Susan Dalzell - Poetry 101: From Shakespeare and Rupi Kaur to Iambic Pentameter and Blank Verse, Everything You Need to Know about Poetry

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First Adams Media hardcover edition September 2018

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DEDICATION

For Wil and Liam

Poetry is among the most complex art forms evolved by the human race. It uses words in unique ways to create emotional responses, sometimes using those words in vastly different ways than we do in ordinary speech. Its also one of the oldest art forms; no one really knows when the first poem was composedjust that it was thousands of years ago.

Maybe youve read poetry your whole life; maybe youre coming to it for the first time; maybe you just want to learn something about it; or maybe you have an urge to start scribbling verses yourself. No matter which of these applies to you, youll find something of value in this book.

Poetry 101 doesnt make any assumptions about what you know or what you may have been taught back in the day. Instead you will find help in exploring what poetry can mean in your own life. Youll learn or review the basic terms and vocabulary of poetry. Youll get an overview of the history of poetry and the cultures from which poets have emerged. Youll learn the life stories of some of the greatest poets in the English language and why those poets works are so highly regarded. Youll learn more about the topics poets have been drawn to write about and compare and contrast how different poets approach similar themes. Youll look at works by the poets of ancient Greece, the European Middle Ages, Victorian England, and onward to the Internet-fueled poets of today.

Sometimes poetry is formal, following strict rules of language and form. Sometimes its wild and loose; you know this if youve ever attended a poetry reading. Poetry can express love and hate and joy and grief and anger and confusion and humor. Sometimes it is easy to understandEeny meeny miny mo, catch a tiger by the toebut sometimes its so dense and tricky you can read it three, four, five, sixty times and still struggle to interpret its meaning. Thats another way in which Poetry 101 can give you a hand. Whether you choose to read this book cover to cover or to dive in and out of its many sections, it will help you form a working definition of poetry that makes sense to you. Hopefully, reading this book will encourage you to seek out poems themselves. Read them. Memorize them. Speak them out loud. Share them with your friends, companions, or children. Find poems that speak to you and savor them. Maybe even try writing some verses yourself.

Doing any of these things will increase your enjoyment of this art form. No matter your poetry background or how you hope to use poetry in the future, Poetry 101 has you covered. Now lets delve into the history and theory of poetry!