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Poetry and

Young Adults

2Young Adult Librarian Dewey on poetry

http://www.unshelved.com/

3 Dewey and poetry 2

4More Dewey and poetry

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What is Poetry?

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Poetry– Poetry (ancient Greek: ποιεω (poieo) = I

create) is an art form in which human language is used for its aesthetic qualities in addition to, or instead of, its notional and semantic content. It consists largely of oral or literary works in which language is used in a manner that is felt by its user and audience to differ from ordinary prose.

• from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia(an older version of the current article!)

http://www.poetry.org/whatis.htm

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What is poetry?

What is poetry?– Unless you are looking in the dictionary

for a good definition of poetry, we’d really like to say that poetry has no one set definition because it can mean so many things to different people.

– Shadow Poetry defines poetry as the art of writing thoughts, ideas, and dreams into imaginative language which may contain verse, pause, meter, repetition, and/or rhyme.

8 Here’s how some famous poets have defined poetry:

� : “The best words in the best order.”

• Samuel Taylor Coleridge

“The record of the best and happiest moments of the best and happiest minds.”

• Percy Bysshe Shelley

“If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire can ever warm me, I know that it is poetry.”

• Emily Dickinson

“Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.”• William Wordsworth

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A poetical answer What is Poetry?: A Non-Lecture

– What is poetry?Love lie with me, and I will tell.

Poetry a lawless enterprise.Poetry the truth that reveals all lies.Poetry a camera-eye without a shutter.Poetry, unlike armchair philosophy, does not leave the world unchanged.• Selection: What is Poetry?

Rough Draft of an ARS POETICADelivered, on the occasion of his receiving The Frost Medal,by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

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12-year old Katie’s thoughts on poetry from True to Form by Elizabeth Berg:

– If you see a sunset and try and describe it to someone in normal words, all you can say is, “Boy, I saw a great sunset last night.” But if you are a poet, you can give it to someone to feel for themselves. Like you make a little seed of what you saw, they swallow it, and it blooms again inside their own heart.

– “. . . then there is the scritch scritch of my pen, trying to say something so true. What if it works? Then when I read it again, the little voice inside will say, Yes. Yes. Yes.• From Poetry “Thinks” by Kristine O’Connell

George (this section apparently no longer online).

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– The Poetry Foundation, publisher

of Poetry magazine, is an independent literary organization committed to a vigorous presence for poetry in our culture. It exists to discover and celebrate the best poetry and to place it before the largest possible audience.

– Poetry Magazine. Founded in Chicago by Harriet Monroe in 1912, Poetry is the oldest monthly devoted to verse in the English-speaking world.

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Sponsored by Poetry Foundation

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Welcome to poetry.org– Poetry.org is a resource site for poetry

and poets. Here you can learn about the history, meaning, and types of poetry, as well as terms often used when reading and studying poetry. There is also the resource page: a series of links to various poetry sites for daily poetry, poetry organizations, poet biographies, and more. And there is our selection of poetry from various famous poets, including William Shakespeare, Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson, and e e cummings.

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– The Academy of American Poets . . .

administers a wide variety of programs, including National Poetry Month (April), the largest literary celebration in the world; online educational resources providing free poetry lesson plans for high school teachers; the Poetry Audio Archive, a collection of over 700 recordings dating back to the 1960s; and Poets.org, our award-winning website which provides a wealth of content on contemporary American poetry and receives a million unique users each month.• About Us

15 Other poetry websites

16 A poet who wrote a load of nonsensehttp://nonsenselit.wordpress.com/

http://www.nonsenselit.org/Lear/

http://www.lear200.com

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Shel Silverstein

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The Shel Silverstein Archive

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A Poet for Young Adults

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Ego Tripping (there may be a reason why)

http://www.nikki-giovanni.com/

19Poetry lessons

WritingFix Project: Poetry Lessons & Prompts resources inspired by the NNWP's annual Piñon Poetry Festival

20 What’s the use of poetry?

Can Poetry Really Change the World?– . . . there are those, including myself,

who  believe in  poets as the antennae of the race, as the conscience of society, or at least as Jack Kerouac said, “the great rememberer redeeming life from darkness.” The greatest poets’ greatest lines have entered  mass consciousness, and they are great precisely because they have continued to resonate in our lives today.

• Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Poetry As News

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What makes good YA poetry? Bucher and Manning:

– Does the poem have meaning for the young adult—can the young adult relate to the topic, the setting, the theme, or the emotion being conveyed?

– Does the poem elicit rich sensory images or deep emotional responses, which young adults appreciate or understand?

• Characteristics of Poetry for Young Adults• See a revised version in

ch 11 “Exploring Poetry, Drama, and Short Stories” of the 3rd ed. by Bucher and Hinton (current text for LIB 617)

Excerpted From:

Young Adult Literature Exploration, Evaluation, and Appreciation 1st ed.

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More characteristics of YA Poetry Bucher and Manning:

– Does the poem allow adolescents to experience the power of words and to explore how words can elicit certain emotional responses?

– Does the poem have vivid imagery and vibrant language?

– Will the poem provide pleasure (i.e., can young adults relate to the poetry in some way either as an event or emotion they have experienced or would like to experience)?• Characteristics of Poetry for Young Adults

Excerpted From:

Young Adult Literature Exploration, Evaluation, and Appreciation 1st ed.

23 More Dewey and Poetry

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What is a poetry slam, anyway?

25What is a poetry slam?

What is poetry slam?– Simply put, poetry slam is the

competitive art of performance poetry. It puts a dual emphasis on writing and performance, encouraging poets to focus on what they’re saying and how they're saying it.

26An organization for poetry slams

What is Poetry Slam, Inc.?– Poetry Slam, Inc. is the official 501(c)(3) non-

profit organization charged with overseeing the international coalition of poetry slams. Though slams are maintained in a growing number of cities by local volunteer organizers, the vast majority of slam series follow the rules established by the governing body, and are certified by the governing body as slams that adhere to the vision slam's founders established for the art form over a decade ago.

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And one that claims to have started it all

The uptown poetry slam– ....the one that started them all,

has been running for over 20 years, hosted by the slampapi himself, the one WHO started IT all... the creator of the poetry slam...Marc Kelly Smith. (so what!)

– See “Official Poetry Slam History and Beliefs”

– And “What is a Poetry Slam?”

28 A new organization for poetry for YA and children

Poetry Advocates for Children & Young Adults– A grassroots, not-for-profit organization

dedicated to promoting poetry for every age group. Founded by poet Steven Withrow in 2011.

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TRANSITIONAL PAGE