Woodsman, Spare Those "Trees"

The wisdom of introducing college freshmen to poetry through destructive literary criticism--a negative assessment of Joyce Kilmer's "Trees" is the example here--is questioned. The underlying assumption that a student's taste may be formed by explaining literary standards to him, illustrated by examples of poor poetry, is subjected to scrutiny. Some reasons, gleaned from direct observation, why students tend to like "bad" poems and dislike poetry in general are examined, and the dangers of belittling their literary taste are pointed out. (RL)