Coaxing Poems 7: Choose a View

Hello again, my Poem Friends! Welcome to the seventh of ten poetry visits here at The Poem Farm. In each of these short videos, I will share a small something about poetry, and you will always be able to find the poem(s) I read below the video. If you wish, you may watch the earlier videos linked below:

COAXING POEMS VISITS:

Visit 1: We Are Libraries

Visit 2: Eat the World

Visit 3: Make & Break a Pattern

Visit 4: Abacadabra!

Visit 5: Tell Us a Story

Visit 6: Give it Space

Please make yourself comfy for Visit 7: Choose a View.

Students - Today's visit is all about choosing a view, deciding who to be and where to stand in any piece of writing. This is something we do in all writing, not just poetry. Do remember that most all of these writing teachings cross genres, and what we learn in our poetry writing, we bring to our prose. I so believe in bringing our poetry understandings to other forms of writing that I wrote a book about this idea - POEMS ARE TEACHERS: HOW STUDYING POETRY STRENGTHENS WRITING IN ALL GENRES (2017).

As you learned in the video, my poemdrafts for this week are all about the character of Little Miss Muffet. I wrote about her in many different ways, choosing a different view, or point of view, for each poem.

Draft, First Person as Miss Muffet

Photo by Amy LV

Early on in writing a poem, you will choose a view - or decide who to write as or to in your poem. Will you be yourself or a different character? Will you address someone in your poem or your readers directly? Will you write from a little distance? Remember that you may just make this choice without thinking a lot about it. But it still helps to understand what is going on behind the scenes of your and others' writing. Keep these possibilities in mind:

First Person - This is where you write in the I voice. You may be you or another, but you write using I. You might write AS someone or something else or you might write TO someone or something else using the word I in your poem. Writing TO someone or something not present in a poem is called apostrophe or a poem of address.

Second Person - This is where you write in the YOU voice. In certain lines of your poem, you speak directly to your reader with word YOU. This point of view invites the reader right into the world of your poem.

Third Person - This is where you write in the HE/SHE/IT/THEY voice. You are speaking about someone or something from a wee bit of distance. You are not the one speaking, nor are you speaking to a particular person object. Rather, you are telling ABOUT it.

Below, you will find four poems about Little Miss Muffet, each from a different viewpoint.

Here is my first person poem about Little Miss Muffet. You will note that I am writing AS Little Miss Muffet in the I voice. First person poems can be in our own voices, but when we write in the voice of another, such poems are called persona poems.

Below is another poem in the first person I voice, but this time I chose to write TO Little Miss Muffet rather than AS her. I am being me and using the I voice as I speak to Little Miss Muffet. I am using the word YOU, but not speaking to the readers. I am speaking to Miss Muffet herself. A poem that speaks to someone or something not actually here is called an apostrophe or a poem of address.

This next poem is in the third person voice. Notice how I use the word THEY to describe what Alice and Mary are doing. I am not writing AS them or TO them, but rather ABOUT them.

And in this final poem, I write in the second person, addressing readers using the word YOU.

Choosing a view - or point of view - offers a writer possibilities. When we write as someone or something, we will discover different ideas than when we write to or about this person or thing. I recommend writing a few different drafts, as I did, all around the same subject but taking different viewpoints for each one. Remember, no need to rhyme!

As you read your independent reading books or when you read books together, take a moment to consider the point of view. Who is telling the story? How does the point of view change the story?

Linda is hosting this week's Poetry Friday over at TeacherDance with an original acrostic poem about choices and kindness. Each Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community.

Here's to a week filled with interesting, beautiful, quirky, and magical views. And if we have sad views, may they help make us kinder souls.

xo,

Amy

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