Question: How can a knowledge of grammar help students to understand a poem?
Answer: The author uses William Carlos Williams’s “The Red Wheel Barrow.”
Quote: “The activity I describe below is part of a larger activity that includes the poetry of E.E. Cummings, Robert Frost, and Seamus Heaney, but for brevity’s sake I focus on Williams’s ‘The Red Wheelbarrow,’ which is inevitably the most successful example in the activity. In this activity I ask students to ‘identify and discuss the differences between these authors’ uses of adjectives, adjectivals, adverbs, and/or adverbials. What are the effects of these uses on the poems? How do they help the authors convey a message a style, or mood?’ ”
Comment: Using grammar to interpret a poem is certainly functional. Again, you will need to read the entire article to learn how students responded to this application of grammar. http://www.ncte.org. The author uses the language of grammar in helping students interpret the poem. RayS.
Title: “On the Richness of Grammar as an Analytical Lens in the Integrated Language Arts.” Lance Massey. English Journal (March 2011), 66-70.
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