The Language of Poetry

by John McRae

The Language of * develops the student's ability to read and evaluate poetic texts of many kinds * includes activities, commentaries and extensions to each extract * covers a variety of poetic language, ranging from songs, advertisements and spoken language to the more traditional forms of the sonnet, ode and free verse * includes poetry from Philip Larkin, Maya Angelou, Dylan Thomas and Tony Harrison.

168 pages, Paperback

First published February 26, 1998

Reviews

[Richard · Rating 1 out of 5]

To begin with the positives: this book contains copious extracts from a refreshingly eclectic list of poetic texts; includes a useful glossary/index of terms; and suggests some potentially useful strategies for reading poems, including a neat way of focusing on what changes between the first and last lines of a poem. Apart from this, it's a very frustrating read. It is packed with annoying leading questions ("In the second [poem], what makes it memorable for you - the rhyme, the pun, the alliteration, or nothing at all?" or "What kind of values does If put foward? Do you find them out-of-date, worth thinking about, superficial, valid, or what?") and puzzling activities ("Look at these lines and grade them on a 1 to 10 scale, where you think 1 is bad, 6 quite good, 10 really good"). It is full of technical terms that are never really worked through ("We have already come across rhyme, alliteration, stanzas, free verse, epic, and even a haiku" boasts page 11. Page 11!); confusingly organized; quirkily redolent of the minutiae of its author's interests ("It was sung by Jeanne Moreau in the Fassbinder movie Querelle", McRae tells us of one poem, apropos of nothing); and has suggestions for project work that mostly boil down to encouraging students to make lists of poems or bits of poetic language that they come across. I was hoping that this book would help me teach poetry better, or help my students to understand it, but sadly, no.