Sarah Knapps

Dr. Warner

English 112B

3 May 2006

Self-Expression Through Poetry

An Annotated Bibliography

Today, through much research and many clinical studies[1], it is a commonly accepted psychological idea that it is unhealthy for people to continually suppress their inner thoughts and feelings, without ever expressing them. Other researchers, such as Jean Piaget, have noted how the teenage years are the time when people usually struggle to find their own self-identity. Such struggles often come in conflict with parental restraints, as many teenagers try to break away from these in their search for self-identity. Because of this, teenagers might not always feel that they can be open and honest about their true thoughts and feelings with their parents. Though this is obviously not the case with every adolescent, psychological research has shown repeatedly that teens need to find a safe way to express themselves and their inner struggles, to help them avoid expressing their feelings in unhealthy ways, such as by cutting themselves. Because teachers can be a strong and positive influence on teenagers' lives, poetry is a safe and powerful tool that teachers can use to encourage their students to express themselves.

In my own high school experience, I had one such teacher who encouraged uncensored, unrestrained self-expression through poetry. She taught us the basic devices of poetry, such as personification, and showed us how these devices were used in poems to give greater voice to each poem's message. Then, she helped us learn to use those devices to our own benefit, in writing our own self-expressive poems. This teacher did not focus on classical styles of poetry such as the sonnet, which styles bored many of us high schoolers, and mainly used contemporary poetry (much of which was free-verse). Her method of teaching poetry opened up an effectual door for me. I was finally able to see how poetry was not just a set of rules that had to be followed, but how one could freely use various poetic devices to one's advantage. This is when I began loving poetry. Therefore, hoping that other students can benefit from such teaching methods as I did, I have created this annotated bibliography that focuses upon contemporary poetic styles, and the sources listed can be used to show teens how they can express themselves through poetry. If students are allowed to give full voice to their inner thoughts, feelings, and struggles, they will have a safe place to go in their minds to retreat from home and academic pressures and just be themselves, which psychological studies have shown is very healthy for people in general, and especially teenagers, because of their struggles for self-identity.

 

Resources For Students

Here are possible sources that can be used for teaching poetry in the classroom.

Aguado, Bill. Paint Me Like I Am. 1st ed. New York: Harper Tempest, 2003. An editorial review on www.amazon.com by School Library Journal explains, "WritersCorps works with disadvantaged youth, encouraging teens to express themselves through writing and recording voices that might otherwise not be heard. The young people have a lot to say about race, drugs, abuse, and self-image, as seen in these honest and sometimes raw poems." This book is especially important in helping students to appreciate and understand how they can use poetry to express their inner thoughts, feelings, and frustrations in a safe way.

Algarin, Miguel, Bob Holman, and Nicole Blackman, eds. Aloud! Voices From the Nuyorican Poets Caf�. 1st ed. New York: Owl Books, 1994. The cafe from whence the poetry in this anthology comes is the Nuyorican Poets Cafe in Manhattan. The cafe "has become well-known over the past two decades for its poetry performances and 'slams.' Founded by Algarin and the late Miguel Pinero, it is the home for New York Puerto Rican poets and other poets of various nationalities and ethnic groups. This remarkably full collection, winner of the 1994 American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation, includes 260 poems by 145 poets of highly varied voices, a breadth that gives the anthology an urban energy that has transferred well from stage to page" (Library Journal review on www.amazon.com). This is one of many books and anthologies which would be useful in exposing students to performance poetry and multicultural authors.

Anglesey, Zoe, ed. Listen Up!: Spoken Word Poetry. 1st ed. New York: One World, 1999. This book covers different styles of spoken word poetry, such as hip hop, beat poets, slam poetry, etc. Teens might especially be interested by these styles because hip hop is currently a popular music style. Seeing how hip hop is a style of spoken word poetry may get students interested in other styles.

ASL Poetry: Selected Works of Clayton Valli. Dir. Clayton Valli. Perf. Clayton Valli, Lon Kuntze. Videocassette. DawnSignPress, 1995. This text-book-like video studies the various forms of ASL (American Sign Language) Poetry and explores the hidden meanings in the poems it presents. For hearing students, this would be a great way to expose them to a different kind of poetry that they have probably never come across previously. For Deaf[2] students, this video gives them the opportunity to explore the literature and poetic devices of their own culture and language, hopefully giving them the tools and ideas they need to create their own ASL poems. Because Deaf students cannot fully appreciate much of rhymed and metered poetry that depends on the sounds of spoken English, exploring Deaf poetic styles in ASL poetry can be a great way to compare the devices of rhyme and rhythm in their own language to the English devices, and thus gain a greater appreciation of both ASL and English poems.

