No poem should ever be discussed or “analyzed”, until it has been read aloud by someone, teacher or student. Better still, perhaps, is the practice of reading it twice, once at the beginning of the discussion and once at the end, so the sound of the poem is the last thing one hears of it.
All discussions of poetry are, in fact, preparations for reading it aloud, and the reading of the poem is, finally, the most telling “interpretation” of it, suggesting tone, rhythm, and meaning all at once. Hearing a poet read the work in his or her own voice, on records or on film, is obviously a special reward. But even those aids to teaching cannot replace the student and teacher reading it or, best of all, reciting it.
I have come to think, in fact, that time spent reading a poem aloud is much more important than “analyzing” it, if there isn’t time for both. I think one of our goals as teachers of English is to have students love poetry. Poetry is “a criticism of life” “a heightening of life, enjoyment with others”. It is “an approach to the truth of feeling”, and it “can save your life”. It also deserves a place in the teaching of language and literature more central than it presently occupies.
I am not saying that every English teacher must teach poetry. Those who don’t like it should not be forced to put that dislike on anyone else. But those who do teach poetry must keep in mind a few things about its essential nature, about its sound as well as its sense, and they must make room in the classroom for hearing poetry as well as thinking about it.
【小题1】The passage indicates that analyzing a poem is ________.| A．not essential at all |
| B．a preparation for appreciating it |
| C．an approach to understanding it |
| D．optional in class sometimes |
| A．is the best way to understand it |
| B．easily arouses some discussion among the students |
| C．helps the teacher to analyze it |
| D．can not take the place of the poet reading it |
| A．The most important teaching goal is to have students read and recite every poem they learn. |
| B．Poetry is the foundation of all languages and literature courses. |
| C．The teaching of poetry should have been much more stressed. |
| D．Every English teacher is supposed to convey their love of poetry to their students. |
