Wish I Didn't Know Now What I Didn't Know Then (click for link)

Today a student asked me for help with an assignment in which he had to analyze 5 poems of a poet from the 19th or 20th century. The first advice I offered was to switch from William Carlos Williams, who threw him for a loop, to Billy Collins, who took him by the hand and helped him painlessly complete the assignment. I had him read each of the five out loud and figure them out. He laughed out loud when he read The Lanyard and got it! He got Introduction To Poetry right away because he, and all of his classmates and teacher are living that one out. Oh My G-d took him a little longer, but then he got the joke based on the title. Carry was not a funny one, but he got that the theme was love and appreciated it once he grasped it. Finally, the assignment called for one poem that followed a specific form. As they say at Staples, that was easy. We looked at The Sonnet and he was able to see how it follows the rules of a (non Shakespearean) sonnet.