As a third-year English student, it’s no surprise that I have a passion for poetry. I’ve always admired a writer’s ability to compact such intense images and emotions into so few words. This style of literary work develops immense expressions through the use of a distinctive style and rhythm in a way that, in my opinion, nothing else can. Poetry can have such great panache, so why is it that it doesn’t seem to appeal to young people in the modern day?
I was shocked to find out that amongst the chaos of school exams in the times of Covid-19, poetry is one of the few topics that will become optional within the English Literature GCSE course in the UK. Ofqual has stated that it had decided to offer students a choice of subject matters after schools expressed “significant concern” about their ability to cover all areas of the syllabus. Whilst the struggles held by teachers are entirely understandable throughout the next year, why should poetry be considered any less important than say 19th century literature; an area that is still compulsory.
It seems such a shame, not only because poetry itself can immerse young people into a genre of imagery and imagination, but because there is so much that can be learnt from it in both in reading and writing. Poetry can teach students how to understand and interpret any text, as well as encouraging precise yet detailed writing. By investigation into the grammar, punctuation and writing style of others, they can enhance their own. This is a skill that can be applied to any career or discipline later in life. Poetry is unique as a literary form in that it essentially has no rules. There’s no accepted standardised length or form, no conventions.
Perhaps the typical tired lessons of iambic pentameter and metaphors have left students disengaged with the art form. Within school English classes, a single short poem almost seems frivolous against a whole novel; like it’s become a supplement and not something to be studied on its own. I always wonder if the frustration stems from the seemingly futile hours of studying such a short piece in so much detail that it makes you question whether that’s really what the writer originally intended, or whether you’re merely picking out meaningless annotations. I can remember my younger sister commenting when revising for her GCSEs that the writer never thought ‘I’m going to make the sky blue to represent loneliness and depression… the sky is just blue!!’ She did have a point. It seems that many English teachers delve into such detail to the extent that each and every word is being investigated that it can’t help but feel tedious.
And yet, despite this, there are more poetry magazines and journals than ever before. More collections are being published; more poetry programmes are being taken at universities. So why does poetry feel so elusive in the world of reading for pleasure, especially for young people?
My first thought on this is that poetry is often considered a ‘higher’ art form. Something to be admired and studied, rather than to be purely enjoyed. I think this stems from the fact that good poetry is so difficult to write because of its concision and the precision of its words. In the past, only the higher, educated classes would have been exposed to the art form and its intricacies. But now, there’s no reason why it can’t be enjoyed by the masses.
Perhaps if exams boards could choose more modern, representative poets to feature in their exams, young people would find it instantly more engaging. The unknown years of Wordsworth and Elliot are not relatable for teenagers. At least within a novel you can conceivably associate with a particular character or theme running through the work. Poets such as Jackie Kay and Benjamin Zephaniah have risen through the genre, offering modern perspectives a form to the traditional poem. Tishani Doshi’s incredible 2017 poem Girls are Coming Out of the Woods depicts the “multitude of scars” that young women face as they grow up. Themes like gender don’t just need to be seen as the cliched ‘women are housewives who were seen as less than men’ that we’ve all grown accustomed to but instead can target topics that students actually encounter. I wonder if more relevant and even taboo topics were presented to young people in schools, they would be drawn to poetry.
Andrew Simmons points out that “poetry can give students a healthy outlet for surging emotions”. This offers an interesting perspective that’s not often considered regarding poetry, that not only can we study poetry in the academic sense, but maybe it can aid us in personal skills. Whether it’s understanding different perspectives of people across different cultures or societies or helping students express emotions in a controlled way, there is no doubt that poetry can really help young people find their own voice. Poetry writing has never been part of the GCSE syllabus in the UK and perhaps has been greatly overlooked as a useful skill. In an age of social media and young people closing themselves off, surely it’s more important than ever to be encouraging methods of self-expression?
An argument against teaching poetry in schools that’s often presented is that poetry is too complex for young people to understand. But surely this is the point of education? To expose young people to cultures and works that they may not understand at first. Poetry doesn’t even necessarily need to be understood but can merely be enjoyed for its beauty and composure. By exposing students to language, voice and representation, we allow them to broaden their perspective of society and reflect on their own lives.
I’m saddened by the lack of engagement with poetry amongst young people, and I hope that many schools make the decision to keep the topic as an area of study for exams in future. I would encourage anyone thinking about writing to give it a go, even just to get words down on a page. Reading and writing is an activity that should be learnt by all, if not for pure enjoyment then for the attitudes and aspects of history that all can learn from.
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Zizz x