Bonair-Agard, Roger, Stephen Colman, Guy Lecharles Gonzalez, Alix Olson, and Lynne Procope. Burning Down the House : Selected Poems From the Nuyorican Poets Cafe's National Poetry Slam Champions. 1st ed. New York: Soft Skull P, 2003. This book easily goes along with "Aloud!," though this one might actually be better, because it only has poems by Poetry Slam champions from the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, whereas in the other book, there may be a mix of both good and not-so-good poetry. This would give better examples of good poetry to teens, for them to model their own work by, if they so choose to do. However, the other book ("Aloud!") does a better job of including various styles of poetry -- not just slam.

Def Poetry: Season 1. Dir. Stan Lathan. Perf. Mos Def and Russel Simmons. DVD. Distributor Unknown, 2004. This documentary follows season 1 of the Def Poetry Jam on Broadway. See the annotation for the book, Deaf Poetry Jam on Broadway . . . and More for more information. Also recommended are the DVDs for seasons 2 and 3. These documentaries will give students a way to watch the poets perform, which is usually more interesting than just reading the poems on a page, so that they may become more interested.

Eleveld, Mark. The Spoken Word Revolution: Slam, Hip Hop & the Poetry of a New Generation. Book & CD Edition ed. New York: Sourcebooks Mediafusion, 2003. This book is accompanied by an audio CD with 70 minutes of spoken word poetry by famous spoken word poets such as Saul Williams and Patricia Smith. Though Deaf students would not be able to appreciate the CD, it could be used at public schools for hearing students. Deaf and hearing students could both definitely benefit from the book, however, as it explains the styles of spoken word poetry, with examples.

Franco, Betsy, ed. Things I Have to Tell You : Poems and Writing by Teenage Girls. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick P, 2001. This collection of 17 poems and writings by teenage girls reflects their inner struggles, fears, dreams, etc. It is also filled with "gritty, unposed, black-and-white photographs" to show the everyday girl (from a Library Journal review on www.amazon.com). Teenage girls might be able to relate to these poems, and thus perhaps gain inspiration for their own.

Franco, Betsy, ed. You Hear Me?: Poems and Writing by Teenage Boys. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick P, 2000. This book, like it's companion book "Things I Have to Tell You: Poems and Writing by Teenage Girls," contains a collection of 17 poems. These teenage boys from different cultural backgrounds write about their inner struggles, fears, dreams, etc. This book also contains gritty, black-and-white photographs. Teenage boys might be able to relate to these poems, and thus perhaps gain inspiration for their own.

Gillan, Maria Mazziotti, and Jennifer Gillan, eds. Unsettling America : an Anthology of Contemporary Multicultural Poetry. New York: Penguin Books, 1994. Most anthologies in the annotated bibliography are either contemporary or multicultural, but this one is expressly both, giving teens a wide range of exposure to varieties of poetic style.

Glazner, Gary M., ed. Poetry Slam: the Competitive Art of Performance Poetry. 1st ed. San Francisco: Manic D P, 2000. This book is very useful for a poetry unit, if the teacher plans to include contemporary performance poetry styles in the unit plan. It explains the rules of poetry slams, styles of slam poems, and more. Students could use this book to better understand how poetry slams work, and could host their own poetry slam at the end of the unit.

Janeczko, Paul B., comp. Wherever Home Begins : 100 Contemporary Poems. 1st ed. New York: Orchard Books, 1995. This is an anthology of 100 contemporary poems, which were easier for me to relate to and find interest in as a teen, instead of classic-style poems. Thus, other teenagers might have similar experiences, with classical verses contemporary poetry. Once I opened up to poetry through the contemporary, I was able to slowly gain more appreciation for classical poetry. Hopefully this will open the door to poetry for others students as well.

Mora, Pat. My Own Name: Selected Poems for Young Adults. 1st ed. Houston: Pinata Books, 2000. By a Mexican-American author, this book reaches out to teens. Some poems are also translated into Spanish for students who are more comfortable using that language. This would help students who are bilingual in Spanish better appreciate the poems presented, and may also open up a door for them into better appreciating English poetry too. Also, because these poems were specifically selected for young adults, high school students may be more strongly affected by the poems, thus leading them into recognizing the power of poetry.

Newvoices Media. "The Captivating Power of Youth Poetry and the Spoken Word." Poetic License. 2003. Independent Television Service and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. 2 May 2006 <http://www.itvs.org/poeticlicense/index.html>. This website was inspired by the highly successful documentary of the same name, which details the National Youth Poetry Slam. It has great resources for youth and teachers. The teacher could direct his or her students to research some of the resources for youth on this page, as a homework project, to help get them interested.

