How To:

Become a poet...or is it a songwriter....?

You may notice that lyrics in music are really similar to a lot of poetry. Well this is no coincidence. There is definitely a direct link between poets and great songwriters. But how does one become a songwriter? I mean, let's be honest, there's not a lot of money in poetry. But if you can make it as a songwriter you'll be living comfortably to say the least. So let's all gather 'round and watch a video on it!

Fascinating... But it didn't say much about something I find very important: inspiration. I mean, you could always just throw something together, nbd, and call it a hit for Justin Beiber or something. But what if it's a matter of wanting more? What if you want to write something to be proud of? Something timeless and respectable? Well, that might require a little bit of natural talent. Not everyone is a professional wide receiver for the Pittsburgh Steelers (who do you think you are, Mike Wallace or Hines Ward? gurl, plz). It takes a little bit of natural selection. A little bit of extra that makes you special. Kind of like the poets who came before all of us. And sometimes you can make that something special grow from inside of you. But only if you already had it in the first place.

I don't think you shouldn't take the chance, because passion breeds success. But I do think that this is quite a risk. Don't try to focus on just making the money. Establish yourself as someone great by doing what you love. If you're able to do that, everything will fall into place. Now go out and be a successful, modern day poet!

The Last Chapter is Always Bittersweet

Have you ever finished a really good book and the ending is just so sad because you know that there's no more to the story? Well that's how it feels to finish poetry class. From Mrs. Lewis to study groups to performing our poetry, I've learned a lot about myself through the process of this class. The blogging project (what you're reading right now) helped me that much more!

At first when I heard that we had a write a blog I wasn't too excited, to say the least. I didn't want to write for a bunch of strangers that I didn't know, especially on topics like poetry. I mean, I didn't know anything about it, and who was really going to read a poetry blog of a teenage girl for her class project. And then when I heard that we had to do it in groups, I was really dreading my weekly assignment. But as I kept doing it, I found that I have a little knack for blogging. Not to mention that my group mates were really easy to work with and we had a lot of fun!

But the blog wasn't just fun, it really taught me a lot about history, writing, and so much more, because we had the freedom to write about whatever we wanted to as long as it pertained to something we discussed in poetry. Without this freedom, I would have never explored the world of Sylvia Plath or even writing more poetry. Without this project, I would not have gotten as far as I did with poetry.

But alas, this is my last entry for the term, and I'll miss everything that came with the class! Everyone was so nice, friendly, and helpful. Mrs. Lewis was, as usual, the greatest. The lessons we learned were interesting and valuable. And I think that it's clear that we all learned what you should not do at a Catholic school! (haha thanks, Mrs. Lewis!!) This class has been more than just a really fun class. It was educational and interesting and it brightened up my entire day!

I'll miss everything about it. ):

It's The End!

Last blog post!! *sniffsniff*  Where did the time go?  It seems like just yesterday we walked into the Karambelas room in the library with Mrs. Lewis (and Bugsy :) for our first poetry class. Poetry instantly became my favorite class this term.  It was my last class of the day, and the most relaxing and fun.

Fran, Eric and I in Walgreens during Poetry

Mrs. Lewis always had a smile on her face and made our class happy and excited to be in the library learning poetry.  Not only was poetry my favorite class because it was fun, but we also learned a lot.  Yes, you can learn and have fun at the same time.  At least in Mrs. Lewis' class you can.  From poet's like Dorothy Parker to Anne Sexton, Alfred Tennyson and Allen Ginsberg, we studied a wide variety of poets and genre's.  

One of my favorite poetry memories was when we took a trip to Walgreens.  It shows that a place so simple, like Walgreens, could spark ideas and could be made into interesting and worthy poetry.

Writing the blog posts was also one of my favorite parts of poetry class.  Although it became difficult to think of topics, writing the blog posts really pushed me to learn more about what we were studying in class, and I discovered the posts of my classmates blogs to be very interesting to read as well.

One of my favorite blog posts was writing about the Cotton Club!  It was something that I had never heard of, and I thoroughly enjoyed researching and becoming familiar with what the Cotton Club truly was.  The blog posts really gave me that opportunity to learn more and more each week.    

What I liked about poetry class was that your opinion was never wrong.  Each class member's ideas were taken into consideration.  I can honestly say that I learned so much not only from Mrs. Lewis, of course, but from the rest of the students in the class.  What was so helpful was that Mrs. Lewis always gave each person a chance to talk.  Listening with an open mind, many people had very interesting and worthy things to say about what we were studying.

I am truly going to miss this class next term.  English bell 7 will not be the same without Mrs. Lewis, Bugsy and the rest of the class, but I will never forget all of the fun we had, and what we have learned!