Getting the Knack: 20 Poetry Writing Exercises 20 by Stephen Dunning, William Stafford (1992) Paperback

by Stephen Dunning

Dunning and Stafford, both widely known poets and educators, offer this delightful manual of exercises for beginning poets. The 20 exercises, each covering different types or phases of poetry writing, as well as the authors' humor and nonacademic style, will appeal to experienced and novice poets of all ages.

Genres: Poetry, Education, Nonfiction

Paperback

First published November 1, 1992

Reviews

[GNOWP · Rating 5 out of 5]

This a great book to begin incorporating writing poetry in the classroom or to add to existing lessons. It has great prompts, advice, and student examples. This book is particularly good for the middle school classroom. Some of the best writing I got from my students came from several of the exercises in this book. My favorite letter poem comes from this book--it is titled "To all nail polish name inventors."

excerpt: "We have waited until now to ask this question: How do people learn? Through direct experience. Through indirect experience--hearing about, reading, viewing. Through trial and error. all of the above, plus other ways, plus through imitation. By imitating people around us . . . The general rule seems to be: 'If we iked or valued something, we copied it.'" from the chapter titled "Imitation 1."

Laurie Williams

[John Orman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this workbook quite useful for prompts to kick-start my writing in many different forms and directions. It is basically a manual of exercises for beginning poets.

The late William Stafford, former Poet Laureate of Oregon, is a co-author of this instructive book.

I found most of the categories useful--
Found/Headline Poems--pick up words in articles you like, arrange into sensible format
Acrostic/Recipe Poems--make up words by choosing first letter of list of words
Question/Answer Poems
Confession Poems
Monologue Poems
Letter Poems--written to famous people

Many examples of poems by students and professionas are displayed.

Also has a number of interludes, in which the art and philosopjhy of poetry are discussed.

Read Long, and Poetically Prosper!

[ME Pruitt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This professional resource has a wealth of ideas, lessons, and how-to's about poetry. The chapters are broken up by poetic form, and the authors do a great job of describing various ways of creating poems.

The best thing about this book is that it is very explicit and concrete. Though most probably wouldn't take me up on it, I would feel perfectly comfortable offering this book up for students to peruse; the ideas are that well-explained. Also, there are countless examples of poems that model each form. A great tool for anyone interested in having students generate their own poetry!

[Stacy Parrish · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is always good to keep a bag of tricks handy. This book has some great writing exercises for young adults that help take the spookiness out of becoming a confident creative writer.

[Meredith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This did teach me a fair amount about poetry and writing it. However, I can totally own I will never be a good poet. :D

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are so many great ideas for writing and teaching poetry in this book. I am using many of the ideas in my own poetry. It is a great resource too for teaching poetry in the classroom. Excellent ideas!

[Teri · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has some of the best poetry exercises around, without being intimidating. Loads of fun.

[Christa · Rating 4 out of 5]

These simple and fun exercises are great for beginners, but also fun and helpful for those who have been writing awhile. I really enjoyed it!