By Julianne Fullerton | Reporter
Poetry, an art form that tugs at people’s heartstrings and pulls them into another world, takes center stage in a one-of-a-kind class: How Poetry Changes the World.
Dr. Ginger Hanchey, senior lecturer in the English department, earned her Ph.D. in old English poetry at Baylor, but she said she discovered her true love for poetry when she began writing it herself.
Hanchey said she loves sharing her passion for poetry with others and designed the class with the goal of journeying through powerful poems of all kinds: looking not only at their forms but also at the way the experiences of others shine through them.
“We learn and talk about how poetry works, and we read all kinds of amazing poems from all kinds of poets,” Hanchey said. “We also show engagement with art in nontraditional ways, like making projects or having discussions.”
Hanchey said the class is transformational for students, allowing them to be creative and deepen their appreciation for poetry.
“They’re able to use their minds in a way they’re not always able to use their minds,” Hanchey said. “To make art like poetry, you have to be able to get comfortable being creative and doing things differently.”
Fort Worth senior David Jacks, who took the class last year, said Hanchey is one of the best professors he’s had because her passion for poetry was evident in the way she taught.
“I think it was one of the most enjoyable classes I’ve ever had,” Jacks said. “Her passion and her humility and also just the care she would show her students in the classroom and outside of the classroom made her one of the best professors I’ve ever had at Baylor.”
Jacks said he came into the class viewing poetry from a more technical standpoint — such as paying attention to the meter and the number of words in each line — but left it appreciating how poetry works in his mind.
“Dr. Hanchey taught us how to step in someone else’s shoes when you’re reading,” Jacks said. “I feel like that made it so much more rewarding. Every single time we read, we always got something from it.”
Interactive group projects and art installations for the Beall Poetry Festival are some of the key components of the class, Hanchey said. Last year, the goal of the projects was to place poetry around campus for others to see.
From the fountain by Carroll Science to the courtyard by Brooks Chapel, Jacks said his group chalked poetry around campus. Each poem and its placement was intentional.
“We really spent a lot of time thinking about what poem would reflect the spot on campus,” Jacks said. “We tried to think about, for this spot, what poem have we read or do we know of that fits this spot well?”
With the Beall Poetry Festival coming up again this spring, Hanchey said the project options are more flexible and she is excited to see what her students create by loosening the reins.
“The goal is to be celebrating poetry and also invite people on campus to celebrate poetry and be exposed to poetry,” Hanchey said. “There’s going to be surprises all over campus that are magnificent.”
Waco junior Mackie Ferretter, who is currently taking the class, said he is excited about the project and the opportunities it presents.
“We have to come up with some kind of way to share these poems in a creative way,” Ferretter said. “So we’ve come up with the idea of maybe making some kind of poetry world in Minecraft. If that’s the case, I’m very excited to do that.”
Ferretter said he appreciates how Hanchey cultivates an open classroom dynamic because it makes discussions flow naturally and easily.
“It’s a very open floor,” Ferretter said. “You can say whatever you want, and it’s almost always met with positivity. No matter what you say, it will somehow matter to the discussion and can move it forward.”
Above all else, Hanchey said she hopes her students’ experiences with poetry in the classroom transform the rest of their lives.
“I hope that they all keep reading poems,” Hanchey said. “It’s such a gift to get inside another person’s experience and get to hear so many different ways of being in the world. I think it makes you a compassionate person, and it also reminds you that you’re a part of a community. There are universal experiences to us.”
