Should teenagers be taught how to write poetry?

[Ashley Malia]

I was taught different styles of poetry and was forced to write poetry in high school. I was not a fan of being required to write a specific kind of poetry. I prefer rhyming poetry rather than haiku and sonnets.

[Peculiar Stranger]

Poetry is such an important part especially in our teenage years when we are trying to figure who we are and where we are going. Poetry has helped me to vent about my feeling and open up about my feelings as I'm a person who is an introvert and doesn't like speaking much. It has helped me to let my guard down on pieces of papers when I'm sad and it felt like I'm being listened to and never judged at all. It has helped me pour my heart out in both happy and sad moments. When I feel down and worthless I look back at my previous poems, jog down memory lane and get the motivation, courage and confidence to know that I can do all things especially if I've conquered certain things in life that I've written down in a poem form. Poetry doesn't only steady my feelings but it teaches you spellings of words and it triggers you to go look into the dictionary to learn new words that will make your poems much more better and intriguing. It should be taught so that teenagers may be able to vent, learn while venting and for then to be able to differentiate the difference between a short story and a poem through the learning of stanza, rhymes and many other great things to learn about poetry.

[Robert Obikanyi]

Yes, they should if that's what they're into. They have a lot of new emotions that could do with a little artistic touch

[Meenahhhh]

Yes. I feel poetry is a healthy way of self expression and teaching teens this would really aid them in finding non harmful ways of expressing themselves.