisible flow of energy

3.    That comes up from the earth, into the soles of my feet

4.    Coming through my stomach, to my chest, then up into my throat

5.    Welling up inside me, making me want to shout out loud

6.    What is this feeling?

7.    Buds bursting out from the tips of tree branches, poking at my heart

8.    It is delight, but also grief

9.    It is agitation, and yet tranquility

10.  It is longing, with hidden anger

11.  Held in check by the dam in my heart

12.  But the whirlpools, held back, grow fierce

13.  Trying to flood over9

14.  What is this feeling?

15.  I want to dip my hand into the sky’s blue

16.  All the people I’ve never met -

17.  I want to meet them; I want to talk to them

18.  I wish tomorrow and the day after tomorrow would come all at once

19.  I feel so impatient

20.  I want to walk beyond the horizon

21.  And yet, I want to stay right here on this patch of grass, motionless

22.  I want to call out to someone in a loud voice

23.  And yet, I want to be alone in silence

24.  What is this feeling?

Reference

Shigeru.A “Ondoku Roudoku Hyougenyomi no Sekai”

http://www16.ocn.ne.jp/~ondoku/gr6haruni.html

My Setsuna, “In Spring by Tanikawa Shuntaro”, posted on February 13th by wheesy3

http://mysetsuna.wordpress.com/tag/%E6%98%A5%E3%81%AB/

10

Teach a poem to someone

by Ken

Part1: the person I chose and why

Though I was in trouble to choose somebody, I chose my friend who works together with me at the part-time job. The reason I chose him was his generosity. I think that almost all people is too lazy to help others with tasks, therefore I had to choose a kind person. Also I chose the poem,”745” by Emily Dickenson to teach. I choose this because I know about this poem very well, and also this poem filled with messages which can be the staff of life. Therefore I thought that to know this poem bring him a good influence.

Personally, I like her poems very much. When I become utterly tired of life, I sometimes remember her poems. Though to live is really difficult for me, I was helped by her poem sometimes.  

Part2: the story of when, where and how I taught the poem

At free time of part-time job on June 2 2013, I explained to my friend the poem and the meaning, paying attention to author’s feeling in the poem. Needless to say, he is so weak to understand English that I tell him the meaning by translating into Japanese. I felt it is difficult to teach the feeling I have and the meaning of poem to others. He seemed to be trouble to understand this poem.

I think people have to face their internal mind to appreciate the real meaning of the things. Since Emily wrote free verses, they do not have prescribed rhythm and rhyme. Therefore, It was difficult to read together. I explained him what Emily had felt for the time being.  

Ken

Emily Dickinson’s 745

11

Part3: to follow up on the teaching

On the same day, I followed up him to understand this poem after our job.

Then I asked him which point he cannot understand. He told me his opinion against this poem. In this poem, Emily tells about “Renunciation”. She said “Renunciation is a piercing Virtue.” However, my friend said “Never to give up is a piercing.” It is a very interesting point for me. It is true there are solemn facts we cannot deny in human life. However It is also true that we still have many possibility unlike Emily.  

Part4: conclusion and recommendations

Finally, I recommended my friend to read other Emily’s poems. Overall, the experience of teaching poems to another person was very good opportunity to know references except mine. The advice I would give to someone else is to read poems influence people greatly.

Dickinson, E. (n.d.) Poems. Retrieved from http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/emilydickinson/10697

♯745 Emily Dickenson

Renunciation -- is a piercing Virtue --

The letting go

A Presence -- for an Expectation --

Not now --

The putting out of Eyes --

Just Sunrise --

Lest Day --

Day's Great Progenitor --

Outvie

Renunciation -- is the Choosing

Against itself --

Itself to justify

Unto itself --

When larger function --

Make that appear --

Smaller -- that Covered Vision -- Here –

12

Copyright

xiii

© kuisstudents2013

Tara Mc