It's Love, Love, Love! - Simon & Garfunkel | Rita Dove, Major Jackson

Valentine's Day is coming up! A blog on poetry and music for teen-aged students would be incomplete without exploring the theme of love. Tonnes of songs and sonnets have been written about the euphoria of love and heartbreak. Reader response takes the forefront for these poems and lyrics.

Now this Simon & Garfunkel song is your typical lovestruck ballad but the obvious imagery and narrative style is too good to pass up. 

For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her by Simon & Garfunkel

What a dream I had
dressed in organdy
clothed in crinoline
of smoky burgundy
softer than the rain

I wandered empty streets down
past the shop displays
I heard cathedral bells
dripping down the alley ways
as I walked on

and when you ran to me
your cheeks flushed with the night
we walked on frosted fields
of juniper and lamplight
I held your hand

and when I awoke
and felt you warm and near
I kissed your honey hair
with my grateful tears
oh, I love you
oh, I love you

I found these next two poems from an online teaching resource "Dream in Color" from the Poetry Foundation website (Research #16) featuring poems from famous African American writers. I'm a big fan of Rita Dove ever since I've read Thomas and Beulah for an American lit course in undergrad.  Rita Dove's poem "Heart to Heart" deconstructs the symbol of the organ of love, and looks at it rather literally.

Heart to Heart by Rita Dove

It's neither red

nor sweet.

It doesn't melt

or turn over,

break or harden,

so it can't feel

pain,

yearning,

regret.

It doesn't have

a tip to spin on,

it isn't even

shapely—

just a thick clutch

of muscle,

lopsided,

mute. Still,

I feel it inside

its cage sounding

a dull tattoo:

I want, I want—

but I can't open it:

there's no key.

I can't wear it

on my sleeve,

or tell you from

the bottom of it

how I feel. Here,

it's all yours, now—

but you'll have

to take me,

too.

Jackson's poem plays with the agony of high school crushes and hallway encounters with the prettiest girl in the school.

Urban Renewal XVIII by Major Jackson

How untouchable the girls arm-locked strutting
up the main hall of Central High unopposed
for decades looked. I flattened myself against
the wall, unnerved by their cloudsea of élan,
which pounced upon any timid girl regrettably
in their way, their high-wattage lifting slow motion
like curls of light strands of honey. The swagger
behind their blue-tinted sunglasses and low-rider
jeans hurt boys like me, so vast the worlds
between us, even the slightest whiff of recognition,
an accidental side glance, an unintended tongue-piercing
display of Juicy Fruit chew, was intoxicating
and could wildly cast a chess-playing geek into
a week-long surmise of inner doubts, likelihoods,
and depressions. You might say my whole life led
to celebrating youth and how it snubs and rebuffs.
Back then I learned to avoid what I feared
and to place my third-string hopes on a game-winning
basketball shot, sure it would slow them to a stop,
pan their lip-glossed smiles, blessing me with their cool.

Here are some questions I have in mind for the classroom:

• Choose either of Simon & Garfunkel's ballad, Rita Dove's or Major Jackson's poem.  Which of the three declarations of love best replicate your views on infatuation or relationships?  Explain.
• Describe Dove's short line structure and how it connects to the poem's message.  How does she describe the symbol of the heart?  In your opinion, what is the speaker trying to say literally and implicitly about love?
• How does the speaker in Major Jackson's poem use hyperbole to describe his admiration for his high school crush?
• Write a song or free verse poem describing your views on love or experiences of heartbreak.

All Pon and Zi cartoons by deviantartist Azuzephre were taken from www.ponandzi.com. I love Pon and Zi! <3 Aren't they cute?

Survival and Dreams - Tupac Shakur | Langston Hughes

I browsed through this book during a recent visit to Chapters.  As much as I enjoy his music, his poems on print did not do it for me. The title poem, the first in the book, is probably the best piece of writing in there from a literary perspective at least.  But this poem is a great idea for a minds on or hook activity. There's lots to unpack. The imagery and metaphors are loaded. 

The Rose that Grew from Concrete by Tupac Shakur (sung by Nikki Giovanni)

Did you hear about the rose
that grew from a crack in the concrete?
Proving nature's laws wrong
it learned how to walk without havin feet.
Funny it seems but, by keeping its dreams,
it learned to breathe fresh air.
Long live the rose that grew from concrete
when no one else even cared.
No one else even cared..
The rose that grew from concrete.

The song version below is from a tribute album compiling some of Tupac's written work after his death.

In Ippolito's article, she mentions the lesson planning process behind teaching literacy.  One teacher wanted to approach music and poetry precisely: Langston Hughes, rhythm and blues structure, and the Harlem Renaissance.  But she had to take a broader approach and explore the big idea.  The relationship between music and poetry.  Its evolution and influence over time.  The teacher suggests comparing a poem and a song side by side, before asking students to gather and present their own examples (Research #1).

