What is Poetry Madness?
Poetry Madness is an opportunity to engage members of the Norman Howard community in the appreciation and discussion of poetry by using the cultural idiom of bracketology created by the Men’s NCAA Basketball Tournament. After each round of the tourney, some poems will move on and some won’t.
Sixty-four American poems are chosen and grouped by the poet’s affiliation with a particular region of the country. These regional affiliations are generally based on birthplace or residence of the particular poet, but please keep in mind that they are loose and generally beside the point. I used the same regions as the NCAA for the purpose of continuity and adherence to its form, although I would be happy to hear any thoughts folks might have concerning meanings derived by their own analysis of poetry within the bracket context.
While I cannot claim poems were picked at random, all were picked based on length and readability in order to make participation more accessible given varied reading levels and time. Once I found a poem that was short (ish) and accessible, I threw it in the pile and moved on until I had sixteen for each region. Only one poem per poet was allowed. Poems were not intentionally chosen with a particular style, message, point of view, or other quality in mind. Any themes or similarities that you find in these poems as a group are a product of your imagination, my subconscious, or a combination thereof.
What is the purpose of Poetry Madness?
- To encourage people to read and discuss some poetry and bring awareness to National Poetry Month.
- To encourage an intellectual discussion outside of the classroom and the context of a graded assignment.
- To have some fun and interact with members of our community with whom you might not have a chance to interact otherwise.
- To practice the art of discussion.
- To appreciate positions and points of view that are different from your own.
- To broaden horizons.
- To oractice for the ELA Regents, or for College English, or for living.
- I could go on, but you get the picture.
What do I need to do to participate?
First, read a poem in the field of sixty-four. Any poem. Please do not let the size of the field discourage you. If one poem is your limit, that’s OK. I don’t expect anyone (other than me) to actually read all of these poems. If you want to read and comment on every poem and every match-up, that’s great too.
If you have read some of the poems, have a conversation with another person about them. What did you like? What didn’t you like? What confused you? What is the importance of the ideas in the poem? What did you see that someone else did not and vice versa?
Can’t find someone who has read any of the poems? Encourage someone to read one you liked, or didn’t like.
If you want to add comments in the forum, get a user ID from Edublogs, and comment away. If you need help getting a user ID, see Mr. Hopkins.
If you cannot bring yourself to do any of these things, then by all means read and watch in anonymity. No one will ever know.
How do poems move from one round to the next?
This will be hard for some, but there is no fixed procedure to move a poem to the next round. Poems that seem to have a following based on forum discussions will tend to move on. In other cases, a single well made argument may move a poem on. In some cases, if there is an outcry for a poem left behind, that poem could be brought back in a later round at the expense of another poem.
Poetry resists quantification, so focus on enjoying the poems and the context of the match-up. If you want to have more of an impact on which poems move on, just speak up.
See the whole bracket on the wall outside the kitchen. Round One will end at the end of the week.
I hope some of you will give it a try. Find the forum and match-ups here.
