Teaching poetry aims to develop students' aesthetic appreciation and enjoyment of language. It helps students develop imagination, emotional intelligence, and the ability to derive pleasure from reading. When teaching a poem, the teacher introduces the poem's context, explains difficult words, and reads it aloud expressively to demonstrate rhythm and emotion. Students then read the poem themselves, and the teacher provides feedback afterwards to help them improve their recitation skills without interrupting the poetic flow. The goal is to add to students' joy and help them appreciate beauty in language, not just improve their knowledge of English.

1. TEACHING POETRY

2. Coleridge defined poetry as “The best words in their
best order”. Poetry embodies the beauty of language,
thought and feeling. It develops the aesthetic sense and
students enjoy the lyricism which is inherent in poetry.
Poetry plays an important role in the school
curriculum. It helps in the all round development of the
students, particularly the emotional, imaginative,
intellectual, aesthetic and intuitive sides. It enriches the
experiences of students and introduces a variety of
language patterns. It aids the student to learn speech
rhythm and derive pleasure from reading it.

3. Objectives
 To enable students of lower classes to enjoy a poem.
 To enable students of high and higher secondary classes
to appreciate a poem.
 To appreciate the content, the images, the experience
and the rhyme and rhythm of the language.
 To develop the students’ imagination and through that the
very roots of mental and emotional life.
 In the words of Menon and Patel, ‘the aim of teaching
poetry is not so much to improve the child’s knowledge of
English as to add to his joy and increase his power of
appreciation of beauty.

4. There is no need for material aids in the teaching
poetry. If required, a picture depicting the scene may be
shown of the class. The teacher starts by introducing the
poem to the students. The introduction will differ from
poem to poem.
The teacher may begin with a sketch of the poet, his
life, poetic style and characteristics. If the poem is
descriptive, an appropriate picture may be shown. This
will arouse the interest of the students and create the
appropriate atmosphere for the poem.

5. According to Ryburn, ‘A good poem is a complete
whole’. Exposition and explanation are not done while
teaching poem. Only the difficult words are explained
orally. Only those language items which are very
essential are dealt with.
The teacher reads the poem aloud, bringing out the
beauty of sound and rhythm, of thought and emotion.
The teacher then asks two or three students to read out
the poem. The teacher helps the students to recite the
poem with effect. But he does not correct them while they
are reading for this will interrupt the flow of the poem.