What we have loved
Others will love, and we will teach them how.
(The Prelude, 1850, Book XIV, 1.446-447; AKA “to Coleridge”)
One of my favorite English professors once told me that Wordsworth wrote this line in his epic Prelude in response to Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s query, “Why do we write?”
How did you learn how to write?
Me, I learned by imitation. I read voraciously: stories, novels, poems, even song lyrics. Then I tried to copy them, writing about my own topics in the styles of the writers I had just read. Eventually, their styles were assimilated into my own, and I internalized whatever grammatical rules I learned in the process.
Having “switched” from the field of English literature to education, and now to research in education, I still learn by imitation. Only rather than imitating storytellers, novelists, poets, and lyricists as I did when I was learning to write creatively, my current models are research writers. The challenge in scholarly writing is in many ways as great – instead of trying to create word-pictures to take someone to another place while communicating a theme or message, I now try to meet readers right where they are – and keep them there – and then to communicate specific ideas as efficiently as possible.
I suspect that writing, and its prerequisite, communication, are the most important skills to have in any educational context. I’ve never been expected to write as well as I’ve been expected to write at Vanderbilt, but I’ve never been expected to communicate as well as I have as a teacher of children.
How did you learn how to write?
- Peter Beddow
I think that most of us who love to write aren’t quite sure where we learned. Like you, hundreds of authors and poets have played a role in our education, but so has the hard work of experimentation: trying things out, seeing what works, scrapping what doesn’t.
As I continue to grow in my writing ability and look for ways to improve, I think experimentation and revision are the two most powerful teachers. As a prospective English teacher, I hope I can equip my students with basic writing skills, but even more, with the spirit of adventure and persistence required to play with words and move them around until they capture the truth, idea or image at hand.
Rachel, I would highly recommend taking a look at Sam Intrator’s books. He was a tremendous inspiration for me when he was my high school English teacher, and he went on to be a teacher-of-the-year at Smith College. He captures the essence of that teacher who lights fires within his students. His books all speak of the spirit you speak of, and it’s that same spirit that led me to become a teacher of children. That’s what led me from Vermont, to California, and now to Nashville. I’m glad you have it too!