Black Poetry and Genius

Main page for the Genius site

In our most recent African American Literature class session, we talked Black poetry.  Well, we talked music and then Black poetry.  In the past, I have noticed that often students will more readily approach a larger discussion of poetry if we first start with music and lyrics.  This is not always a perfect approach, as poets and artists definitely take on different topics and from varying perspectives.  Nonetheless, music can be a gateway to help students overcome that general anxiety related to "reading poetry."

I was definitely one of those undergraduates who felt nervous about reading this genre, and that there was a definite "right" and "wrong" way to approach and analyze the different pieces.  Music feels low stakes to students, and part of our everyday lives, while poetry has been presented as work in a school setting. Listening to and analyzing lyrics is fun in a classroom environment, so we started with Jay Z's "Oceans" and then Erykah Badu's "Window Seat." A critical step, though, was pulling up the Genius website so that students could read along with the lyrics and see annotations, images, and explanations by contributors.

Professor Howard Rambsy at Southern Illinois University - Edwardsville (and an editor at Genius) first introduced me to the Genius site and it is a resource that has certainly helped students with projects, poetry and literature analysis, and different assignments.  Visitors to the site can easily seek out lyrics, poems, and different literary pieces and see those annotations, providing a kind of foundation for the students' understanding.

After listening to and analyzing lyrics, our class then delved into some poetry by Gwendolyn Brooks. Her poetry looked and felt more interactive, rather than stagnant (and intimidating).  Of course, there are benefits to seeing that poetry printed in our course text, but we were able to approach her poems ("kitchenette building," "a song in the front yard," "We Real Cool," and "the mother") with excitement and a level of comfort with Genius.  With embedded images, videos, and extensive annotations, we were able to see Brooks and her work in an approachable manner that took us away from the pages of a book, and talking excitedly through her words and ideas.

As a professor and recovering poetry scaredy cat, I was and am thankful that Genius collects this information and makes it available.

The Genius page on "the mother" by Gwendolyn Brooks