Nye, Naomi Shihab, comp. What Have You Lost? 1st ed. New York: Greenwillow Books, 1999. The summary of this book (according to the inside cover) is, "A collection of poems that explore all kinds of loss." This would be a valuable topic for teenagers, who may have lost friends, boyfriends, etc, due to �high school drama.� Some may have even experienced having family members die. This exploration of loss through poetry might help students come to terms with, and deal better with, their own losses. These poems were selected by Naomi Shihab Nye, and she also has several poetry books that she herself wrote, such as 19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East, The Space Between Our Footsteps, This Same Sky : A Collection of Poems from Around the World, and more.

Poetic License. Dir. David Yanofsky. Videocassette. New Day Films, N.Y. This documentary follows one of the National Youth Poetry Slams. It can be bought in VHS or DVD from www.ITVS.org or www.newday.com, but it is rather expensive. It might be best to wait until it broadcasts on PBS to record it. Also, from www.itvs.org/poeticlicense/index.html, an accompanying teachers kit can be purchased along with the video. This documentary is probably the most potent and powerful source you can show to teenage students. It shows teens reciting their poems at a poetry slam, and let me say, that I saw this entire documentary on PBS when I was a sophomore in high school (unfortunately, I have since lost my recording of it), but to this day, it remains as the most powerful and inspirational poetry video I have ever seen. It is this video that inspired me to start writing slam poetry as a teenager. Here is what two reviews on www.newday.com say, "This film gives students a front row seat for the powerful new phenomenon sweeping poetry: the voice of youth. POETIC LICENSE has inspired even my least motivated students not only to love poetry for the first time, but also to write it" (Susannah Bell, English Teacher, Berkeley High School); "POETIC LICENSE is an indispensable tool for anyone working with youth. The teens in the film clearly illustrate how language can be a powerful weapon in combating the forces of apathy and violence. Anyone looking for positive examples of American youth need look no further!" [James Kass, Director of Youth Speaks (see annotation for www.youthspeaks.com for more info.)]. Every teacher who can get a hold of this rare video should use it in the classroom to help inspire teenagers. Actually seeing their peers perform poetry, can be far more inspirational than just reading teen poems on a page. This video is a must.

Poetry in Motion: Original Works in ASL. Video series. Perf. Clayton Valli, Patrick Graybill, and Debbie Rennie. Videocassette. Burtonsville, MD: Sign Media, Inc., 1990. This video series shows three prolific Deaf poets reciting their poems and explaining them, giving Deaf students exposure to the richness of ASL poetry. Students could be assigned to explicate a couple of poems of their choice from these videos. Giving Deaf students exposure to their own culture�s poetry is important in helping them develop their identity, and being proud of who they are.

Reed, Ishmael, ed. From Totems to Hip-Hop: a Multicultural Anthology of Poetry Across the Americas, 1900-2002. 1st ed. New York: Thunder's Mouth P, 2003. An editorial review from Booklist at www.amazon.com states, "Ishmael Reed . . . rejects the idea of a narrow and calcified canon of American literature, asking, 'Can you imagine where science would be had scientists refused to budge from accepted theories?'" Ishmael Reed's motivation behind this book is important, because it was also one of my own very reasons behind choosing mainly contemporary poems and poetic styles for this annotated bibliography. When I was a high school student, it was having a teacher who specifically taught mostly non-canonized poems and poets that got me really interested in poetry. Hopefully, reaching out of the canonical box can help other teens gain greater appreciation for poetry as well.

Rivera, Louis R., and Tony Medina, eds. Bum Rush the Page: a Def Poetry Jam. 1st ed. New York: Three Rivers P, 2001. According to a review on www.amazon.com, �To most readers, the hundreds of tightly rhymed, orally friendly poems here will read as "slam." But in his introduction, Medina, a poet and activist, takes great pains to separate the poems from slam's crowd-pleasing limitations, and uses the term "def jam" to describe the political spoken-word poetry he and Rivera, also a poet-activist, have collected. Medina's and Rivera's emphasis is on the poem and its subject matter, not the poet, which makes for a remarkably democratic anthology.� This book will help students better understand and appreciate the difference between �slam� style poetry and �def jam� style poetry, instead of just lumping them together.

Rosenberg, Liz, ed. The Invisible Ladder: an Anthology of Contemporary American Poems for Young Readers. 1st ed. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1996. This anthology of contemporary American poems is specifically aimed toward teenagers, thus making it easier for them to grasp and appreciate, and learn about life from.

