Poetry and the Adult Student

Due to social distancing measures, this session will take place via video conference. The video conference will run from 6 pm – 7:30 pm. Details will be sent on the day to people who have registered via Eventbrite. 

About the November Forum

Presented by Professor Bill Jones

Literature is a highly popular discipline on the adult learning curriculum. This forum will focus on poetry. It could be argued that critical appreciation is achieved in a collaboration of the poet who provides the text and the student who brings their lived experience to create a unique understanding. But it’s not unusual for an adult student to say, ‘Not for me; I had enough poetry at school’, or (as has happened) ‘Wordsworth? Not those daffodils. If you’re doing that next week I’m not coming. I had enough of that at school’. Yet another, often older, student may recall learning quite long poems at school, reciting them with a pleasure which has lasted for decades.

In this forum we will look at approaches to teaching poetry to adult learners. What makes for a fulfilling learning experience? Is poetry ‘wasted on the young’? We will discuss with examples of texts.

About Vaughan Open Research Forum

Vaughan Open Research Forum is series of talks, workshops and interactive sessions which are open to anyone who is curious and wants to find out more.

Themes for sessions relate to our core teaching topics, arts, humanities, social sciences and counselling, and also discuss adult education and co-operative issues. The Vaughan Open Research Forums take place on the second Thursday of the month.

Due to social distancing measures, this session will take place via video conference. The video conference will run from 6 pm – 7:30 pm. Details will be sent on the day to people who have registered via Eventbrite.