In Robert Plath’s classrooms, students do not write with a pen, pencil or keyboard; they write with an ice pick. It is a riff off novelist Franz Kafka’s famous quote, arguing that a good book must be “the axe for the frozen sea within us.” In the classroom, Kafka’s axe is scaled down to a mere ice pick that students wield to chip away at that which is buried deep down inside them. If this seems shockingly deep for a writing studies class, maybe it is. But it is part of Plath’s teaching philosophy at Hofstra University that prioritizes honesty, vulnerability and expression over stiflingly academic and mundane writing.
Plath, who was born in Brooklyn, New York, and later moved to Long Island, began writing at a young age. In a spiral notebook, Plath would collect quotes from songs and books that he came across. These quotes triggered ideas for poems and stories as he began writing; this notebook of quotes also guided him through his life.
“It was like advice on how to live,” Plath said. “I would be thinking about what I was going through, and then I would think of a quote that I had written down.”
Plath’s interest in writing grew in high school as he continued to read and write. In college, Plath took a nonlinear path, initially pursuing psychology before taking anthropology and archeology classes and ultimately finding his way back to English.
“It felt like English and reading and writing was like … breathing,” Plath said. “It wasn’t like I was working, so it felt good.”
After attaining his undergraduate degree from Stony Brook University, Plath was drawn to Brooklyn College by a program taught by Allen Ginsberg, one of Plath’s early literary influences. Ginsberg, a pioneer of the Beat Generation of poetry, was most known for his famous poem “Howl,” in which Ginsberg grieved the intellectual and creative destruction caused by conformity and repression.
Studying under Ginsberg’s mentorship, Plath gained an appreciation for raw and authentic writing.
“They almost made it sound like writing is an exorcism, like getting all the demons out,” Plath said.
Shortly after Plath graduated from Brooklyn College, Ginsberg died. However, the impacts of his Beat-Generation style remained present in Plath’s writing philosophy as he transitioned into teaching.
In 1999, a year after beginning his teaching career at Suffolk County Community College, Plath was hired at Hofstra. In his time at Hofstra, Plath has primarily taught introductory writing courses, such as the writing composition classes that every student is required to take. In addition to the foundational writing composition courses, Plath has taught classes at Hofstra on business writing and resistance writing, which focuses on social injustices and protest.
While drowsy-eyed students who are unfamiliar with Plath’s teaching style might enter their first writing composition class with the expectation of monotonous discussions of properly formatting an essay or using the correct type of punctuation, they would soon be shocked when met with their first writing assignment.
Rather than demanding polished writing, Plath aims to get students to write from the soul. One of his most popular writing prompts is a hypothetical that encourages students to consider what they would do if they only had eight hours left on Earth. While Plath has been using this prompt since he started teaching, he feels like it has only grown more relevant since 2020.
“After the pandemic, I think people felt like that was some kind of possibility all of a sudden,” Plath said.
By thinking about the last few hours of the world, students are encouraged to live in the moment and evaluate what truly matters to them.
Other prompts in Plath’s classes ask students to write a hypothetical eulogy they would want read at their own funeral. Or an “unsent letter,” something the students would be apprehensive to actually send, offering students the opportunity to get anger or regret off their chest. Plath’s classes include a lot of unconventional writing exercises, like a prompt based on a Buddhist saying, encouraging students to create a list of things they would want to “empty their boat” of.
Even in his business writing class, Plath takes an unconventional teaching approach. Instead of dull corporate writing, students are tasked with assignments like creating an official press release for an end-of-the-world party.
Recently, Plath has embraced a more multimedia approach to teaching. After previous students had recommended he listen to musical artists like Frank Ocean and Mitski, he began incorporating music into the creative process of his classes. The parallel between music and poetry is not lost on Plath.
“Some [songs] feel more like poems than poems that I’ve seen,” Plath said.
Plath recounted a time when he shared Mitski’s NPR Tiny Desk Concert in class. The agony conveyed in the video seemed to resonate with students.
“She screams into the pickups of the guitar … It’s like she’s howling,” Plath said. “They all seem to feel that desperation and that honesty.”
Even when class sessions are spent quietly writing, Plath puts on a playlist of music selected by students. The background music creates a nearly meditative atmosphere.
The philosophies that inform Plath’s classes are echoed through his own published works. Since 2003, Plath estimates he has published roughly two dozen books. One of Plath’s most notable books is based on the same exercises he uses in his classes. The book, made up of 35 chapters of writing prompts and commentary, is titled “An Ax For The Frozen Sea,” dedicated to the Kafka quote that so much of Plath’s philosophy revolves around.
Every student in one of Plath’s classes is encouraged to confront the notion that what is more uncomfortable is often left unaddressed. This task is easier for some students than others, with the fear of judgment restraining some students from speaking up. While Plath does all he can to create an honest and safe environment, it can be intimidating to get so vulnerable. Plath will not force students to stand in front of the class if they do not feel comfortable. But even to those silent students, he encourages them to take the ice pick to the frozen sea within them.
One message he wishes students will take away from his classes is “to be honest – in your life and your art … especially in writing.”