From the author of How to Read a Poem and How to Write a Poem, comes a truly delightful book on how to write poetry in form. Tania Runyan's previous How to Write a Poem focused on free verse; the powerful techniques of poetry writing (image, sound, line breaks, surprising insights, risk-taking, revision strategies); and getting your poems published. This companion book opens up the world of classic poetry forms and new poetry forms, to help poets grow and explore. How to Write a Form Poem is an instructive book for form-poetry beginners. It's an inspiring, useful reference (and a fun read) for experienced poets of all levels. It's also a helpful tool for teachers who want an accessible, informative, inspiring text for students-with plenty of tips for how to actually approach writing the forms, lots of sample poems to illustrate the forms + intriguing poetry prompts! With How to Write a Form Poem by your side, you'll be instructed and inspired with 10 fabulous forms-sonnets, sestinas, haiku, villanelles, pantoums, ghazals, rondeaux, odes, acrostics (the real kind), found poems + surprising variations on classic forms (triolet, anyone?), to challenge you when you're ready to go the extra mile. You'll also be entertained by Runyan's own travel stories that she uses to explain and explore the various forms-the effect of which is to bring form poetry down to earth (and onto your own poetry writing map). Carnival, lighthouse, monument, state park...she uses them all to help explain the exciting world of how to write poems in form. Her travels also result in a collection of satisfying form poems, some of which you'll find featured in the book as samples. Other sample poems include works from both popular and emerging poets from many walks of life and geographies. In your anthology travels here, you'll meet (or get reacquainted with) Conor O'Callaghan, Richard Pierce, Ashley M. Jones, William Shakespeare, John Keats, Claude McKay, Tom Hunley, Elizabeth Bishop, Celia Lisset Alvarez, Elise Paschen, Frank O'Hara, Victoria Chang, Joshua Gage, Katie Manning, Seth Haines, Natasha Trethewey, David K. Wheeler, Chip Livingston, John McCrae, Rick Maxson, Robert Bridges, Albert Giraud, Charles Henry Luders, Janet Aalfs, Rebecca Lauren, Marci Rae Johnson, Angela Alaimo O'Donnell, Matsuo Basho, Matsuo Allard, Amy Lowell, Charles B. Dickson, Christopher Patchel, Michelle Ortega, Ezra Pound, Sandra Heska King, Todd C. Truffin, Erin Keane, John Poch, L.L. Barkat, Susan Rothbard, Gabriel Spera, David Wright, Isaac Willis, Jeanne Murray Walker, Benjamin Myers, Murray Silverstein, Monica Sharman, Barbara Crooker, deb y felio, Faisal Mohyuddin, Edgar Allan Poe, Aaron Brown, Zeina Hashem Beck, Dheepa Maturi, John Drury, Marjorie Maddox, Jill Baumgaertner, Maureen E. Doallas, Juditha Dowd, Thomas Gray, Ron Wallace, Lucille Clifton, Alexander Pope, Clint Smith, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Barbara Howes, Sara Barkat, Megan Willome, Allison Joseph, Claire Batemen, Glynn Young, John Stevenson, Jim Kacian, Carolyn Hall, Roberta Beary, Lorin Ford, Clement Hoyt, and Wallace Stevens. Whew! Whether you're at home or on-the-go, How to Write a Form Poem is a helpful and inspiring guide to writing poetry. We can't wait to see where you take it-and where it takes you!
Children's writer and poet Amy Ludwig VanDerwater leads us on an adventure through poetry, pointing out craft elements along the way that students can use to improve all their writing, from idea finding to language play. "Poems wake us up, keep us company, and remind us that our world is big and small," Amy explains. "And, too, poems teach us how to write. Anything." This is a practical book designed for every classroom teacher. Each lesson exploration includes three poems, one by a contemporary adult poet and two by students in grades 2 through 8, which serve as models to illustrate how poetry teaches writers to: find ideas, choose perspective and point of view, structure texts, play with language, craft beginnings and endings, choose titles. Students will learn how to replicate the craft techniques found in poetry to strengthen all writing, from fiction to opinion, from personal narrative to information. "Poets arrange words and phrases just as prose writers do, simply in tighter spaces," Amy argues. "In the tight space of poetry, readers can identify writing techniques after reading one page, not thirty pages."
Now one of Booklist's 30 Best Books of the Year! "Genius!" – Wired.com “Marilyn Singer's verse in Follow Follow practically dances down each page . . . the effect is miraculous and pithy.” – The Wall Street Journal Once upon a time, Mirror Mirror, a brilliant book of fairy tale themed reversos–a poetic form in which the poem is presented forward and then backward–became a smashing success. Now a second book is here with more witty double takes on well-loved fairy tales such as Thumbelina and The Little Mermaid. Read these clever poems from top to bottom and they mean one thing. Then reverse the lines and read from bottom to top and they mean something else–it is almost like magic! A celebration of sight, sound, and story, this book is a marvel to read again and again.
