A Poem By Walt Whitman

𝐶𝒉𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝘐𝑉: 𝑊𝒉𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑒 𝑏𝑒?

-Ladies. -Mrs. Keating started talking the next day, while she was sitting at her desk, opening the poetry book. -Open your texts to page 21 of the introduction. -Mrs. Perry, will you read the opening paragraph of the preface, entitled "Understanding Poetry"?

Nicole put on her glasses and started reading.

-"Understanding Poetry, by Dr. J. Evans Pritchard, Ph.D. To fully understand poetry, we must be fluent with its meter, rhyme, and figures of speech, then ask two questions. One: How artfully has the objective of the poem been rendered? And two: How important is that objective? Question one rates the poem's perfection. Question two rates its importance. And once this questions have been answered, determining the poem's greatness becomes a relatively simple matter.-

Mrs. Keating got up and went to the board.

-If the poem's score for perfection is plotted on the horizontal of a graph, -Mrs. Keating wrote a line in horizontal with a P. -and its importance is plotted on the vertical, then calculating the total area of the poem yields the measure of its greatness.

Cameron started to do the graph just as Keating did.

-A sonnet by Byron must score high on the vertical, but only average on the horizontal. A Shakespearean sonnet, on the other hand, would score high both horizontally and vertically, yielding a massive total area, thereby revealing the poem to be truly great. As you proceed through the poetry in this book, practice this rating method. As your ability to evaluate poems in this manner grows, so will your enjoyment and understanding of poetry."

Nicole took off her glasses when she stopped reading.

-Excrement. -That's the first thing Keating said. All the girls looked at her, confused. - That's what I think of Mr. J. Evans Pritchard.

Cameron looked confused.

-We're not laying pipe. We're talking about poetry. -Cameron thought twice and crossed out the table he had previously copied. -How can you describe poetry like American Bandstand? "I like Byron, I give him a 42, but I can't dance to it." -All the girls laughed- Now, I want you to rip out that page. -Everyone seemed shocked. -Go on. Rip out the entire page. -She said, seriously. -You heard me, rip it out.

Charlie looked at everyone in the class. None of them were ripping out the page. She was drawing nonsense things while Mrs. Keating was shouting "Rip it out!". So she got the book, started to rip the page and finally showing it to Mrs. Keating.

-Thank you, Mrs. Dalton. Tell you what, don't just tear out that page, tear up the entire introduction!-She said, while Charlie was still ripping the page in halves. -I want it gone, history. Leave nothing of it. Rip it out! Rip! Be gone, J. Evans Pritchard, Ph.D!

Meeks looked at everyone and ripped the introduction, happily.

-I want to hear nothing but ripping of Mr. Pritchard. It's not the Bible, you're not gonna go to hell for this. -She said, while going to her office.

Cameron was still confused, she didn't want to rip the page.

-We shouldn't be doing this...-She said to Nicole.

-Rip, rip, rip...-Nicole answered, ripping a page into halves.

Cameron got a ruler, and ripped out the introduction.

All the girls were shouting happily, while a teacher entered the room.

-What the hell is going on here?

Charlie took off the paper she was ripping and put it in her mouth.

-I don't hear enough rips. -Mrs. Keating said, getting a paper bin.

-Mrs. Keating. -The teacher said.

-Mrs. McAllister. -She replied.

Silence.

-I'm sorry, I didn't know you were here.

-I am. -She replied again, happily.

-Ah, so you are. -Mrs. McAllister said, while Charlie was trying not to laugh with a paper in her mouth.-Excuse me. -She looked at the class and closed the door.

-Keep ripping, ladies. -Mrs. Keating said, the second Mrs. McAllister got out.-This is a battle, a war. And the casualties could be your hearts and souls. -She said, getting the paper bin next to Charlie so she can spit the paper on her mouth. -Thank you, Mrs. Dalton. Armies of academics going forward measuring poetry. -She gave the bin to Nicole so she and other girls threw their papers. -No. We'll not have that here. No more of Mr. J. Evans Pritchard. Now, in my class, you will learn to think for yourselves again. -They passed the bin to Mrs. Keating again. -You will learn to savor words and language. No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world. Now, I see the look in Mrs. Pitts' eye, like the 19th-century-literature, -Everyone looked at her, while the teacher was going next to her. -has nothing to do with going to business school or medical school. Right? Maybe. Mrs. Hopkins, you may agree with her, thinking, "Yes, we should simply study our Mr. Pritchard and learn our rhyme and meter and go quietly about the business of achieving other ambitions." I have a little secret for you. Huddle up. -

Mrs Keating crouched down, and all the students came up to her.

-We don't read or write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, bussiness, engineering, these are noble pursuits, and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitmam: "O me! O life!... Of the questions of these recurring, of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities fill'd with the foolish, what good amid these, O me, O life? Answer. That you are here- That life exists, and identity; That the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be? -She finished, asking the question to Taylor.