Many students are introduced to poetry by way of an anthology, a carefully curated collection of poems that reflects the literary canon, the taste of the editor, or perhaps the lessons the teacher wants to cover that term. There’s clearly power in choosing which poems are included and which are not, but perhaps empowering students to make their own anthologies is just the point. To help students understand this, literary scholar Ed Simon considers the commonplace book, an early precursor to the anthology form, which is by definition more idiosyncratic than an authoritative anthology. As Simon says,
Free the editor from the burden of omnipotence and the reader is also freed, to no longer take opinions as conclusions, evaluations as commandments, or appraisals as conclusive. And, in turn, the student and reader can, in the greatest tradition of Renaissance humanism, respond with their own positions.
In his opinion, instead of making their own anthologies, students should make their own commonplace books.
How to Make Your Own Commonplace Book
Simons is drawing from a terrific essay, “The Problem of Anthologies, or Making the Dead Wince,” by American and African American literary scholar Kenneth Warren, who discourages professors from “putting massive [poetry] anthologies on their syllabi.” Instead, Warren suggests that instructors have their students “collect, reorder, or add texts (including their own creative work) to a three-ring binder, alongside commentary explaining the reasoning behind their choices.” This context is critical to historicizing and diversifying the literary canon.
Warren’s essay appears in the June 1993 edition of American Literature, which includes several essays about anthologies that might encourage fruitful discussion among students about curation and the literary canon.
Poems for Students to Include in a Commonplace Book
In order to make a poetry anthology, students need access to poems. Here, we share several collections of poetry that JSTOR Daily has published over the years. Start there, or just have students search for poems and poetry or “poetry anthologies” in JSTOR.
12 Poems by Asian American and Pacific Islander Poets
Six Cat Poems That Aren’t That Owl and Pussycat One
14 Poems from Little Magazines
Ten Poems by Audre Lorde
Poems by 10 Contemporary Black Poets
17 Poems by Emily Dickinson
10 Ekphrastic Poems
Ten Poems about Travel
10 Poems by African-American Poets
Ten Breathtaking Nature Poems
Ten Favorite Love Poems
Ten Poems By Sylvia Plath
Seven Favorite Flower Poems
Adventures in Poetry
Poetry from Independent Voices
Writing Poetry in Prison as an Act of Resistance
Poetry from the Trenches of WWI
MacArthur Genius Fellow Maggie Nelson Writes Poetry, Too. Here’s Some Of It.
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