My philosophy of teaching poetry can be distilled into providing
students with an "appropriate response." The greatest teachers I have
had responded specifically to each student's writing without being
prescriptive. They were forceful and encouraging in their criticism.
They were human and compassionate. When I think of them, I am reminded
of Chekhov who said: "that art exists to prepare the soul for
tenderness."
Within the framework of this "appropriate response," it is my
responsibility to help students discover and make their own connections.
The history of poetry is a history of new connections. The Swedish poet
Tomas Tranströmer said it beautifully: "My poems are meeting places.
Their intent is to make sudden connections between aspects of reality
that conventional languages ordinarily keep apart. Large and small
details of the landscape meet, divided cultures and people flow together
in a work of art. Nature meets industry, etc. What looks at first like a
confrontation turns out to be a connection."