The Poetry Reader's Toolkit

Rating:
Summary: Great Guidebook for Beginners!.......
Review: ...........if you are like me, and are interested in learning to truly appreciate poetry like you never have before, I highly recommend this book. Polonsky not only introduces the reader to some beautiful and loved poetry, he uses each poem as an example to illustrate a concept in understanding poetry. This, for me, shed a beautiful new light on poems I had previously enjoyed, and also opened my eyes to some poems that I had previously not known or simply underappreciated. For example, "The Waking" by Theodore Roethke plays over and over like music in my mind now. I had never really heard its rhythm before.

Polonsky shows us how poetry conveys emotion, introduces us to different uses of imagery, explores sound in poetry, covers metaphors and similes and their use, explains different verse forms, line breaks, synesthesia, and numerous other poetic devices. Additionally, he encourages us, as "students" of poetry, to seek out poems that demonstrate each concept and advises that we keep a journal of our discoveries. This book is a real gem that I truly believe I have derived a greater appreciation of poetry from!

Rating:
Summary: Curious about poetry? Read this and you'll get hooked!
Review: I was hungry to learn poetry. It always seemed a puzzle that was never quite solved. So, for Christmas, I hinted for a book about how to read/write poetry. Santa read my list (thanks sis) and got my wish:) This book was a joy to read. It unlocked many of mysteries of poetry for me and gave me a wonderful preparation before I dived head first into this mysterious pool of poetry.

Rating:
Summary: A man on a mission
Review: If the world made sense, this fine book would be found not only in every high school and college library, but in a lot of family homes as well, right next to the child-rearing guides and home fix-it guides. For in a world that made sense, a lot more people would grasp the transformative power of poetry and be passing on what they knew about it to their kids - and if they didn't know much, they could just pass on this book. Neither sentimental nor haughty about his subject, Polonsky manages to analyze both famous and lesser known poems, sometimes in great detail, without killing them off. This is a rare capacity that depends equally on his common sense, practiced insight, and clear, straight-ahead writing style.

Available in both student and instructor editions, this "toolkit" covers all the necessary fundamentals, and it's significant that "Emotions" is the first one explored - well before the discussions of sound, symbolism, verse forms and other technical aspects are taken up. That's because Polonsky has his ducks in a row and his heart in the right place, and that's what infuses the laudable competence of this manual with an irrepressible spirit. "I think poetry is just about as essential as air," Polonsky declares. "I believe that much of the violence and psychological illness and unease in our society is probably due to poetry deprivation."

This is obviously not your high school English teacher talking, but a man on a passionate mission. If this book gets spread around like it should, the world just might start making sense.