Do I dare to eat a peach?

April is poetry month as many of you are surely aware. This year I decided to do what I've only considered doing in years gone by. I'll begin each class in April with a poem. There isn't room in my curriculum for all the poetry I'd like to teach, but this should be enough to satisfy my own need and give me a way to keep myself fully engaged. Today was day one--I know I'm a slacker and missed the first real day--and we read "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T. S. Eliot. I chose it because English Journal sent me a poster in the latest edition with the phrase "Do I dare disturb the universe?" This provided a nice beginning to the month--even better is that T.S. Eliot's ruminations on life and impeding death match up with some of the circumstances in our text The Grapes of Wrath. With the challenge of teaching teenagers about the vicissitudes of birth and death, Steinbeck's tendency to allusion is catching. I feel as though I am casting pearls before swine, but maybe a few of them see the value.