Poetry teaches students the value of concrete images.
For example, it teaches us to look beyond the abstract term "nature," in order to see the tall redwood growing between two buildings. It trains our eye down the thin alley between two long apartment buildings in a San Francisco neighborhood. It stretches our arms such that our finger tips rub the stucco on either wall at the same time. At the back of the buildings, we see that the fifty-foot tree, first noticed from the sidewalk, actually grows out of the soil at its feet--just as Blake's poison tree and Whitman's live oak have done. Poetry, in other words, leads us down that dark alley to see the strength of this single evergreen. It instructs us to look past the facades and see the roots taking hold in someone's, yes someone's, backyard.
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Recently a student illustrated this lesson in a commentary about her own original poem. Once she gives permission, I will explain the details and quote from her commentary. It was gratifying to read her description of the poem's helping her not only record an experience, but also enrich it for her.
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