Poetry’s Important Place in Academics

Writing is a form of communication that is important to develop in the classroom, the workplace, and in the real world. Good writing skills help you become more credible and capable of success — and it starts in school from day one. Poetry — an often-overlooked form of writing — can help you accomplish all these skills and boost your academic performance. Even college prep boarding schools would argue the importance of implementing poetry teachings and practices into curricula to help students in their academics in a way that goes beyond just writing.

First, practicing poetry requires you to be more mindful. You must be mindful about language, word choice, vocabulary and imagery — all of which are key elements to good writing and are important skills to master.

Most, if not all, forms of writing aim to explain something. Whether it’s a scene, a situation, instructions, a story or other, the words are communicating something to the reader. Poetry is a more artistic way of doing this, making it a much more difficult task, but the more poetry you write, the easier and more natural writing in general will become.

From the practice of poetry you will find that these skills will eventually transfer over into all forms of writing — whether it’s an essay for applications to college prep boarding schools, an email to a teacher, a story or something on your resume.

A poet also has to select words carefully in order to generate an emotional response from the reader. This requires appealing to their senses through words and images to make the reader feel something. Again, this can be a challenging.

For students at college prep boarding schools for example, poetry can help them tap into their emotions and apply them to their academics. This is a unique way to teach and can help students develop skills beyond those of standard education. It also lets students express themselves and discover inner talents and passions.

Another aspect of poetry that can help students in academics is through learning musicality. Poetry has meter and rhythm, something that the writer must be aware of and strategically manipulate throughout their pieces.

All college prep boarding schools and high schools should not only teach poetry, but challenge students to practice it because it will help them in all aspects of their academic success. More importantly, poetry helps develop writing skills that are necessary in school, work and the real world.

Alyssa Koenig is an academic writer for Fusion 360, an SEO and content marketing agency. Information provided by Wasatch Academy. Follow on Twitter.