This collection of some of the critical works of a lauded contemporary poet, Kenneth Koch, gathers together poems, articles and interviews which are about poetry--Koch's critical work has mainly taken the form of poems about poetry (including parodies) and books about teaching the writing of poetry to schoolchildren. Focused on the practical…

This book emerged from a Poetry in the Schools program which had two facets: teacher workshops and instruction by poets in elementary and secondary classrooms. Part one, "Poets and Teachers in Dialogue," describes major issues discussed in teacher workshops: keeping the imagination alive, writing as a way of discovery, exploration of…

This book is a sample of what actually happens when the professional teaching poet sits down with the student poem. It allows the reader to observe the poets in their roles as teachers. The collection of student workshop poems and the teachers' essays about the poems--their analysis, specific criticisms, teaching techniques and procedures--are…

This book is designed as an introduction to Christopher Smart's poetry for the general reader, the college student, and the college teacher. The political, social, and literary background of eighteenth-century England is examined in the first part of this volume. The second part concerns itself with Smart's life and the factors affecting his…

In this handbook, four authors write on the same topics but with varying emphases. Gwendolyn Brooks sketches the background of Afro-American poetry and offers practical hints and exercises for writing. Keorapatse Kgositsile discusses the role and situation of the black writer. Haki R. Madhubuti (Don L. Lee) explains an author's commitment and…

A completely revised edition of "The Walt Whitman Handbook," this book updates Whitman scholarship and discusses the growth of Whitman biography, the growth of "Leaves of Grass," the realm of Whitman's ideas, literary technique in "Leaves of Grass," and Whitman and world literature. Also included are a chronological…

This book attempts to assess a half century of Afro-American poetry published from 1890 to 1940, focusing on the human experience--individual and collective--from which this poetry was produced. In analyzing the place of black poetry in the American literary domain, attention is given to historical, religious, sociological, and cultural…