ABSTRACT
Poetry is sound, rhythm, image, meaning. It is akin to music and can be both intensely personal and expressive. Its images can be guides throughout life, companions in joy and duress. Students can write it, read it, memorize it, recite it, and listen to it. They will adopt poetry as part of their lives if they want to, and therein lies the problem and the opportunity for teachers. If the teacher believes that every student can learn to appreciate poetry and even create it, then the problem of student motivation is on the way to the solution. Part of believing in the capacity of a student is for teachers to develop an appreciation themselves by reading and writing it themselves. For some teachers this is natural; for others, it is a stretch, but for the civilizing of students’ minds, it is a necessity.
