Craig,
I don't have much time before I run, but I do wish to reply quickly.
I agree about form. Without a doubt, the best poetry I receive from
my students is in response to fixed forms: their lyrics are often
banal, while their attempts to write metrical verse usually produce
genuinely original replies. As I tell them, if they're surprised as
they wrote it, their readers will probably be delighted and surprised
by what they've written. The analogy I usually recall at such moments
is Frost's description of poetic form in terms of the net in
tennis--you don't have much of a game without it.
Voice might be the topic where matters of form and freedom collide. I
make it very clear to my students that I would like them to use
grammatical terms in order to distinguish between different qualities
of voice and to use grammatical forms to modify their own voices. As
I stress to them, I don't subscribe to the romantic notion of the one
true voice, immanent with the glory of paradise lost--the conception
of voice which might run counter to grammatical rigor.
Michael
>Michael,
> I can remember students like that--correct, but weak-- from when
>I first started teaching in the 70's. My current students tend to
>write lively prose that is fairly far from correct. But I like your
>exercise and have used variations on it myself over the years.
>There's room for a great deal of creativity in punctuation, and that
>is hard to teach.
> I think form can constrain, and the popular view of grammar is
>probably that--a list of acceptable forms that we are limited to.
>But form also enables. Meaning doesn't happen without it. So an
>attention to form can also be a means toward empowerment, toward
>making more explicit the nature of good writing, well beyond the
>target of correctness. Correctness doesn't make for much of a goal.
> My initial exposure to that view of language was through the
>English romantic poet Coleridge. He made the distinction between
>mechanical and organic form. If meaning and form are dynamically
>linked, then an attention to form is an attention to meaning.
> Of course, this can be a rigorous approach, not merely licensing
>freedom. I think that may be what Edmond is objecting to, the notion
>that freedom is the goal. We think that students should be free to
>be themselves, when in fact that may doom them to failure.
>
>Craig
>
>Michael Dee wrote:
>
>>Re: The 'progressive view'
>>Yes, I believe I do agree with Dr. Wright's critique. I just wish
>>it was aimed at something like Emile rather than progressives. In
>>regard to your final question, I suppose the presentation I gave
>>for ATEG at the most recent NCTE conference might provide an
>>answer. I described my use of the descriptive vocabulary provided
>>by grammar to define voice and rhetorical style. Most of my
>>students are law-fearing writers: they write grammatically sound
>>prose which no one I know would wish to read. So, for example, I
>>might distribute a passage written by Orwell from which I have
>>removed all the punctuation. They must then punctuate it and
>>explain their choices. Inevitably, they produce a range of
>>solutions, most of which would pass editorial scrutiny. We then
>>compare their solutions to Orwell's own. The exercise usually
>>produces an interesting discussion about the artistic deployment of
>>punctuation, one which they can only understand and articulate by
>>using grammatical terms. At this point they now understand my
>>definition for an A grade on writing mechanics: "no errors of
>>grammar, spelling, capitalization; transgressions artistically
>>defensible." In order to bend or break the rules of standard
>>grammar as they write their own papers, in other words, they need
>>to identify the rules they are bending or breaking and identify an
>>explicitly rhetorical intention for doing so. Our classroom
>>exercises inform their practice and their defense of their
>>practice. I suppose the encouragement to bend rules would conform
>>to a definition of a progressive approach; it certainly feels
>>different and progressive to them. And, as I think you'd agree, it
>>is not a romantic approach.
>>
>>Michael Dee
>>
>>
>>
>>>Michael,
>>> I think the fact that Edmond is writing us from England ought to
>>>get him at least mildly off the hook.
>>> The progressive movement in American politics has a very proud
>>>history, especially in the early twentieth century. I'm not sure
>>>many Americans understand that, let alone someone from another
>>>country.
>>> Am I right that you agree with Edmond in other ways?
>>> Can you give us a description of what a true progressive would
>>>say in relation to things like "craft," "discipline", and
>>>"grammar"?
>>>
>>>Craig
>>>
>>>Michael Dee wrote:
>>>
>>>>In my lifetime, progressive causes have been routinely disparaged
>>>>by the logic evident in Dr. Wright's definition: renounce the
>>>>general term (and its proponents) by identifying it with an
>>>>obviously flawed subcategory or remote relative. If you doubt
>>>>the efficacy of this rhetorical strategy, consider the fate of
>>>>"liberal." Believe me, my rage at the predominance of
>>>>conservative politics in this country can easily match Dr.
>>>>Wright's passionate criticism of romantic idealism. Not only
>>>>that: I would agree with the criticism, particularly as it
>>>>applies to educational principles and practices. And for that
>>>>very reason I object to casting progressives as childish
>>>>idealists.
>>>>
>>>>More passion available upon request.
>>>>
>>>>Michael Dee
>>>>
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>>>
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>>
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>
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