Students Hate Sonnets

Students Hate Sonnets

My students hate to write a poem in verse.
They say it strips their freedom from their bones.
The roll their eyes and hiss and scream and curse
and try to bargain in between their moans.

They swear to read a hundred pages through,
or write an essay all about my strengths.
They promise all their homework when it's due,
if I'll just forget I've asked for words in ranks.

But when they see I won't relent, they sigh.
They puzzle through and start to search around
for words they've never seen, but have to try
to meet the needs of meter, length, and sound.

Then some will learn a rhyme scheme helps us find
the writer hiding deep within your mind.



For your viewing pleasure, here is a sonnet the kids I student taught wrote for me. They all signed it, and I keep it in a frame on my desk. I haven't been able to teach scansion since, but I really miss it! On days when I am feeling down, I read this poem and take solace in it. (Or, I realize that no group of students has done anything so considerate for me since, and I wonder if I'm getting worse at teaching....)

Many of our more concrete, analytical students excel at this. It makes writing discreet, like a math problem that can be solved. In some ways, writing in form is actually easier. Instead of having the entire lexicon of the English language to choose from, you narrow your choices: only iambic words, or only trochaic ones. Perhaps you need a three syllable word ending in a stressed syllable that rhymes with "apple." Or a synonym for green that rhymes with "amazing." For our students who find a blank page overwhelming, these strictures are something to cling to.

Have you taught scansion and verse forms in your classes? Do your students enjoy it? Is it becoming a lost art?