Thursday, November 1, 2007

An Introduction to Poetry

During this semester you will be learning different types of Poetry. In this lesson we are going to explore the many types of poetry that exist. Use the poetry resources that I have provided for you. You will be surprised to see how many different ways there are that you can write a poem. Pick one of these styles, and create your own poem. I am leaving it up to you to choose a topic to write on. Please make sure that you name the type of poem that you have chosen. Once you have written your poem post it to this blog.

You will be graded on your ability to follow the design of the style you have chosen. Your creativity will be graded as well.

Different Types of Poetry

There are different types of Poetry. Sometimes Poetry rhymes, sometimes it doesn't. Some are long, some are short. Some poems are romantic, some are sad. Some are an easy read, some you really need to work to understand.

Sample Poem


Is there a right or wrong way to write Poetry?

A Definition of Poetry

Poetry definitions are difficult, as is aesthetics generally. What is distinctive and important tends to evade the qualified language in which we attempt to cover all considerations. Perhaps we could say that poetry was a responsible attempt to understand the world in human terms through literary composition.
The terms beg many questions, of course, but poetry today is commonly an amalgam of three distinct viewpoints. Traditionalist argue that a poem is an expression of a vision that is rendered in a form intelligible and pleasurable to others and so likely to arouse kindred emotions. For Modernists, a poem is an autonomous object that may or may not represent the real world but is created in language made distinctive by its complex web of references. Postmodernists look on on poems as collages of current idioms that are intriguing but self-contained — they employ, challenge and/or mock preconceptions, but refer to nothing beyond themselves.