Simmons, Russel, Stan Lathan, and M. R. Rowe. Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam on Broadway ... and More. Ed. Danny Simmons. Reprint Edition ed. New York: Atria. This book focuses on the poetic, rhythmic styles that have emerged from rap (which stands for Rhythm and Poetry) and hip hop. The back cover of the book states, "Def Poetry Jam is an experience not to be missed: Nine gifted, young poets speaking from the heart about everything about love to sex, politics and Krispy Kreme donuts." It also says that it's where "Walt Whitman meets Michael Jackson." This style of poetry, which is energetic and addresses important issues, will grasp teenage students' attention and get them involved in poetry. See also the annotation for Def Poetry: Season 1.

SlamNation. Perf. Saul Williams, Jesica Care Moore, Beau Sia, Taylor Mali, Patricia Smith, Daniel Ferri, and Marc Smith. Videocassette. The Cinema Guild, 1998. This video documents the 1998 National Poetry Slam, and is useful for a poetry unit plan to show students what poetry slams (and slam-style poetry) are like. However, only excerpts should be shown, as several poems contain much profanity (which some students and parents may object to). There is also a brief scene where a woman flashes the video camera. However, several energetic and inspirational poems can be found on this video.

Tom, Karen, and Kiki . Angst!: Teen Verses From the Edge! 1st ed. New York: Workman Company, 2001. School Library Journal reviews this book on www.amazon.com, saying, "This is poetry on the verge with trash-talking verse about crushes, rumors, multiracial issues, smoking, and individuality. . . . There are no poetic triumphs here, but that hardly matters. This is slam-bam, hard-hitting verse that may be just what today's teens can relate to. The editor includes a useful, playful appendix titled "Poetry 101," a guide to different styles of poetry (haiku, limericks, cinquains) and poetry conventions (alliteration, meter, metaphor). The book is irreverent enough that it just might convince those who traditionally shun poetry to give it a second glance." Teenagers, will probably connect well with this book which delves into teenage drama, and get them interested in using poetry to express themselves and their own frustrations. Its explanation of poetry styles and conventions will help students select which styles and conventions they may want to use in writing their own poetry, according to what they think will help them get their message across in the most powerful way.

The Treasure: Poems by Ella Mae Lentz. Dir. Ella M. Lentz. Perf. Ella Mae Lentz. Videocassette. Berkeley, CA: In Motion Press, 1995. A videotape detailing the development of Ella Mae Lentz's poetic style in American Sign Language. As a prolific Deaf poet, Ella Mae Lentz does a good job of explaining how she moved from more English-oriented poems to more ASL-oriented poems. She also explains the various devices in and story of each poem, helping students to see the connection between poetry and life, and how such sentiments can be expressed.

The United States of Poetry. Dir. Mark Pellington. Perf. Tracie Morris, Naomi Shihab Nye, CD. Wright, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and More. Videocassette. ITVS: Independent Television Service, 1996. This is a BEAUTIFUL video! Some famous poets (and several who are not famous) recite their poems, while the visual is like a beautiful music video accompanying the reading. It is the most beautiful visual rendition of spoken poetry that I have ever seen. This will truly help students see the beauty of poetry and better appreciate it, and it will be especially appealing to Deaf students, who are visually oriented. Through this video, they can gain a better appreciation of Hearing poetry.

Voices and Visions (Video Series). N.D. Perf. Peter Parros, Vanessa Bell Calloway, Richard Lawson. Videocassette. South Carolina Educational Television Network, New York Center for Visual History, and the Annenberg/CPB Project, 1988. This video series documents the lives and poetry of famous poets. The poets documented are Robert Frost, Ezra Pound, Langston Hughes, Walt Whitman, Hart Crane, William Carlos Williams, Emily Dickinson, Marianne Moore, T.S. Elliot, Wallace Stevens, Elizabeth Bishop, Robert Lowell, and Sylvia Plath. These videos would be highly useful in helping teens appreciate canonical poetry, which is important. The poets documented in this series are poets that the students will most likely come across again throughout their educational career, and it is thus important that they have a basic understanding of these poets' works. However, because these videotapes record a college course on these poets, some concepts may be more difficult for high school students to grasp. This is where the teacher's judgment call based on his or her knowledge of his or her own students must come into play.

Watson, Esther P., and Mark Todd, comps. The Pain Tree, and Other Teenage Angst-Ridden Poetry. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2000. This book is another prime example of teenagers using poetry as a means of expression, which will hopefully help inspire students to use poetry as a means of expression for their own inner thoughts and feelings.

