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Poetry Is ...
Source: RIF Exchange Show #205
Poetry is a literary genre that is difficult to define. It takes many forms, addresses a wide range of topics and feelings, and affects readers in different ways.
Poetry can help children build literacy skills, motivate them to learn to read, and encourage a love of reading.
Poetry can be included throughout an early childhood curriculum and in all elementary through high school subject areas. Many children and youth eagerly express their creativity by writing and sharing their own poems.
Throughout history poets have recorded, shared reactions, and expressed feelings about both significant and ordinary human events and experiences. In all the worlds cultures, poetry is part of historical and present day literary arts.
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, (Third Edition, 1992, 1996, Houghton Mifflin Company) defines poetry as:
poetry (po'i-tre)n. (Abbr. poet.) 1. The art or work of a poet. 2.a. Poems regarded as forming a division of literature. b. The poetic works of a given author, group, nation, or kind. 3. A piece of literature written in meter; verse. 4. Prose that resembles a poem in some respect, as in form or sound. 5. The essence or characteristic quality of a poem. 6. The quality of a poem, as possessed by an object, act, or experience: the poetry of the dance movements.
Poetry affects readers and listeners
According to Bernice (Bee) Cullinan, "poetry feeds the heart as well as the mind."
Depending on its subject and form, a poem can stimulate our imaginations, make us laugh, invite us to join in with repeated words and refrains, touch deep feelings, and remind us of similar people, places, events, and experiences.
Children enjoy listening to poetry, even when they dont know what some of the words mean. They are drawn in by the poem's rhythm and rhyme, as well as interesting sounding words.
In Pass the Poetry Please, Lee Bennett Hopkins notes that poetry works for children and youth of all ages and at all ability levels. It opens a world of feelings and is a source of love and hope for children today and for the rest of their lives.
References
Bee Cullinans House of Poetry, www.boydsmillspress.com/
poetryhouse.tpl
Pass the Poetry, Please! 3rd Edition, Lee Bennett Hopkins, Harper Collins, 1998.
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