Poetry, it seems to me and I'm pretty sure I'm right about this, is the crown of literature. To write a great poem is to do as much as you can do in literature. Everything has to be very precise. The poem has to be informed with motive and emotion. You're bringing everything that literature is based upon to bear, when you write a poem. I think of myself as a poet, I'd rather be a poet than a novelist, or some other sort of writer. I think I'm more recognized as a novelist, simply because I won a prize. But I write poetry consistently, though slowly. And it seems to me the thing that I want to do best. I would rather be a poet than a novelist, because I think it's on a slightly higher plane. You know, poets are the people who really are the most insightful among us. They stand in the best position to enlighten us, and encourage, and inspire us. What better thing could you be than a poet? That's how I think of it.
Challenge: N. Scott Momaday, a Pulitzer Prize winning novelist places poets above all other writers. He believes they are the most insightful of writers. They create important and powerful messages to enlighten, encourage, and inspire their readers. Think of poets that you have read and who speak to you. Think about the local poets in your own area. How might you learn more about their lives, their works, and their successes and struggles as poets. Outcome: Select a poet well known or not. It might be a poet in the Gallery of Arts like Rita Dove or a local poet in your own area. Research this poet and their work. Create a multimedia tribute to this poet including examples of their work. Present your essay to the class.
Project #2: What Inspires You?
Curriculum Focus: Science and Art
Starting as a three year-old on a dairy farm, a thousand-acre dairy farm, nature became my world. Even as a three year-old I could go out in the forest and, at seven, eight o'clock at night, dark, and I was totally at home in the fields, the woods, the rivers from the earliest age, that became my world. Lying in a damp, cool, freshly plowed field, just after a sunset and looking out into the heavens, that became my world.
Challenge: For Story Musgrave, poetry is the best writing form to capture the experience and beauty of space. In his own poems he has captured personal experiences and impressions from being an astronaut. Space is what inspired him to write poetry. His poems are a way for him to share with other people a beauty that few people have ever seen. Outcome: What Inspires you? Story Musgrave found his inspiration in space travel. Other poets are inspired by nature, a geographic place, people, or events. Continue your review of different poets to assess their sources of inspiration. Then create a large triptytch (a three-paneled, hinged poster display) that includes photos, drawings, symbolic objects (like a leaf etc.) and poetry selections that compares two poets sources of inspiration with your own. Put your personal sources of inspiration display on the middle panel.
