For the record, Poe is my favourite
* I had to explain to my father why you don't use the same knife/chopping block for raw meat and vegetables, or that you at least have to wash the utensils in between.
* We had a poetry seminar in my English class (nothing in-depth; just the teacher's attempt to introduce people to some of the most famous and influental poets) and my classmates basically told me "Okay, we'll give some of our theories first, and then you'll tell us what the poems really mean". I did get a discussion going whether or not Cummings' Somewhere I have never travelled is about feelings and/or sex, and most of my classmates discovered that they kind of thought Shakespeare's sonnets were pretty. I'm always happy when people discover new things about literature they enjoy, but personally I think starting off with the Renaissance writers when trying to introduce someone to poetry can be sort of like shooting yourself in the foot, because really, they can be pretty dull. *waves Romanticism flag*
If I do end up becoming a Literature and/or language teacher, I'm not certain if my classes will be really spirited and enthusiastic, or if I'll just end up tearing my hair out because the majority of my students won't be terribly interested in what I would be teaching.
* We had a poetry seminar in my English class (nothing in-depth; just the teacher's attempt to introduce people to some of the most famous and influental poets) and my classmates basically told me "Okay, we'll give some of our theories first, and then you'll tell us what the poems really mean". I did get a discussion going whether or not Cummings' Somewhere I have never travelled is about feelings and/or sex, and most of my classmates discovered that they kind of thought Shakespeare's sonnets were pretty. I'm always happy when people discover new things about literature they enjoy, but personally I think starting off with the Renaissance writers when trying to introduce someone to poetry can be sort of like shooting yourself in the foot, because really, they can be pretty dull. *waves Romanticism flag*
If I do end up becoming a Literature and/or language teacher, I'm not certain if my classes will be really spirited and enthusiastic, or if I'll just end up tearing my hair out because the majority of my students won't be terribly interested in what I would be teaching.