Art and Academia

The Star of the Poor

Poetry and scholarly articles are often perceived as vastly different genres that exist at opposite

sides of literary and academic worlds. However, upon closer investigation, the two genres have a

multitude of intersecting qualities. This essay compares and contrasts Pablo Nerudas poem Ode to the

Onion with scholarly article Urban School Farming to Improve School Feeding written by three

Kenyan scholars published in the Children, Youth, and Environments journal. Through this analysis, I

will explore how the two opposing genres work in different ways to discuss the importance, necessity,

and beauty of food and the human experience. In doing so, I will identify the strengths and weaknesses of

each genre and explore the variety of ways such themes are effectively communicated. I hope to highlight

the varying affordances and constraints that the contrasting mediums hold. I plan to explore how one field

of study can be communicated through different mediums to express the same core values and ideas. This

exploration of the power of genre will shine a light on the value that the medium brings to the message.

Both the poem and the article begin with an introduction. The article follows the standard

introductory format of scholarly articles by beginning with an abstract that summarizes article and its

main points. The abstract is followed by an introduction that provides background information and

explanations about urban agriculture and school farming in Sub-Saharan Africa. The authors proceed by

beginning their argument by introducing the factors that motivate the need for urban agriculture and

school farming. Neruda also begins with an abstract and an introduction, although it is only one word:

Onion. In dedicating a whole line to the word Onion, Neruda introduces his subject to the reader.

This bold, frank, and powerful choice of line break is followed by an illustration of the onions origins

and how its beauty formedUnder the earth. This depiction of the growth of an onion serves the same

function as the articles inclusion of background information and social climate in terms of agriculture in

urban and school settings.

 The introductions as well as the main content of each piece both reference other works. The

articles introduction references several other examples and studies of urban and school farming programs

in other countries including Cuba and the Philippines. The article continues to cite sources and references

to other studies throughout the text in the form of paraphrase, in text citations, and footnotes. In addition

to these citations and references, the authors elaborate and expand upon the information. Similarly,

Neruda includes many references to natural and cosmic imagery throughout the ode in the form of

metaphor and simile. He also references Aphrodite by drawing a comparison between the onion and the

mythical figure. While the subject and mode of reference are different, references serve the same purpose

in both texts: adding legitimacy to claims and creating connections to larger conversations, ideas, and

themes. In the article, for example, the authors argue that urban school farming programs can contribute

to achieving three of the Millennium Development Goals. In creating a connection to larger concepts, the

message and argument becomes more valuable. In both pieces, this information is divided into organized

sections of thought. The article does so through paragraphs, while the poem does so through stanzas.

Despite the similarities discussed above as well as similarities in content and theme, the authors

engage in similar discussions in very different ways. Being of two opposing genres, the differences of

basic format and composition are obvious at first glance. The article is 24 pages long while the poem has

a length of just two and a half pages. While both follow standard rules of punctuation and capitalization,

the article is written in standard paragraphs while the poem is written in short, choppy, continuous lines

with sentences that continue through line breaks. The article follows a standard scholarly format of

introduction, body paragraphs divided into sections by content, ideas, and subject matter, and conclusion.

While Neruda does have introductory and concluding thoughts, the majority of the content, subject

matter, and ideas are presented in a more flowing, intertwining, nebulous format as opposed to thoughts

and ideas categorized by paragraphs.

Another pronounced difference is the inclusion of data in the article. The poem utilizes emotion

and imagery to connect with and engage the reader while the article utilizes data. This data is presented in
the form of graphs, tables, charts, and statistics as a way to support the argument and provide more

understanding to the reader, while the poem employs imagery, simile, and metaphor to serve this purpose.

Because the article does not use imagery, it includes pictures of the farms and students in order to

contextualize and humanize the subjects and engage readers, while Neruda does so by describing and

creating pictures and images.

On a more minute level, but in no way less significant are the word choice and tone of the pieces.

The article, while not as complex as other peer reviewed journal articles, employs a scholarly lexicon that

commands authority. Nerudas word choice is also authoritative, but in a way that earns respect and

encourages thought as opposed to understanding of facts and agreement with an argument. The words that

the authors use create the tone and mood of the pieces. Neruda focuses on powerful and descriptive

adjectives and verbs in conjunction with natural images to create a dreamy, surreal, calm, and reverent

tone. The articles word choice, while just as intentional and powerful, creates a much different tone that is

intellectual, academic, factual, and persuasive.

It is valuable and constructive to observe the similarities and differences between the two pieces

because it allows for us to understand the affordances and constraints of the two distinct genres. While the

article and the poem are thematically the same, because the theme is explored and expressed in such

varying ways, the message of each piece differs and is effective and ineffective in different ways. For

example, the articles inclusion of data and concrete evidence legitimizes the argument for scholarly

audiences as well as for the general public. It is also accessible and digestible because the authors follow

the standard format of scholarly articles and the argument is straight forward and is not open ended.

However, on the contrary, these same positive attributes also have disadvantages. Because the article is so

factual and has no ambiguities, there is little to no opportunity for the reader to engage creatively and

thoughtfully with the text. This fact-based article lacks a connection with the reader and with human

emotion as a larger theme. The academic and factual nature of the piece makes the message clear and

persuasive, but does not make it enjoyable or easy to read.

