Dedicated Poetry WRITING curriculum

[abba12]

I'm looking for curricula which teach about writing poetry, specifically. I'd want one which goes into depth on the different styles, from different forms of rhyming and meter, to things like haiku and limerick, to traditional ballads, to the more modern freestyle poetry and artistic prose. I'm actually a fairly confident poet myself, my mother published a book of poems and I used writing poetry to express the abstract feelings I was dealing with during a particularly bad few years, so I am considering writing my own curriculum for it to be quite honest, but I'd rather not re-invent the wheel if it's already out there. I know a few writing courses incorporate it, and I know you can find a few general kids writing poetry books, and I've seen poetry appreciation courses, but I haven't come across anything really meaty for writing it, a standalone course. 

[Loesje22000]

Grammar of poetry?

[Haiku]

My dd13 is using and enjoying the poetry section of The Creative Writer, published by PHP.

 

There is an online MOOC called How Writers Write Poetry that is in its second year. You can do it independently.

 

I, myself, am really enjoying The Ode Less Traveled by Stephen Fry. I think it has what you are looking for. Each chapter explains something about form or meter or another aspect of structure and has one or more exercises to complete.

[JudoMom]

Blackbird & Co used to have a great poetry course.

[abba12]

I, myself, am really enjoying The Ode Less Traveled by Stephen Fry. I think it has what you are looking for. Each chapter explains something about form or meter or another aspect of structure and has one or more exercises to complete.

 

Long time fan of Stephen Fry, I'm reading through this and the amazon preview looks great. From starting at the basics of the way different languages emphasise words to seeming to cover many different forms, from limericks to haiku to ballad and sonnet. I think I'll be ordering this for myself! Only thing is it seems to neglect modern poetry, but, that is covered on it's own in many books. 

[Cottonwood]

Moving Beyond the Page has some great poetry units. I'm on my phone so I can't see siggys ..so for what age?

[aaplank]

Rose, Where Did You Get That Red? by Kenneth Koch. Excellent and meaty. You can't go wrong with this one.

[Classical Katharine]

These courses sound really interesting, so maybe your question about whether to write your own is already answered, but I got thinking about again this morning and decided to reply. I write poetry too, and have done some translation (from poetry into poetry). Thinking of what goes into making that possible sends my mind along a couple of tracks.

 

I'm sure you know all of this as a poet yourself, but it intrigues me to think what it would be like to try to share it with a student . . . Hope you don't mind a little brainstorming from another poetry fan. Think of this as a kind of wish list from at least one other Boardie if you do write a program!

 

Reading a lot of good writing is a baseline, I think. No one can produce good writing in a total literature vacuum. It can (and should) be different kinds of writing that children read, but writing where the writers use language with style and power. I wonder if a poetry program could include some reading recommendations (even prose reading recommendations).

 

Reading a little bit of bad writing is probably a good idea too! Sourcing that could pose some interesting challenges (legal and tact challenges), but it could be really helpful to include.

 

I think if we can't tell what's powerful and beautiful in someone else's writing, and what is hackneyed, we won't be able to tell in our own writing. If we can't recognize rhythm in someone else's writing, and inelegant patches, we won't be able to recognize where our own work is good and where it needs to be improved. A light hand would be needed here so as not to discourage young writers from even trying to write, for fear of writing poorly. But I think this background is key. I'm thankful that adults who knew what was good pointed me toward good writing when I was young, and helped me see what was good about it.

 

A good vocabulary would help a child with poetry, so that he or she has more words to choose from. As much as possible learning new words in the context of good writing seems really important to me--so that nuances of usage, levels of diction, etc. can be picked up. Supplementing with a vocabulary program where the sentences are well-written would help too. I don't have any specific vocabulary programs in mind as good or bad, though in antiquity I was taught from (antique) versions of Wordly Wise, at a school with a very solid literature program, and at least one person in the class turned into a writer in the end. I'm sure there are other good choices, but that version did the job then. I wonder if a poetry program could include a focus on "what words might we consider using right here to express our idea? Why might we favor one word over another?" (Where the answer includes form issues like number of syllables, stress pattern, and final syllable, but also diction level, connotations, and so on.)

 

As I think about what happens in my own mind when writing poetry, maybe this is obvious, but I find that being able to think of different ways of putting something is key. Often when I'm writing poetry I'll have an idea for the next line, but it doesn't fit the meter, say. Well, so I get it down, then rework it. And to rework it, I've realized that I end up rephrasing at a number of different levels. Replacing one word with another is one way; word order changes are another; recasting the thought at a higher level that rearranges the content of two adjacent lines is another. Etc. I would think this skill can probably be practiced in prose situations too, or in fun little exercises that fall short of requiring a whole poem--so they don't feel quite so pressured.

 

Since you've written poems, if you save your own drafts maybe you could even assign some lines that were in need of improvement from one of your earlier drafts, saying "fix this" and maybe explaining what the problem is, and then finally show them how you DID fix it. (Gasps!)

 

I think a lot of poetry analysis would need to be part of a poetry writing course. Helping students appreciate why a line is beautiful would be very important--is it the alliteration, the assonance, the internal rhyme, a deft touch with slant rhyme, the suitability of the meter to the thought, a delightfully unexpected but perfect word (e.g. "there's a certain slant of light/on a winter afternoon/that oppresses, with the heft/of cathedral tunes"--Emily Dickinson, remembered, I hope correctly, from 9th grade English--that's how much of an effect it had on me--the words "oppresses" and "heft" are magnificent. My apologies for not putting the capitals in).

 

I think your wish to see funny poems and limericks and haikus included is a great idea--they are more attainable than some other forms (and types of thought), and including them would be merciful, especially to the boys. (And at this Board probably most people would be in hysterics over some great poems that mix English and Latin--one about a motorbus, the other about a hunt for a hedgehog, or some such--will dig up if needed--these could be a great reward to children for studying their Latin!)

 

I think almost everyone can learn to versify and there are occasions, even just a birthday card, when that's a good thing to do. But if a child doesn't have the aptitude to write really great poetry, well, that only puts that child in the same boat with almost everyone. There is a quirky mental filing system that helps--a certain tendency of the mind to move sideways scanning the language for sounds and meanings--and it being a quirky gift, not everyone has it. So I think in this area more than in many areas of literature, it would be important to not set unattainable goals for the children. But I think parents will know which children to point this way and which not to.

 

I wish you the best in your undertaking if you decide to do it. A worthy undertaking! Let us know if you do it!

 

E. T. A. Whether you are religious or not, one source of great instructional examples could be different poetic versions of the Psalms. Many psalms have been rendered into poetry numerous times, with very different results. That could be a great way of showing how many possibilities there are for recasting ideas. You could show a prose translation (from a formal equivalence translation) first, then show a number of poetic renderings.

 

E. T. A. Thanks to the other posters for the curriculum suggestions--they will be fun to check out.