The Poet's Companion Poem Analysis

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In The Poet’s Companion: A Guide to the Pleasures of Writing Poetry (1997), Kim Addonizio and Dorianne Laux determine that the “workshop should be considered a starting point for revision, a place where you can begin to gather ideas about what you need to do to make the poem what it wants to be” (187). My observance of and participation in ENG 407/507 taught me how a typical poetry workshop is structured. At the beginning of class, students would turn in poems to be workshopped, then either the professor would give a brief lecture and/or lesson, or the class would immediately begin workshopping poems. Students were not given a schedule or signup sheet for when they had to turn in work, which resulted in some students having more poems workshopped …show more content…

This is an important aspect of the workshop because when a writer reads their work out loud, they often notice aspects in it that they may miss during silent reading. Reading out loud also, Elbow writes, “gives you a better idea of the effect of your words on an audience” (82). Many students often commented on the poet’s reading because, when they read it themselves, they were unsure of how the poem was meant to sound. Students’ reactions to a reading remind the poet to have a sense of audience, and to notice which parts of their work are strong and which are …show more content…

Afterwards, the student can speak about their work and answer any questions. The student must never quarrel with someone’s reaction to their work, but rather listen to another’s advice and try to share their experience. While listening to others it is, Elbow writes, “more important to learn what actually got through to a real reader than what might get through to an ideal reader” (83). With this process, the listener will become better at recognizing if and how their words affected their reader, and then, eventually, they will be able to decide for themselves if their words are any

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