By Brett Vogelsinger, republished with permission from Go Poems.
Since reading a poem is a daily ritual in my class, patterns develop in our poetry selections. One of those patterns—yes, a pattern students observe in much of the literature we read in English class—is that writers often tackle dense, heavy, depressing topics. Poetry is no exception. And I would argue it is important to bring these types of poems to our students.
However, we also live in an age of crushing anxiety, and each year I see more students struggle to maintain their emotional health. I want to be sure that English class, and particularly a routine that begins our class period most days, does not deliver a daily dose of doom. Picture the Pavlovian effect of that for a moment: Bell rings, gloomy poem emerges on the screen, discussion of humanity’s darkest moments ensues. . . what might be the effect of that day after day after day on our students?