Why Andrew Simmons's Why Poetry Is So Important?

There are numerous reasons that poetry is currently not ranked the foremost crucial subject in high schools. The noteworthiness of poetry is largely subjective to personal opinion due to its open nature, the environment in which it is taught environment, and its implications. “I am a literature teacher who barely teaches it”(Simmons 1). The author of “Why Teaching Poetry Is So Important” Andrew Simmons contradicts his position on the importance by in his first sentence stating that he barely teaches the in his opinion most important subject to teach students. Poetry is subjective to the reader and it is often introduced in a learning environment hence many students dislike it but not all do. Andrew Simmonds states” I loved poetry in high school. I wrote it. I read it” ( Simmons 1) so he is apparently biased towards his claim. The students that enjoy poetry usually do so out of literature class because there is no pressure and they do it for enjoyment and not for a grade. It is due to the open nature for interpretation poems give the reader that …show more content…
This is mostly due to the fact that schools usually teach older poetry including the sonnets of William Shakespeare. Poems like these can be puzzling to say the least. Students find it is hard to stop thinking in a literal way since students are trained to analyse texts in a logical and literal way, this becomes a burden when a student is assigned a poem to analyze since poems are often not to be taken literal. Poetry is also not necessarily the best way to teach students who are learning “english as a second language” ( Simmons 1) sine poets sometimes use archaic grammar rules and spelling like in Shakespeare's sonnet XXVI the use of “thine” in line 7. Prolonged exposure to the use of such old grammar would have a negative effect on students learning the english language. These issues can be evaded by teaching modern