"Poetry is very difficult" is a common saying among Kenyan students.
Most Kenyan students find it hard to tackle poetry questions.
They find it an uphill task to interpret a poem.
They tend to fall asleep during poetry lessons.
Why are students afraid of poetry that much yet poetry is one of the simple genres of Literature.
Poetry is enjoyable.
Poetry oozes with life.
Poetry soothes and calms.
Poetry evokes feelings.Poetry has been used the world over to rally humanity to worthy causes.
Same Old
One of the problems facing the teaching of poetry in our secondary schools is that most literature teachers are still stuck with the same old methods of teaching poetry.
They still use old Shakespearean poems to teach poetry.
This old style is certainly boring.A good teacher should be able to swim with the current.
A good teacher should be able to incorporate new styles of teaching poetry with old ones.
He or she should also incorporate new, modern poems with old ones.
language they understand
True, Shakespearean sonnets are not that simple.
They require some high levels of concentration.
But that does not mean that they cannot be read and recited.
Some of us tackled them and passed them so well.
A poem should never be read like a business journal.
A poem should be read as if you are just reading some hot gossips.
It is a piece of literature, not a financial report.
You find the irony that student love music but they hate poetry.
Little did they know that music is poetry.
Teachers of literature should, therefore, incorporate music as a tool for learning poetry.
The students will enjoy it as it is delivered in a language that they understand.
Make it fun
I was happy when the ministry of education approved a poetry collection authored by new generation poets like Tony Mochama to be used in secondary schools.
This is good news for budding poets.
Now students will not be forced to cram Shakespeare's sonnets as they have modern poems themed around emerging issues like homosexuality, skin bleaching, domestic violence, political greed, etc.
Teachers of literature should make learning fun.Poetry lessons are supposed to be fun.
That way, students will develop a positive attitude towards it and eventually they will record improved performance in poetry.