Sandra K. Friday
Objective: By listening to the sound of the protagonist's voice and the choices of words he uses, students will track the progression of his feelings and attitudes, through the stanzas of the poem, "Dating Myself" by Poetri, and then find evidence for their observations of these feelings and attitudes. The
skill
being practiced is making observations and backing them up with evidence; the
content
for this skill is to discover how the sound of a voice and the choice of words convey the changing feelings and attitudes of a character in a piece of literature.
This activity works well in a landscape graphic organizer format that separates the paper into two columns; in the column on the left, students can make observations in their own words as to the feelings and attitudes expressed by the protagonist from the opening to the last stanza. On the right side of the paper, in the second column, they will record evidence from the poem to support observations they have made in the left column.
For example, in the first stanza one might observe that the protagonist is setting the stage for his dilemma, and he isn't feeling very good about it because he progresses from wondering what he has to do to get a
cute
girl, to what he has to do to get any girl. In the column on the right, students will copy lines or phrases from the first stanza to support this observation. Already, in the first stanza, he lets the reader know that he has had to alter his hopes for a cute girl to hope for just any girl.
In the second stanza, he admits that now he is totally discouraged and worn out from trying to get a girl; he is so debilitated from trying to prove his worth to another person that he declares he will no longer even try. Evidence for these feelings shows up in phrases such as, "I'm exhausted from thinking, fatigued from trying," . . . tired of looking." " . . .I'm desperate, weary. . .consumed . . ." "no longer will I be at the mercy of ladies to like me, no longer will I be trying to look my best for women . . ." (Simmons, 65)
And in the third stanza, he declares that his solution is simply to date himself. Students might wonder here how he might really be feeling if his only solution to finding someone who wants to date him is to date himself, even though he sounds as if this actually is a good solution. The evidence is clear in this one line of the stanza, "Yes from now on I am dating myself!" (Simmons, 65) But the jury may be out on whether he really is happy with this solution.
In the fourth stanza, the longest in the poem, he makes a case for all of reasons why dating himself is such a brilliant idea, and he actually seems very excited, satisfied, and happy about his decision. Evidence is easy to find for his positive feelings about his decision. For example, he says, "I already talk to myself / so I know my conversations will by good / I've always said that I wanted to be with / someone that's just like me. / Well there's no one more like me than me." He wraps it up by saying, "now we can get through the rough / times together. / no one to impress but myself" (Simmons, 65).
The seventh stanza begins to reveal how he really feels about dating himself when he admits that one of the best ways to attract women is by dating someone. Tongue-in-cheek he admits that he will be more appealing to women if he is with someone; he loves the idea of being a cute guy dating someone; of course all the while, the someone is only himself. So in reality, under the surface of this very up-beat little scenario, students might consider whether he really buys this innovative idea of his, or whether he is trying to make the most of it to make himself feel better. This gets tricky because, he either is really sincere, or he is lying about how he really feels.
At the end, in stanza eight, he seems totally happy about the idea of dating himself and he says that he really likes himself and finds himself appealing and will stay with himself forever, (as if he had a choice!). There is plenty of evidence for this very up-beat attitude. But then in the last two lines he reveals that if
someone better
comes along, he will abandon himself, which uncovers his real feelings about this innovative idea which is in the end, perhaps, just a desperate measure. It also suggests that this poem may be about self-image, implying that you're not worth much if you can't get a date.
Students might consider, once they have tracked his feelings and attitudes and found evidence for their observations, how his emotions change in the course of this rather short poem, and how the sound of his voice and his choice of words and phrases convey these changes in feelings and attitudes. In the first stanza he asks point blank, "What do I have to do to get a girl?" And in the second, he seems to hit emotional rock-bottom admitting to his audience, "I'm fatigued from trying to convince myself that I'm worthy of another being." By using the words
convince
and
worthy
, he is trying to convince himself, not someone else, that he is worthy. Yet, in stanza eight, he has done a 180, crowing, "I am completely happy with myself / I like myself / I mean I think I'm attractive." But in the final lines, he gives it up, "I plan to be with myself . . . until someone better comes along" (Simmons, 65).
Ideally, this activity will lead to students writing a piece in which their voices convey a change in their own feelings or attitude. This will be a challenging assignment.