On Monday 27 March, Geoff Goodfellow, poet, visited the College to speak about his life, his inspiration and his poetry. Year 10 English students and Senior College English and Drama students were able to listen to him sharing the various voices within his poems as well as learning about how he was inspired to write from points of view that aren’t always openly shared. He showed how it is important to give people a voice and that poetry can be an excellent way to express some of the hard-hitting issues facing our society.
For our English students, it is important to know that poetry is not just for a certain highly regarded group – anyone can write poetry and anyone can have a voice in poetry. For our Drama students, it is important to learn how an effective voice or character can be captured and presented.
Here is some feedback from students:
I learnt that even if you have no thought about being a poet you could become one later in life if it interests you. I also learnt about the serious topics that happen in the world that are not spoken about often.
That you can always become a poet writer with or without experience and it was very inspiring to hear his work and learn about his life with cancer and meeting these people he writes about.
Geoff Goodfellow is a successful poet who is passionate about his work. He uses different tones and language to engage his audience and emphasise the people he was talking about. The poems he writes are not about typical rhymes, flowers or love – they are about things that happen in real life that are often overlooked or forgotten about.
His poems consisted of some serious topics such as addiction and abuse and they gave voices to people that wouldn’t normally have a voice…it broke the normal ideas of what is poetry. Geoff didn’t hold back! It allowed us to understand that we can all write about anything no matter what it is.
Ms Jen Mertes
Learning Area Leader English