Youth Speaks. 2006. Youth Speaks. 1 May 2006 <www.youthspeaks.org>. The homepage of this website explains, "Founded in 1996, Youth Speaks is at the forefront of a national Spoken Word performance, education, and youth development movement." This website would be a great way to help get students involved in the very movement this organization claims to be at the forefront of. If teens can get interested and involved, great things can happen.

 

Resources For Teachers

Here are resources that teachers can use to help themselves better understand various styles of poetry, as well as how to teach it.

 

"Arts and Literature." PBS Teacher Source. 2006. Public Broadcasting System. 01 May 2006 <http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/recommended/arts_lit/lk_poetry.shtm>. This page has countless wonderful resources for teachers listed, including poetry lesson plans and recommended websites. It is probably one of the best teacher resources for poetry on the web.

Bauman, H-Dirksen L. "Redesigning Literature: Poetics of American Sign Language Poetry." UBU Web Ethnopoetics: Discourses. N.Y. Gallaudet University. 1 May 2006 <http://www.ubu.com/ethno/discourses/bauman_asl.html>. This discourse/essay is a breakthrough in its new way to look at ASL Poetry. Bauman states in the essay that it is "an initial attempt at applying cinematic language as a means of ASL poetic practice and analysis." The teacher can use the terms and examples explored in this discourse to help Deaf students have a fun way to analyze ASL poems, comparing the poetic signing to a movie scene.

Bauman, Nelson and Rose, Signing the Body Poetic: Essays in American Sign Language Literature, forthcoming 2003, University of California Press. According to Bauman, because �Translating the body's movements through three-dimensions of space into written form obviously entails great aesthetic and linguistic loss, . . . the future of ASL criticism must be in the form of video, CD-ROM or DVD texts.  Currently, a collection of critical approaches to ASL literature is being edited and will be produced in CD-ROM format� (http://www.ubu.com/ethno/discourses/bauman_asl.html). This will be helpful for those who teach Deaf students, and want to help them gain appreciation for their own culture�s literature.

Burch, Susan. "Deaf Poets' Society: Subverting the Hearing Paradigm." Literature and Medicine 16 (1997): 121-134. 1 May 2006 <http://muse.jhu.edu/cgi-bin/access.cgi?uri=/journals/literature_and_medicine/v016/16.1burch.html>. According to the abstract for this article, �Susan Burch gives her audience a privileged look at American Sign Language (ASL) poetry, a genre in which the body rather quite literally is the text. The hands, facial expressions, stance, and movements of the signer are critical ingredients of the language and the meaning of the poem. Living only through embodiment, ASL poetry signifies that moment in which language circulates through the writer and emerges as a corporeal signification as well as a metaphorical one. Burch brings us to the state of affairs in which metaphor, gesture, meaning, and corpus are one.� This is another great resource for understanding and teaching ASL poetry.

Lane, Harlan, Robert Hoffmeister, and Ben Bahan. A Journey Into the Deaf-World. 1st ed. San Diego: DawnSignPress, 1996. This book about Deaf culture has 3 chapters devoted to American Sign Language and literacy, which have some helpful ideas about teaching Deaf students.

Smith, Marc K., and Joe Kraynak. CIG to Slam Poetry (Complete Idiot's Guide). 1st ed. New York: Alpha, 2004. This book is written by the founder of poetry slams ("The Father of Slam"), along with Joe Kraynak. As it explains everything from the very basic beginning, this is a great resource for teaching teens about poetry slams, and also how to analyze and write slam-style poetry.

Unknown Author. "Handouts and Links." The Writing Center. 2005. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 2 May 2006 <http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/poetry-explication.html>. This is a printable handout, guiding students through the process of explicating a poem. Great resource for teachers. Other such helpful handouts and links are on this website.

Valli, Clayton.  "The Nature of the Line in ASL Poetry." SLR'87 Papers from the Fourth International Symposium on Sign Language Research.  Eds. W. H. Edmondson and F. Karlsson. Hamburg: Signum Press, 1990. Another resource for teachers of the Deaf to help students understand the linguistics behind ASL poetry.

Valli, Clayton, and Ceil Lucas. Linguistics of American Sign Language: an Introduction. 3rd ed. Washington, D.C.: Clerc Books; Gallaudet UP, 2000. This textbook goes through all the basics of the linguistic aspect of American Sign Language, explaining its morphology, its equivalent of phonology, ASL syntax, semantics, and more. It is a very useful resource to help Deaf high school students make connections between their own language and that of English. By understanding basic grammar in ASL, they can better grasp grammatical concepts in another language, such as English.