SCHOOLS OF VERSE

An Anthology of Poems about School

by Seton Hill College Students

Fall 1999

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About this work:

This anthology was produced by the many talented student poets enrolled in "Schools of Verse: The Writing of Poetry," an English class offered by Dr. Michael Arnzen at Seton Hill College in the Fall of 1999.

As students learned to master different poetic techniques, they were routinely asked to practice their craft by writing about a specific topic: "school." Each poet could define "school" in any way he or she chose -- from the common usage (grammar school) to the non-traditional definition ("schools" of fish). As a loose model for this project, however, students studied, emulated, and critiqued the poems in the wonderful poetry anthology, Learning by Heart: Contemporary American Poetry About School, edited by Maggie Anderson and David Hassler. Our class talked deeply about these poems in class discussions and in journal writing: in their verse, some students emulated the structure of the poems in that collection; others simply responded to the themes and styles. And, as chance would have it, the editors of Learning By Heart delivered a live poetry reading from their book in early November at the nearby University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg -- several students in the class attended the reading and were deeply moved.

However, this on-line collection does not imitate Learning by Heart, but instead reflects the diverse learning experiences of college-aged students currently enrolled in classes -- particularly in an environment like Seton Hill College, a women's-focused, Catholic institute of learning.

Little selectivity or editing was performed on this anthology by Dr. Arnzen: instead, students were asked to contribute what they felt was the best poem about school written during the course. These poems were workshopped heavily by students in class and in most cases went through numerous readings and revisions. Like all works of art, they speak for themselves. And in the process, they have much to teach us.