My favorite poem that I read in this chapter
would probably be "Grammar Lesson," by Steve Kowit. A lot of times,
people have the misconception that poetry is supposed to be meaningful or
personal. In "The Grammar Lesson," there is no deeper meaning; there is
literally only a grammar lesson. I was surprised that there was no hidden catch
in the final lines of the poem. The stanzas only explain different grammar
rules. As I read the poem, I found that the poem was written in a loose
villanelle form. The only stanza that does not follow the strict rules of a
villanelle is the middle stanza—it s longer than a normal stanza of only three
lines. I found the choice to make the middle stanza longer clever because it
allowed for the full intention of the poem to be revealed. The middle stanza is
the one that did most of grammar rule explaining.
Ways that Kowit allowed for the villanelle form
shine through is his usage of the repeated lines. The first repeated sentence, “a
noun’s a thing. A verb’s the thing it does.” Demonstrates the factual rule that
Kowit is trying to teach. The next repeated sentence, “The can of beets is full
of purple fuzz,” allows for some humor to be added in and allows for the rules
to be practiced on. For each new rule that is brought up, the “purple fuzz”
sentence gets modified to clearly demonstrate the rule.
I liked how the sentence that was used as an
example stayed constant. “The can of beets is full of purple fuzz,” is not the
most conventional example to use as a sentence. When I was in high school, the
most common example that was used in class was something like, “The boy hit the
ball.” This sentence was basic, but it did the job. With a sentence like “The
can of beets is full of purple fuzz,” it is just strange enough to allow the
text to stay embedded in the readers mind.
I also enjoyed this poem, I thought of it as satirical and comical-a poem that comments on facets of the English language. I agree that I enjoyed the fact that it wasn't portraying some deep meaning or emotion. It was refreshing how straightforward it was. The poet's voice definitely showed through. It was very casual, and it felt like Kiwot was speaking directly to me. Writing in the form of villanelle must be frustrating, as the rules remind me of that of a haiku. However, the choice to pick a specific way to write this poem seems fitting, as it is a poem on how to write.
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