Plan B Forum

[quote]A Cornish secondary school has been left red-faced after an English anthology of poetry sent home for students included an explicit poem with nine offensive words.

The poem, titled American Football (A reflection on the Gulf War) by Harold Pinter, was included in a resource booklet of World War 1 and 2 poetry sent to Year 8 students at Penrice Academy, in St Austell.

It includes lines such as “We blew the s*** out of them, We blew the s*** right back up their own a**”, “they suffocated in their own s***”, and “praise the Lord for all good things, we blew them into f*****g s*** as well as “We blew their b*lls into shards of dust.”



It led to a hurried retraction from the school, with Mrs Pitt, the school’s head of English emailing parents saying: “I am writing regarding the Year 8 English resource booklet that was sent out last week.

"Can I sincerely apologise for one of the poems contained in the anthology that may have caused offence. Unfortunately, due to the short notice of the school closures, in preparing the resources this inappropriate poem was missed, this is no excuse and again, I can only apologise.

“To avoid any further issues please can you discard the booklet. Appropriate resources will be set for each lesson via show my homework.”

One parent, who contacted Cornwall Live said: “I found it hilarious but I obviously know it will offend other parents.

"I found it funny considering the current circumstances we all need a laugh from time to time. My son thought it was great, he even asked if he could memorise it and video record it for his teacher. I had to decline his request.”

In a statement, Richard Baker, Executive Principal of Penrice Academy said: “Following the move to online learning, members of staff were busy creating learning material for all year groups.

"A member of staff downloaded a pre-prepared document and without following the correct processes in place at the school, the member of staff organised for this to be sent to most of the year group.

"On realising the content of one of the poems, all parents and carers were contacted and asked to discard the inappropriate material that had been sent.

"A communication was also sent to apologise for the mistake and that it was totally inappropriate for that material to be sent out from the school.

"The matter will now be dealt with internally.”



https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornw ... RQXSueZGus[/quote]

Is year 8 the equivalent of 8th grade in America? Students in 8th grade here are typically ~13/14 years old.


If that’s the age group, then spectacular fail re: the whole freak out over a little scatalogical language. And way to entirely miss the point of the poem, too.

Such a good thing that we keep our mouths clean of potty words while we rape and pillage the environment and people living in it in countless despicable ways.

Full identity please of the Anthology sent home with these students, so I can purchase a copy.

Interesting metaphor for American football, considering all the hullabaloo about kneeling and flags on the field.

By the way, the way the flag is usually displayed at those NFL games is in violation of the US code for displaying the flag--it is not to be displayed flat.

snailgate

The poetry of [the desert is] all in the anticipation -- there is none in the reality.

from Roughing It.

I'd forgotten all about this poem but it jogged my memory re the fuss about it at the time. Pinter was never one to hide his views and the language is not different to anything a 14 year old (especially these days of social media) is exposed to almost every waking minute.

There's more here.

I assume they'll be replacing American Football with Howl.

It's not the words I object to, it's the shite attempt at poetry.

De gustibus and all that, but dear god, there must be better than this out there to use...

Gob wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 13, 2021 10:04 am

It's not the words I object to, it's the shite attempt at poetry.

De gustibus and all that, but dear god, there must be better than this out there to use...

Agreed, Gob.  Call me old-fashioned, but I always thought poetry was supposed to have a meter ... and the lines were supposed to rhyme.

If they had distribution mains running from it Westminster Abbey would be the largest power station in the UK right about now, because all those interred in Poet's Corner must be spinning like turbines.

-"BB"-

North Berwick is a watering-place with golfing links green,
With a fine bathing beach most lovely to be seen;
And there's a large number of handsome villas also,
And often it's called the Scarborough of Scotland, as Portobello.

The greatest attraction is Tantallon Castle, worthy of regard,
About three miles distant to the eastward;
Which in time of war reoeived many a shock,
And it's deemed impregnable and built on a perpendicular rock

Instantly recognizable as Willie McGonagall - whose doggerel was so bad that it was almost good.

ex-khobar Andy wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 13, 2021 9:54 pm

Instantly recognizable as Willie McGonagall - whose doggerel was so bad that it was almost good.

Never heard of him but wow that one stinks to the ear AND eye!

This Is Just to Say ~ William Carlos Williams

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox
and which
you were probably
saving

for breakfast
Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold


Poetry must rhyme? Puhleeze.

Don't get me started on that Fossil Seafarer. Barely a limerick to be found.

ex-khobar Andy wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 13, 2021 9:54 pm

Instantly recognizable as Willie McGonagall - whose doggerel was so bad that it was almost good.

Those Scots - gotta admire them. Who's this then?

Can I have 50 pounds
to mend the shed?
I'm right on my uppers.
I can pay you back when this
postal order comes From Australia.
Honestly.
Hope the bladder trouble's getting
better. Love, Ewan

Poetry is merely prose
broken into
random sections by the use
of carriage returns or
Enter
if you are using a
computer
key
board

Count the syllables
and if you have seventeen
you wrote a haiku.

William Carlos Williams
was a far
better doctor than
he was
a poet.
Or at least we
hope so.

It's sort of like
that massive construction
project on the
Colorado River where the
ex-President was
dammed with faint praise.

This poem has a
abcdefghijkddlmo rhyming
scheme.

Thank you Andy, for the additional information about this poem. I always liked Kraps Last Tape, even though I only know it from reading, never have I seen a performance.

Poetry is about compression of meaning, and feelings and non-linear verbal expression.

This one is very much a proper war poem for me. If it rhymed, had meter, seemed to sing, was suitable for children, then it is war fiction.

snailgate