 In the areas that the article falls short, the poem accomplishes, and vice versa. Contrary to

the article, for instance, the poem includes no factual evidence. Because of this, it is ambiguous and open

ended making it less accessible to academia and the general public and is not a persuasive piece.

Contrarily, however, it is accessible and persuasive emotively as audiences are able to form connections

and resonations with the poem in ways that they cannot with the article. However, due to the ambiguity

and open-ended nature of the poem, readers might find themselves confused and lacking a sense of clarity

and one straight forward message that the article possesses. Neruda creates large sweeping metaphors and

connections that transform a simple ode into a more complex piece that explores universal themes.

Because of this universality the piece is timeless, whereas the article is focused on a specific time and

place. While the nature of the poem may be accessible to the individual, it is not accessible to academia.

A scientist or mathematician might personally connect to the poem, but the poem does not necessarily

connect to their field of study. Nerudas simple and grounded yet dreamy and reverent poem brings a key

emotional element to the articles formal and factual discussion.

Through a close analysis of similarities, differences, pros, and cons, and an open interpretation, I

argue that the two pieces are quite similar in both content and in composition and that both pieces offer

valuable contributions to conversations about sustainability, agriculture, child development, and the

Millennium Development Goals. Each genre, despite focusing on the same themes, offers different

affordances and constraints, reaches different audiences, and serves different purposes. Together, the

article and poem create a clearer more extensive understanding of the value and wealth that farming has

the potential to bring within reach of the hands of the common people.

This comparing and contrasting of an article and a poem that contemplate the same themes,

questions the difference between art and academia. In what ways do art and academia intertwine? In what

ways are they separate? How is art academic? How is academia artistic? Most importantly to consider,

however, is how art and academia connect to and express universal human themes and how can barriers

be broken down between and by the two areas of study.

 Works Cited

Dick Foeken, et al. Urban School Farming to Improve School Feeding: The Case of Nakuru

Town, Kenya. Children, Youth and Environments, vol. 20, no. 1, 2010, pp. 276300. JSTOR, JSTOR,

www.jstor.org/stable/10.7721/chilyoutenvi.20.1.0276.

Urban School Farming to Improve School Feeding was published in 2010 in Children, Youth,

and Environments an online journal including peer reviewed research papers and reports that focus on

creating inclusive, sustainable, and healthy environments for children around the world. This article was

written by three different authors: Dick Foeken, a senior researcher at the African Studies Center in

Leiden, Netherlands, Samuel O. Owuor, a senior lecturer in the Department of Geography and

Environmental Studies at the University of Nairobi, Kenya, and Alice M. Mwangi, a lecturer at the

Department of Food Science, Nutrition, and Technology at the University of Nairobi, Kenya. This article

draws evidence from a survey conducted by the authors in the majority of the primary and secondary

schools in Nakuru, Kenya. This survey and article examines the extent of the benefits that school farming

in urban settings has on school feeding programs. The article argues the potential ways that school

farming programs can be improved within the constraints of land, water, support, and leadership in order

to provide sustainable and nutritional food for pupils at a low cost. This article is central to my analysis

and argument because it discusses the importance of sustainable farming and quality food especially for

children and education in an academic, scholarly, and scientific medium, from an international

perspective.

Mettee, Holt M, and Mildred Barya. Interview with Dr. Barya. 28 Sept. 2017.

I interviewed Dr. Barya about her experience with writing in the creative writing and English

field of study. In this interview, Dr. Barya shared her experiences with writing including how she became

a writer, the importance of writing habitually, and her advice on and relationship with revision. She also

spoke about her identity as female writer from Africa. Most importantly to this project, she spoke about
the power that each genre holds. In this essay, I plan to focus on Baryas perspective on genre and the

power of writing to connect and communicate.

Neruda, Pablo. Ode to the Onion. Full Woman, Fleshly Apple, Hot Moon: Selected Poems of

Pablo Neruda, translated by Stephen Mitchell, Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2009, pp. 5155.

Ode to the Onion first appeared in Pablo Nerudas tenth book of poems: Canto General which

was published in Mexico in 1950. Neruda, a Chilean poet and diplomat wrote in a multitude of genres and

styles, most notably odes and sonnets. In Ode to the Onion, like the majority of his works, focuses on a

mundane object which Neruda brings to life through surreal metaphor and simile, narrative story telling in

the form of short lines, purposeful line breaks, and long flowing stanzas. He takes an ordinary object and

meditates on its significance and beauty. This poem, much like Foeken, Owuor, and Mwangis article,

Urban School Farming to Improve School Feeding, discusses the same necessity, value, and beauty of

food in a very different medium, and will be interesting to compare.

Thonney, Teresa. "Teaching the Conventions of Academic Discourse." Teaching English in the

Two Year College, vol. 38, no. 4, 2011, pp. 347-362

In her essay, Teaching the Conventions of Academic Discourse, Teresa Thonney, writes about

teaching writing specifically at introductory levels at two year institutions. The English professor at

Columbia Basin College addresses other English teachers and two opposing sides of a debate. By

referencing other professors, scholars, writers, and twenty-four research articles from six different

disciplines, Thonney argues that although the field of academic writing is vast and is difficult to teach

through generalizations, there are six rhetorical features that can be taught to first year student writers to

provide useful general knowledge about academic writing in order to make them more successful

scholars. This article will be useful to my project because of its focus on rhetorical features that are

prominent in the majority of academic writing across disciplines.