• What makes a poem a poem?  What makes a song a song? Explore the stylistic differences and thematic similiarities.

Why not put Tupac's poem turned song next to Hughes' Harlem.  Some big ideas in both texts are...

• struggle
• survival
• ambition
• identity
• hope
• dreams

Harlem by Langston Hughes

What happens to a dream deferred?

      Does it dry up

      like a raisin in the sun?

      Or fester like a sore—

      And then run?

      Does it stink like rotten meat?

      Or crust and sugar over—

      like a syrupy sweet?

      Maybe it just sags

      like a heavy load.

      Or does it explode?

Some critical literacy type questions you can ask are...(based on Research #10)

• What words, images, and phrases come to mind when you think about Harlem, New York (incidentally where Tupac was raised until the age of 13)?  What about the Bronx? Vancouver's Downtown Eastside? Toronto's Rexdale or Parkdale? 
• How would Tupac's or Hughes' poems be different if they were written from the perspective of a man who grew up in Manhattan? West Vancouver? Toronto's Rosedale?  If it were told from the perspective of a child, parent, or older sibling in the same stigmatized neighbourhood?
• How do people in society judge each other based on hometown, financial status, race, sex, ambitions and dreams?  What messages are Tupac or Hughes presenting in their poems?  How are they different?
• Would Tupac's message ring true for a young child attending a slum school in an impoverished country?  If you went to a squatter area in Metro Manila and told some of the little children that they could be anything they wanted to be someday if they studied and worked really hard, how can you justify your message of hope.  What environmental condititions are needed for dreams to take root and actually flourish? 

 From a reader response perspective (based on Research #8), you can ask...

• Looking at Tupac's poem, has anyone ever told you that you could not do something?  That you are incapable of accomplishing a goal you set out for yourself?  How did you feel?  What did you do?
• Describe a time when you succeeded against all odds.
• Answer Hughes' question: "What happens to a dream deferred?"
• Do any of the speakers in either poem, remind you of a sibling, friend, or classmate?  In what ways?
• Have you ever dreamed of doing anything that you did not pursue or act on?  What emotions or thoughts do you feel looking back at the past?

Reader Response Theory

Reader response theory supports the idea that teacher's do not have the answer key for every poem, novel, or story.  Studies show that boys especially believe that there's one right answer or hidden message in what they're reading.  When teachers ask questions using this approach, it's no surprise that all they get is "I don't know" or "I don't get it".  This will happen anyway but a more open-minded, student-directed approach opens it up to more lively discussion.

Reading is an active process, a social act.  The text isn't by itself with a secret code to be unlocked.  The reader and text wrestle back and forth.  The reader responds to the text by drawing on their personal insight, knowledge base, and past experiences (Research #8, 3).  They need all three in order to construct meaning and experience the text, in a way.

So one's reading isn't so much about the writer's intention or story behind the poem or song, but on how the reader or listener reacts and responds.  Personal insight is based on reader's identity shaped by...

• age
• culture
• ethnicity
• religion
• gender
• sexuality
• values
• education
• lived experiences

Knowledge base is your critical thinking component.  Hardcore RR theorists hold that to gain full benefit, teachers should just throw a poem or novel to a student without building background knowledge or context (Research #8, 1).  I would have to disagree with that, especially if the topic touches on social studies key historical events like the Holocaust or the slave trade.  You need to situate the literature in an accurate historical context.  Otherwise, interpretations and discussion become a free for all.

Hate and Hope - Billie Holiday | Abel Meeropol, Langston Hughes

Jewish high school teacher Abel Meeropol wrote the poem Strange Fruit after seeing the photograph of the lynching of Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith on August 7, 1930 in Indiana.  From visual to written to song representations, all attempt to capture the core message of this hate crime.

Teaching Strange Fruit requires background historical knowledge for rich reader response and fair critical analysis.  I would suggest offering direct instruction and discussion on the history of lynching and hate crimes in the United States before reading the poem.

Teacher Vision offers a very comprehensive lesson plan with background research activities for students.  The website even provides copies of primary sources from newspapers and activist documents students can read through.

The photograph is overwhelming itself, but it might be better to show it to students after a reading of the poem.
 

Strange Fruit by Abel Meeropol (sung by Billie Holiday)

Southern trees bear strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black bodies swinging in the Southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

Pastoral scene of the gallant South,
The bulging eyes and twisted mouth,
The scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh,
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.

Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck,
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop.

Billie Holiday lends her voice to Meeropol's words in this haunting rendition of perhaps one of the most memorable and controversial recordings in jazz history.  Nina Simone also sings her version of "Strange Fruit", but Billie Holiday's for me is more powerful.

