Judith J. Katz
The term "authentic voice" is bandied about quite freely in any number of places but is rarely defined in a way that a student can understand. To make matters worse, students are routinely exhorted to write in their authentic voices without any explanation of how such a miracle could be visited upon them. In addition students are rarely given a guided-opportunity to use the well-developed voices of famous writers, speakers, and singers as an actively working model for finding their own authentic voice.
Each of the literary elements described below contribute to the creation of an authentic voice, whether that voice belongs to an established, revered writer or to a student whose voice is just emerging. These are the elements that this unit will be working with as we try to identify what makes a voice authentic.
Personalized Content
As a creative writing teacher I tell my students that something is written in his/her authentic voice when it contains ideas and details that could only be written by him/or her. But young writers tend to write in broad sweeping generalizations and they do so for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is because they think that generalizing makes their writing more meaningful to their readers. It is our job to show them that in fact the exact opposite is true. It is important to let students know that generalized writing is first draft writing--which can be a good thing-- as long as they understand that part of the writer's craft is to replace the generalized with the specific in future drafts. Students need to be able to see and hear the difference between "anyone could have written this" and "only
you
could have written this in this way."
Sound and Voice
The idea of the sound of someone's voice being recognizable and connected specifically to that person is a concept that requires higher-order thinking to parse. It is difficult to write about sound. It is far easier to hear it and try to figure out what makes it specific to a person. In lesson plan one we will listen to some voices and try to discern what elements make them specific, authentic, and recognizable.
Rhythm and Voice
Truth be told, students "borrow" the rhythms, rhyme schemes, and subject matter of their favorite singers, songwriters, rappers, spoken word artists, and comedians all the time. Sometimes they simply memorize the artist's work and repeat it verbatim. But sometimes consciously or unconsciously they use it as an inspiration or jumping off point for something of their own--something that will be in their own voice. In "A Poetry Handbook" Mary Oliver talks about the value of "imitation" as a means of learning how to write well: "You would learn very little in this world if you were not allowed to imitate. And to repeat your imitations until some solid grounding in the skill was achieved and the slight but wonderful difference--that made you
you
and no one else--could assert itself. Every child is encouraged to imitate. But in the world of writing it is originality that is sought out, while imitation is the sin of sins" (13). This unit is about consciously committing the sin of imitation repeatedly until originality begins to emerge. (See the section Master/Apprentice method for more information.)
Speaker and Listener--Writer and Reader
It has been my experience that emerging writers are primarily concerned with getting something down on paper. And because most student writers write in classrooms their initial concerns deal with formulaic academic, rather than creative, questions: "How long does it have to be?" "When do you want it?" "Can I use slang and/or curse words?" "Can it, or does it have to, rhyme?" I have never, ever, had a student ask me who the intended audience for this poem should be. A student rarely writes to a specific audience unless the student is: in love with, in crush with, heartbroken by, or angry at someone.
The idea that a writer writes to a specific person or group of people is very empowering to a student writer once they know it and once they decide to whom they are writing. "Voice is always created in a relationship between a speaker and an audience. How a word sounds in someone's mouth depends on whose mouth and whose ears. Voice doesn't exist in a void. Voice in a classroom doesn't exist in a void. If our voices are perspectival then they are always changing-- [In the same way that] teaching is not a single thing to think--it is a way of thinking, or several ways of thinking" (Hammer 6/19/07). A solid example of speaker and listener is readily available in the classroom. The conversation that teachers and students engage in while trying to figure out how the idea of voice works is an active example of how people use the elements of voice to communicate.
Syntax and Voice
To understand the idea of syntax requires a person to understand and acknowledge that there is a standard, accepted way in which sentences and lines work. This is, perhaps, the single most difficult concept for my students to understand. That the way a person has grown up speaking is not standard, proper, accepted, or acceptable can be considered a threat to the very identity of that person. The majority of my students are urban African Americans and Hispanics. Most of my students do not speak standard English as a first language and are enormously protective of the syntax they grew up using. June Jordan, in her essay "Nobody Mean More To Me Than You and the Future Life of Willie Jordan" is helpful in getting inside the student's resistance to changing his/her syntax. "[. . .syntax, the structure of an idea, leads you to the world view of the speaker and reveals her values. The syntax of a sentence equals the structure of your consciousness. If we [insist] that the language of Black English adheres to a distinctive Black syntax, then we [are] postulating a profound difference between white and Black people,
per se.
[Is] it a difference to prize or obliterate? (63)" If you are the repository of your culture (Black, White, Hispanic, Middle Eastern, etc.) and your syntax is a manifestation of your culture, is it surprising that you would be very protective of it?
As a teacher I try to balance my awareness and respect for language of origin and its authentic syntax against my perceived academic duty to language education that produces young American citizens prepared for success. One cannot teach authentic voice without having given this topic some thought, and it is naïve to think that your students won't challenge you on it. There are many articles and books that discuss this issue in depth both objectively and subjectively. I have included a few that have been illuminating to me in the bibliography.