Poetry in Literature for Youth offers teachers, librarians, parents, and students with an instrumental guide for incorporating all forms of poetry into the curriculum. More than 900 annotated entries provide descriptions of books and other resources, including anthologies, classics, various poetry formats, poetry novels, multicultural poetry, performance poetry, teen poetry, poet biographies, and curriculum connections. Educators, who are often unaware of the poetry resources available-particularly for young adults-will welcome this book with open arms. Lists for building a core poetry collection, along with resources for teaching poetry criticism and writing, electronic poetry resources, booktalks, classroom activities, and lesson plans complement this guide. Author, Geographic, Grade, Subject, and Title indexes are also included. For anyone interested in knowing more about poetry in literature, this is an indispensable guide.
Ryan O'Brian is riding a wave of inspiration with no shoreline in sight--he can't STOP writing poetry. In the cafeteria with french fries. In the bathroom with toothpaste. Even on the soccer field with mud! Has he reached an artistic crescendo with a sonnet on the staircase and a villanelle on the shower curtain? What next? In this innovative, inspiring picture book, you'll find a laugh-out-loud story poem full of hilarious antics, and, if you look carefully, you'll discover Ryan's own poems within the inventive illustrations. As a bonus, Ryan's helpful guide to fifteen poetic forms and five voices invites you to challenge your own poetic imagination. Ideal for reading aloud or acting out, here's the perfect book to celebrate the joy of poetry and spark creative thinking. Join in the fun!
A new book of unique reversible poems based on Greek myths from the creator of Mirror Mirror What happens when you hold up a mirror to poems about Greek myths? You get a brand-new perspective on the classics! And that is just what happens in Echo Echo, the newest collection of reverso poems from Marilyn Singer. Read one way, each poem tells the story of a familiar myth; but when read in reverse, the poems reveal a new point of view! Readers will delight in uncovering the dual points of view in well-known legends, including the stories of Pandora’s box, King Midas and his golden touch, Perseus and Medusa, Pygmalion, Icarus and Daedalus, Demeter and Persephone, and Echo and Narcissus. These cunning verses combine with beautiful illustrations to create a collection of fourteen reverso poems to treasure.
Poets can't impose their will on the muse. That's why it's so important that you write regularly, keep reworking your drafts, and experiment in your writing. This book will help you by offering advice, inspiration, and hundreds of exercises to get you going—all designed to invoke your muse. With no bias toward any form or style, John Drury addresses imagery, metaphor, and the different methods of constructing and experimenting with new poetic forms. You'll find twelve chapters overflowing with examples, exercises, and prompts—all practical tools you can use right now in your poetry writing. For example, you'll find information on: Preparing: developing your poetic sensitivity Language: learning the fundamental tools of poetry and using them effectively Sight: refining sight—and insight—to make your poetry come alive within the mind's eye—and the heart's eye, too Sound: sensitizing yourself to the music of words—both singly and in combination Movement: developing the rhythmic qualities that make poems sing—and shout, march, croon, and whisper Voice: becoming aware of the fine nuances of how the words are said and connected, revealing each poem's implied speaker and "stance" Finishing: bringing each poem to successful completion No matter what your style or level of experience, Creating Poetry offers insightful, thoughtful, and motivating instruction all of which will make your path to poetry writing a richer path to travel.
Is it possible to teach someone how to write a poem? Or does poetry simply "come from the heart" or from a special talent only some can ever hope to have? Of course there's no formula for writing an amazing poem. If poems came with instructions like IKEA(r) coffee tables, we'd all be missing the point. But this book will give you some strategies-some tools, if you will-to assemble your personal, imaginative raw materials into poems that will surprise and intrigue. These strategies are focused primarily on free verse, yet many of the concepts can also be applied to form poetry, at both the inception and revision stages. "How to Write a Poem" uses images like the buzz, the switch, the wave-from the Billy Collins poem "Introduction to Poetry"-to guide writers into new ways of writing poems. Excellent teaching tool. Anthology and prompts included.
With playful prose and vivid art, Things to Do brings to life the small moments and secret joys of a child's day. There are wonders everywhere. In the sky and on the ground—blooming in a flower bed, dangling from a silken thread, buzzing through the summer air—waiting ...waiting to be found. In this thoughtful and ingenious collection of poems, Elaine Magliaro, an elementary school teacher for more than three decades and a school librarian for three years, and illustrator Catia Chien provide a luminous glimpse of the ordinary wonders all around us. Plus, this is the fixed format version, which looks almost identical to the print edition.