Painless Poetry

by Mary Elizabeth M.Ed.

Kids who are convinced that they hate poetry or think it's dull and difficult, are likely to change their opinions when they open this book. Using examples that range from exciting, well-told stories that grip the imagination to song lyrics and slam poetry, the author shows that there is more to poetry than many imagine.

This revised and updated edition guides middle school and high school students through poetry created for many purposes and written in many forms, and offers insights, guidelines, and techniques to enable students to read and evaluate poems, as well as to write original poetry.

Titles in Barron's Painless series cover a wide range of subjects taught in middle school and high school, presenting each subject in a student-friendly format, and demonstrating that learning can be exciting and mind-expanding.

Genres: Poetry, Nonfiction, Writing

368 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2001

Reviews

[Book2Dragon · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF
Despite the subtitle "If you think poetry is dull and difficult, open this book--and think again."
Reading this book would have made me hate poetry, in spite of myself.
Too many high falutin' words to describe all the ways to write poetry (not), who needs 'em?
catalexis, bradycatalexis, amphimacer, anapest, spondlee!!!!! Aaargh!
And one and a half pages to explain the poem "The Red Wheelbarrow." Really? A poem with 16 words-total.
Sorry, guess I'm just not an acadamian; decided to stop torturing myself.

[The other John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poetry is something I sort of grew into. When I was in school, it was a nuisance that kept turning up in Reading and English classes. The only poem I ever liked was "Jabberwocky". (Though somehow I managed to get bits of poems stuck in my memory.) The rest was boring confusion--iambic pentameters and all that. In my adult years, however, I grew to appreciate the poetic word as I let hymn lyrics and psalms sink into my heart and mind. So when I picked up this book as part of my homeschooling reading, I was delighted. "If you think poetry is dull and difficult," the cover claims, "open this book -- and think again!" I thought that if I only had this book in high school, I would have had a much higher opinion of poetry. Well, I then opened the book... and had to think again. The book isn't bad. You really should check it out. But while it's clear writing and light hearted illustrations do a good job of presenting the world of poetry, it is a textbook after all. Eventually Ms. Elizabeth gets to the iambic part and my eyes glazed over. Oh, well. I'm trusting that all the good poems packed into the book will help my kids get over all the analysis sections. And if not, well, I can always hope that they'll grow to appreciate poetry, just like I did.

[Suzanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm fairy biased, since this book was written by my mother, but I find it very useful when there's some bit of information about poetry that I don't know and want to find out. Even though I studied literature in college, there were many things in the book that I didn't know, and terms I'd never heard of. Thanks Mom!

[Swanny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd say this book is better for reference than for reading, which isn't bad. There's terms I learned and only a few things that really didn't seem right. I liked that there were exercises and potential answers given. I really appreciated how many poems were authored by female poets.

[Bridget · Rating 3 out of 5]

getting ready for interpreting literature CLEP test!

[Whole And · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very informative book, with assignments and questions. Course like and fun.

[Bryan Spahr]

read for school in 7th grade