Marvin Bell, "Poetry And Freshman Composition":

Still working off my informants bevy of helpful advice and sources, I decided to dive into an intriguing sounding essay entitled "Poetry and Freshman Composition," an essay penned by none other than the great Marvin Bell. This particular essay seemed fitting as it would hopefully help me make the leap from poetry's fit in the general university curriculum to poetry's fit specifically in freshman level composition (by gee, by golly, by gum that's exactly what I teach!). And as my beginning research question was about the place of poetry in the composition classroom this essay promises to be a winner (almost as if Marvin Bell knew I would be researching this very topic and wrote an essay just for me. Ah, garsh, Marvin, thanks a million!). Now as for my means of accessing this winning essay, it is once again the computer, the interwebs, the electronic screen burning out my retinas. So the brain flames to tension at the neural roots: beautiful information and bright pain battle to reign the gray matter's gnarled plains. Yeah, I'm about up to here reading off a screen (he says subtly smoothing his buxom jowls). Oh well, Bell has been so kind, I shall be attentive. Preach it darling, let it ring, the Marvin of Bell's now to sing.

I was immediately struck by Bell's caveat against high-jacking the composition classroom with literature (Jesus, Jesus, Mary, and James and Petey too some one save us from so much ado about books and such).  He writes, “I am not advocating the study of literature in place of the study of composition, a substitution made in deference to the instructors’ interests and comfort. The emphasis…is usually placed on the content of that literature…The student is taught to read, and, secondarily as well as indirectly, to write” (Bell 1). This warning stood out to me as apt because I think this is one of the major risks (if not the most major risk) an instructor takes when trying to find a place for poetry in the composition classroom--i.e. that students will learn about poetry, how to read and write it, more than they will learn about writing a college level essay. Bell seeks to navigate this difficulty by insisting that he only advocates the study of poetry in composition "insofar as the study is focused on literary techniques applicable to the writing of compositions” (1). 

In particular Bell lists 11 ways he believes the study of poetry can be directly applicable/similar to the writing of composition. Studying poetry helps students learn: 1. To attune to the subtleties of language (e.g. tone) 2. To express ambiguity and grapple with incoherence 3. To navigate the tension between objectivity and subjectivity 4. To make claims based on concrete, observable phenomena 5. To see how language shapes the connotations of a thought 6. The benefits of concision 7. What qualities make an effective introduction and conclusion 8. That experiences are full of complexity and open to multiple interpretations 9. To develop a specific "point" throughout a composition 10. Familiarity with an extremely wide variety of different style and sorts of diction in a relatively small space 11. Overall, to be a close reader (Bell 2-3).  

Bell qualifies these 11 benefits of poetry by stating he means to emphasize the benefits of contemporary poetry, as "non-contemporary" poetry presents unnecessary cultural and linguistic pitfalls to students. I'm going to go ahead and let Bell slide in this qualification. Though, before doing so (so I guess not really doing so) I would like to question whether a blanket favoring of the contemporary over the "historic", as Bell does here, doesn't quite bluntly relate to our students the primacy of our own moment: a sort of generational narcissism that, while rampant in our society, might deserve interrogation (e.g. a place for "non-contemporary" poetry in the classroom). 

Practically speaking Bell recommends instructors interested in using poetry in the classroom draw from literary journals such as Poetry. He provides a few examples of poems and poets he's used in class, but also recommends that in the poetry they are assigned composition students be exposed to "as many kinds of subjects, developed and expressed in as many ways, as is possible" (Bell 5). 

After reading this essay, I am grateful for yet more reassurance that there is a place for poetry in the composition classroom and, also, to find expressed clearly many of the benefits I myself have seen in teaching poetry to freshman composition students. Yet, I still feel rather lost as to specifics of a pedagogy rooted (or at least partially rooted) in poetry, specifically one that doesn't fall prey to privileging my interests and comfort over the intent of the composition class (i.e. teaching students to write in an academic context). Also, just because poetry can work in the classroom doesn't necessarily mean that it should or that it given a specific classroom setting it would be the most effective method for teaching. With these concerns in mind, moving forward I would like to read more about potential pitfalls of poetry in composition classes, the specific pedagogy and practice that make poetry viable for the composition class, and perhaps investigate a poetry-based comp. class (i.e.  look at assignments, the syllabus, and in class activities).  

Bell, Marvin. “Poetry And Freshman Composition.” n.p.: The Journal of the Conference on College Composition and Communication, 1964. National Council of Teachers of English.  ERIC. Web. 11 Feb. 2015.