There are different uses of a poem. I argue that a poet knows the purpose of a poem every time they begin one. Even if the poem begins without knowing where it is going, the discovery of its purpose is its purpose.
The purpose of the poem dictates how it proceeds and what tools it could use. Concerning this, these are my tasks as a teacher:
- Uncover existing desires my students want to use their poems for.
- Offer tools they could use to achieve those desires.
- Help them to see other desires and encourage them to try pursuing them using poetic tools that help generate them.
Some purposes for the poem:
- to express a self
- to fight for a cause
- to have fun
- to explore language
tools
- importing voices label textnote content, including wikilinks and emphasis.
- declarative statements
- imagery
- metaphor
- collage
- rhyme
- enjambment
- visual effects
label textnote content, including wikilinks and emphasis.