Schools neglect poetry

[Wuldric]

I adore Carol Ann Duffy and I made sure that I had tickets for her performance in my city. The reading was in fact sensational.

But the thing that I noticed, was that both DD's school and DS's school had not booked any tickets. If I were an English teacher (which I am not) I would have ensured that my A level class at least was there in force. No-one was there from either of my DC's schools apart from my DCs. It isn't every day that Carol Ann Duffy comes to town. Do you think I am being unreasonable in thinking that the schools in question were being pretty, well, useless in not taking students there?

Poetry is mostly pompous shit and the analysis is completely and utterly pointless. I remember a line in a poem we were supposed to discuss and interpret in class: "A bird walked from one side of the branch to the other". I proposed that maybe it meant exactly what it said, or, alternatively, it means literally anything else, rendering the discussion pointless.

I dislike poetry too...am an English Lit graduate.
Dd has inherited my lack of interest too.

Typical sweeping statement form an unthinking poster. 'Schools'? All of them? Or just one o two in your town?

Also, you have no idea why there were no school trips (or even whether there where any - how would you tell with sixth form groups who are, you know, adults?)

Love poetry, HOD English but, sorry if it shocks you, parents are also responsible for their children's cultural development! My DC attended many a poetry performance but that was because I felt it was important.
It would be nice if all parental responsibilities were not left to schools especially since we often arrive back from theatre trips and parents never say thank you for the extra unpaid hours we have spent giving their child an amazing experience.

It seems too easy to blame schools but parents can buy tickets too.

Poetry is great stuff. But schools will be restricted in how many trips they can have, parents are restricted in how many out of school activities they can afford and even children have restrictions on their time.

I'm not in a massive metropolis myself, but even here there are around a dozen theatres within easy reach, several concert halls, touring opera companies, art cafes, all sorts of literary evenings- there is simply no way we could afford all that is on offer even with a totally theatre mad dd.

Schools could possibly be said to be useless if they organise nothing. But if they choose, say, to take their pupils to the theatre or on a field trip instead of to a poetry reading, they are just making a valid choice.

If any of you are looking for some inspiration on national poetry day, for younger children check out this website : www.enablinggenius.com/littlepoets.
They have a poetry app on i-tunes for children aged 4-7, its animated and fun, my kids love it. Its a great way to introduce poetry without it being boring (my daughters fav word!!).
Check it out :-)

If any of you are looking for some inspiration on national poetry day, for younger children check out this website : www.enablinggenius.com/littlepoets.
They have a poetry app on i-tunes for children aged 4-7, its animated and fun, my kids love it. Its a great way to introduce poetry without it being boring (my daughters fav word!!).
Check it out :-)

My DCs school go to a GCSE poets event where the poets on the syllabus go and read, and talk about their poems (they all invariably say that the revision books read far moreinto their poems than they intended). Carole anne duffy was one there, John Aagard and quite a few more, but it was £30 for a morning!

I don't regard CAD as poetry. It really grates on me. At school we did get dragged to some poetry recital. I can't say I enjoyed it or would have missed out if it hadn't been included in our year.

We did, however, spend a reasonable amount of time in school reading poetry of different styles and cultures, which meant I found my love of certain other historic poets. I think it's far more important to spend time appreciating a breadth of styles and ideas, rather than drag a class along to a single poet's recital.

My children's school did not have poetry very much, however I encouraged them to read, I admit it was my taste, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Rupert Brooke, and Yeates. It did come to fruition when my youngest wanted to read Dantes Inferno at 13. If the school does not we should.

I don't regard CAD as poetry

she is the bloody poet laureat!!!

Parents have bigger influence on the success of their children than the school, especially in the early years.
I use apps to motivate and stretch my kids above the sometimes basic level of teaching (I am not blaming the schools or teachers here, they can never cater to top 20% of kids in the class when they have to make sure that everyone gets over the set performance hurdles).

One of the good apps to extend the understanding of poetry and learn some nice poems is Little Poets. My children have a lot of fun enacting the poems and learn the concepts of poetry in the process.

Happy National Poetry Day! On my way to work still trying to make my mind up about which poem to recite to my tutor group. Lighthearted or serious?