Ode to an English Teacher

Honestly, it was really difficult for me to find the value of poetry for a long time.  Through most of high school, it was difficult for me to read poetry because I thought it was just a bunch of fluff, and poetry analysis kind of gave me nightmares.  I didn't find the actual interpretation difficult, I just couldn't quite grasp at the substance.  I enjoyed reading novels about a billion, gazillion, times more.

My senior year of high school, my attitude completely changed because of my wonderful AP Lit teacher, Ms. Sylvia.  Ms. Sylvia is a literary aficionado.  She had taught english classes in college for most of her career, and she came out of retirement to teach at my little high school.  Ms. Sylvia knows literally everything about literature.  I am not even kidding.  Ask her any question about Shakespeare, or Dante, or Walt Whitman, or whatever and she has an answer for you.  Her breadth of knowledge never ceased to amaze me in our classes.

I can't say that I came away from that AP lit class with a favorite poem.  I can't even say that I particularly remember anything that we read in that class.  My attitude about poetry didn't change because of any personal, fantastical poetical revelations.  My attitude about poetry changed because of Ms. Sylvia's utter adoration of the poem Dover Beach, written by Matthew Arnold.

I don't think we went a week in that class without talking about Dover Beach in some fashion.  Every time we did discuss it, there was this sparkly twinkle in her eye that told me Ms. Sylvia found more personal meaning in the poem than she was letting on.

I guess one could say that we analyzed that poem to death.  And like I said before, I don't particularly remember what was said in that class, but without fail, when she said, "Now, let's talk about Dover Beach," there was a distinct hint in the change of her countenance that showed her adoration of the poem. 

I found that I enjoyed seeing people connect to poetry.  That experience, in turn, helped me to start turning to poetry as well to feel some different kind of connection to the unique literary form.  At this point, I can't say that I read poetry on a regular basis.  I do, however, relish the words I read on the page when I do.

If it weren't for Ms. Sylvia, I don't think my attitude toward poetry would have ever changed.