Drawing on reader response, you can ask your students:

• After learning a little bit about the history of lynching in the States, describe your thoughts after reading the poem.  What words or phrases resonated with you?
• How do you feel after reading about Meeropol's vivid description of the fruit and plantation crops?
• Would the poem be as effective or disturbing if Meeropol simply described the bodies of lynch victims without using nature metaphors?  
• When you think about farms and crops, what thoughts and emotions do you commonly associate with this pastoral scenery?

Langston Hughes' "Daybreak in Alabama" offers a visually hopeful view of the future despite the history of hate and violence in the southern States.

Daybreak in Alabama by Langston Hughes

When I get to be a composer
I’m gonna write me some music about
Daybreak in Alabama
And I’m gonna put the purtiest songs in it
Rising out of the ground like a swamp mist
And falling out of heaven like soft dew.
I’m gonna put some tall tall trees in it
And the scent of pine needles
And the smell of red clay after rain
And long red necks
And poppy colored faces
And big brown arms
And the field daisy eyes
Of black and white black white black people
And I’m gonna put white hands
And black hands and brown and
yellow hands
And red clay earth hands in it
Touching everybody with kind fingers
And touching each other natural as dew
In that dawn of music when I
Get to be a composer
And write about daybreak
In Alabama.

  From a reader response perspective you can ask students the following:

• Hughes paints a song for his readers. He describes the song he would write in the future using colours, symbols, body parts, elements of nature (like rain, dew, and flowers).  What do you think these visual images represent?
• Both Meeropol's and Hughes' poem blur the distinction between human body parts and elements of the natural world.  But how are their messages different? 

You can even ask your students to...

• Create a watercolour painting of Hughes' "Daybreak in Alabama".  Try to collect images from the poem as he describes them while offering your own artistic interpretation and representation.

Book Review: Music Listography Journal

There's no better inspiration for writing this blog than Chapters Indigo. Bios. Great Music Selection. Poetry. Starbucks. It's no wonder my last Associate Teacher loved it there so much.  I love it there too.  I'm a frequent visitor of the Bay and Bloor location, a great study break from OISE and libraries.

Lisa Nola's Listography series is a best-seller at Chapters Indigo.  Writers eat it all up.  Documenting everything - your love life, friendships, and even a bucket list.  Music Listography: Your Life in Playlists is a list of journals chronicling the most significant songs, albums, concerts of your life.

Here's some ideas from the journal that teachers can easily tweak for any writing assignment on how music plays a role in the students' lives.  Rather than "list", students can "choose" and write why they selected those songs.  

I chose my favourite list topics from the book applicable to the classroom and grouped them under musical evaluation, biography, and exploration.

Musical Evaluation

• List the twenty albums you'd bring if you were leaving planet earth on a spaceship.
• List the best soundtracks.
• List the songs that drive you crazy.

Musical Biography

• List the songs to play at your funeral.
• List the songs you thought were about you (a.k.a. your theme song).
• List your motivational self-help anthems.
• List the most treasured music memorabilia you've owned.
• List advice you follow from lyrics.
• List a song to dedicate to each of your friends.
• List your summertime road trip mix.

Musical Exploration

• List your obscure musical discoveries.
• List your guilty pleasures.
• List bands and genres of music to explore someday.

Happy writing! :)

Point of View: Kings Of Leon

Sometimes, I walk around thinking I'm a creative genius until I google my idea and find out I wasn't the first one to think about it. When I listen to this song, I automatically think about (excuse the reference but I'm in the GTA Catholic option after all) God.  The song could've been written from an all-seeing God looking down at the world, the condition and state it is in.  The Office of Catholic Youth of the Archdiocese of Toronto lists it as one of the songs on its online resource Video Divina.  It asks reflecting questions about the divine, hope, and faith.

You can also use this song as a minds on activitiy for students to think about perspective and point of view, or even activism and call to action in social justice.

Use Somebody by Kings of Leon

I've been roaming around,
I was looking down at all I see
painted faces fill places I can't reach
You know that I could use somebody...
you know that I could use somebody...

Someone like you
and all you know and how you speak
countless lovers undercover of the streets
You know that I could use somebody...
you know that I could use somebody...

Someone like you

Off in the night, why'd you live it up,
I'm off to sleep waging wars
to shape the poet and the beat
I hope it's going to make you notice...
I hope it's going to make you notice...

Someone like me...

In class, students can explore perspective and point of view using this song.

• Who is the "I" referring to in the song?
• Whom are they addressing?  Explain your reasoning using evidence from the lyrics.
• Reflect on the line, "I could use someone like you and all you know and how you speak".  Describe a time when you were moved by an injustice or disaster you've seen in the news or learned about in school.  How were you inspired to take action?  How have important people in the past taken action and changed the world for the better?