An Introduction to Poetry : The River Sings

Rating:
Summary: Poetry That Makes Sense
Review: So many students and beginning writers turn off to the craft of poetry because of the myth that it is supposed to be impossible to understand, because they think the language is so inaccessible, because they believe the art has been elevated to a status where only the truly educated and privileged can relish its beauty. Bunk. Jeff Knorr, in his highly accessible text The River Sings, introduces poetry at a level anyone can easily "get." His text is written as a conversation with the reader, in plain and simple English. And in the best practice of teaching, he makes sense of the impossible and makes the reader want to appreciate and experience the craft in the same way Knorr does himself. He also explores some of the loveliest poetry written, honoring Theodore Roethke, Alice Walker, Linda Pastan, Langston Hughes, Gary Soto, Elizabeth Bishop, and others who have become fixtures in contemporary anthologies. But he also honors lesser published poets like Jimmy Santiago Baca, Jim Harrison, Richmond Lattimore, and Sekou Sundiata, and in doing so introduces new and accessible voices across many cultures. And yes, for all of you who think a poetry text can't be complete without Frost, Poe, Barrett Browning, or Longfellow, they're in here as well in the section "For Further Reading." Knorr finally lets the canon take a rest in the back of his text, using fresher and more easily understood voices to explain what poetry is all about, and this device works. Bravo. But what I like best are the sections on Reading a Poem and Writers on Writing, which encourage the readers to appreciate poetry at its oral roots and let them in on the thoughts that myriad writers share about poetry. With credit to Naomi Shihab Nye, The River Sings helps all of us understand that there is "a great energy released just by the act of being receptive to words," and anyone who has ever shied from poetry, as a student or as a writer, will find it a welcome art when studied through the eyes of Jeff Knorr.