How do we read poetry, compare poems, or generate observations into a thoughtful response? Write About Poetry is an invaluable reference book and skills guide for students of poetry. Featuring model essays, a glossary of technical terms, and additional practice for student engagement, this volume provides students with a clear and concise guide to:
• reading unseen poems with confidence
• developing general observations into formal, structured written responses
• fostering familiarity with some of the great poets and poems in literary history
Drawing on years of teaching experience, Steven Jackson delivers the background, progressive methodology, and practical essay writing techniques essential for understanding the fundamental steps of poetry analysis.
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Chapter 1 – Who Is Involved?
Chapter 2 – What Is the Situation?
Chapter 3 – What Is the Central Theme?
Chapter 4 – Practical Criticism and the 5-Part Essay
Chapter 5 – Three Essays
Chapter 6 – Answering an Essay Question
Chapter 7 – Comparing Poems
Chapter 8 – Exploring a Group of Poems
Afterword
Biographies of Featured Poets
Glossary of Key Terms
Index
Biography
Steven Jackson is an English teacher at Queen Anne’s School, Caversham, and is currently Head of Key Stage Three for English. He has also organised several English A-level enrichment programmes, including teaching ‘The Forms of Poetry’ and ‘Scenes from Shakespeare’ for English Oxbridge preparation. He has been published in The English Review, and as a poet and prize winner at the Brian Dempsey Memorial Competition, the Ver Prize, and Marsden the Poetry Village Competition.
"These approaches provide a valuable framework which enables rather than inhibits textual exploration and the development of an argument. But it is the richness, clarity and accessibility of the discussion of this process, the variety of poems used as stimulus, and the wealth of model answers and essays which make the book successful… the book would be useful for independent study, but equally its messages and examples could be valuable stimulus for the teacher of poetry."
-- Gary Snapper, Editor, Teaching English
