In an era of reductionist approaches to teaching and assessment, this dissertation returns to the fundamental question: "What is the value of writing, particularly poetry writing, in our society today?" The poet's central task, to abstract reality through symbols, requires profound cognitive and emotional work (Vendler, 2004; Steele,…

This introduction to prosody--the art and science of metrical composition in poetry--teaches the reader how good poems work. The guide discusses the basic building blocks of poetry, such as rhyme, rhythm, meter, and form. Each of the 10 chapters is a progressive, step-by-step presentation with illustrative examples. The guide does not deal with…

Discusses four poems by William Carlos Williams used to teach creative writing to college students. Uses "Portrait of a Woman in Red" and "The Last Words of My English Grandmother" because they contain speakers who are clearly not the poet, which gives undergraduate students opportunities to discuss details Williams uses to…

Poets assisted in the teaching of poetry in elementary and high schools in New Jersey. Development of sense perceptions, emotional reactions, metaphor, rhythm and sound were emphasized. (AF)

Twenty-six poetic forms are discussed in this paper, with suggested activities for teaching these patterns to students in grades kindergarten through grade twelve. The forms that are discussed include the couplet, quatrain, triplet, limerick, free verse, haiku, cinquain, sijo, septolet, diamante, acrostic, sonnet, parody, dramatic monologue, and…

Intended to impart the basic ways a poem is constructed, this concise handbook is a prose guide to writing poetry. The handbook talks about meter and rhyme, form and diction, sound and sense, iambs and trochees, couplets and sonnets, and how and why this should matter to any person writing or reading poetry. Interspersing history and analysis with…

This anthology collects essays by current and former lecturers at the Warren Wilson College (North Carolina) MFA Program for Writers. Some of the poets whose essays are included are: Joan Aleshire, Marianne Boruch, Carl Dennis, Stephen Dobyns, Reginald Gibbons, Louise Gluck, Allen Grossman, Robert Hass, Tony Hoagland, Heather McHugh, Gregory Orr,…

With more than 240 poems selected from 80 leading poets, this anthology is the first comprehensive collection of post-World War II Japanese poetry to survey all of the major tendencies and developments directly influenced by the war. Beginning with Nishiwaki Junzaburo (1894-1982), who studied Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot, and concluding with Osada…

Creative writing is not a magical art from magic wands, but an everyday practice in the hands of steady writers. Creative writing calls, above all, for self-discipline. Along with intellectual and emotional stamina, a poetic writer needs sensory awareness. The writer also forms a mysterious sixth sense--intuition. In search of the good words, the…

The principle of empathic learning (involving activities that help students feel what it is to be like someone else) can be used to teach poetry, a material about which students have strong prejudices, and an activity they cannot imagine themselves ever doing or being interested in. First, students are presented with the conception that people…

This 20-minute videotape program presents poet and Columbia University professor Kenneth Koch conducting a poetry workshop with a small group of fourth and fifth graders. The program's notes explain that Koch believes that students should be allowed to write poetry in the same way that they are allowed to dance and sing--with freedom,…

In this first issue of a children's literature annual, 10 articles on poetry for young people are presented. The articles and their authors are as follows: "There Is No Net To Catch A Poem" (Jane Yolen); "Poetry and the Self" (Myra Cohn Livingston); "The World Outside My Skin" (Eve Merriam); "American Poetry for…

This book presents a program for increasing the student's command of language through the experience of writing poetry. Designed to encourage students to systematically and accurately transform their experiences into brief expression, the program is divided into two sections--introductory and advanced. Each of the sections is composed of units on…