More about Poetry

Bob Dylan said, “a poem is a naked person.” Poetry reveals the layers beneath our everyday experiences. What is a personal experience moves beyond the self to create a shared experience and reveal a common knowledge that unites us.

Image: Poetry
by Rachel Knickmeyer
Copyright 2010, no changes made
Creative Commons License

Poetry uses language in surprising ways and isn’t afraid to be. Poetry shows.

Following is a list of poems; as you read each one, notice the use of metaphor and imagery; what is revealed as each poem progresses?

“The Gift” by Li-Young Lee
“Her Kind” by Anne Sexton
“The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner” by Randall Jarell
"A Boat" by Richard Brautigan
"Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird" by Wallace Stevens
"Not Writing" by Anne Boyer
"to the notebook kid" by Eve L. Ewing
"The Students" by Mark Halladay