Organization of poetry

In class we started an interesting discussion pertaining to how the author of Bronx Masquerade organized her book in reference to the order of poems and chapters. Before class I hadn't really spent much time thinking about it but now it has raised some questions in my mind. I really enjoyed the book, especially the poetry, but I do often enjoy reading poetry. When I was reading this book I would read the chapters silently to myself but whenever I got to a poem I would have to read it aloud, I feel I can't appreciate poems as well unless I can really hear how they sound when they are being read. With that said, does it make a difference whether the poems come first or the chapter comes first? The way it was set up the reader read about the particular characters issues, then read the poem they had written. Someone raised the point that this really was opposite of how the characters in the book would have experienced it. When someone read their poem this would have been their first time looking deeper into their classmates feelings and experiences. Why then, would the author want the reader to have the background knowledge first?

What I really enjoy about poetry is the struggle combined with the mystery. Since poetry often is so brief it is difficult to understand the message the author might be trying to convey at first. It takes a lot of work to really get at the meaning behind a poem. Ultimately, you never really know if you're right or wrong, which is where the mystery comes in. When you know the author's background and reasons for writing the poem first, a lot of this is taken away. Yet I recognize that I am speaking from the perspective of someone that enjoys this about poetry. Evident even in our class, many students do not enjoy poetry and it is difficult to get them to read it. If the author was marketing this book at a junior high/high school age group she surely must have been aware of this. If her primary intention was to tell a story and have students enjoy the poetry she was writing, it may have been necessary to give background information first. This makes the poetry more understandable right away and perhaps allows the reader to track how some of the characters thoughts are expressed in his poetry.

It really is fascinating to think about all the choices that authors must make when writing a novel. So many things can impact the readers experience.