What is "DISRUPTion"?

• NAPALM is an acronym to guide you in interpreting your selected poem from Poetry In Voice. It is how we ignite the interpretive process. To complete it, you must print off a hard copy of your poem from the PIV website and do the following steps directly on the poem itself, using extra paper if necessary, especially for the "Look back" and "Make judgements" steps. Below is what NAPALM stands for:

 How to DISRUPT your poem 

Dwell Investigate Scribble Ruminate Understand Pull together Take a stance

Dwell

Dwell with the language. Take your time. Read for the aesthetic experience of reading. Allow yourself to react emotionally, physically, to the poem. Like listening to a song for the first time, just take it in as an experience. Read it a few times, see if it resonates with you and consider why that might be. What is it about the poem that resonates with you when you indulge in the language? What bothers, annoys, disturbs, amuses, or fascinates you?

Investigate 

The key verbs for investigating your poem are NOTICE and ASK questions. Notice things. Anything. Take note of any imagery, uses of figurative language, and other poetic devices. Notice how it looks on the page. Is there an interesting visual pattern to the layout of the words? Spacing? Indentation? Capitalization (or lack thereof?) 

Ask questions. Investigate parts of the poem that you find troubling or puzzling: questions, confusions, ambiguities, incongruities. Are there words or passages you don’t understand? Circle them. Look them up. It’s important to note the parts of a poem that confuse you, so you can form your confusions into questions for which you can seek answers. What purpose or effect might the poet’s use of figurative language and poetic devices serve to you, the reader?

Scribble

Write down all of the above directly on the poem. Annotate your thoughts, curiosities, questions, or disagreements in the margins of the poem. Write definitions of the words you weren't familiar with. Consider this as a way of talking back to the author (or speaker/narrator), and to the text, in a sort of informal conversation. If you are a visual person, doodle purposefully on the page. Basically, just scribble down whatever helps you capture your initial responses to the text so you can make sense of them later.

Ruminate (to go over in the mind slowly and repeatedly; to think deeply about something. Also, to chew for extended periods of time.)

Just think about what you’ve read and noticed, and the questions you've asked. Read the poem several times, and on your rereadings consider in more depth things like implication, connotation, imagery, figurative language, symbolism, diction, repetitions, any techniques the author uses to enhance meaning in the text. Push back against your initial reactions, address your confusions, try to answer your questions, wrestle with your assumptions and opinions on the text. It is important to acknowledge any ambiguities in the poem: lines, phrases, or words that could be interpreted in more than one way. Be sure to consider all possible interpretations when there is ambiguity in a text. Also, consider TONE in the poem. Consult the TONE LIST and track subtle shifts in tone throughout the poem. This will guide your understanding and recitation.

Understand

To understand is to stand among or within something, deriving from the Latin inter "between, among.," Greek entera "intestines."  Internalize the poem. Read it out loud many times until the words become part of your muscle memory. Consider and clearly mark the tone in the poem. Map the tone shifts throughout, from stanza to stanza, line to line, word to word. See what changes in the meaning when you say it aloud, using different intonations and inflections. 

Pull together

Look for patterns and connections in what you’ve noticed. Are there repeated or similar images, motifs, symbols? Are there specific “aha” moments that illuminate meaning for you? How is your understanding of the poem enhanced by the connections among the things you’ve noticed? This is a good time to start thinking about themes in the work.

Take a stance

Use what you’ve gathered to form a solid, informed thesis paragraph about the text, using evidence you’ve uncovered to support your claims. What does this poem tell us about living in the world?