My favorite poetry discussion so far this year involved combining Marcus Luther’s introduction to poetry analysis for Louise Glück’s perfect poem, The School Children with watching the "Rip it out" scene in Dead Poets Society. The essential question: Does analyzing poetry add or detract from one's enjoyment of the poem?

Students read The School Children and rated their initial enjoyment of the poem. We discussed the fictitious Dr. J. Evan Pritchard’s scale for understanding poetry and listened to Robin Williams as John Keating rhapsodize on the purpose of poetry. I walked students through a quick analysis of The School Children using Luther’s 8 Steps for analyzing poetry. Finally, students re-evaluated their enjoyment of the poem.

Do you think analyzing the poem changed students’ initial enjoyment of the poem? If so, for better or worse?