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Poetry

Trying to define poetry is almost a crime. One of its enduring appeals is that it defies definition, overturns convention, and reinvents words themselves to create meaning out of chaos. Ironically, the best poetry also exemplifies convention, submitting to forms and styles to evoke whatever it is poetry is supposed to evoke.

Pascal spoke of "reasons of which the reason knows nothing," and while he was describing his Christian faith, the statement almost perfectly describes good poetry. Bad poetry is just the opposite: it tells the reader too much, it's ungainly and unmusical, it broods in the corner or waves its arms around for attention. Good poetry communicates directly with the soul, whether or not the mind comprehends.

That's not to say poetry should be meaningless. A lot of contemporary "poets" string words together and call it art, but it's really just pretension, or (worse) obscenity. Some have gone so far as to write anti-poetry, a form specifically devoted to creating "poems" that are inherently unpoetic. None of this is poetry—call it self-aggrandizement, pseudo-intellectualism, or just dumb, if it doesn't look, sound or act like a poem, it probably isn't.

On the other hand, not all poems should look or sound the same. Opponents of free verse need to understand that the language grows and changes, and that free form poems don't abandon, they just reinterpret rhythm and cadence....just as free verse practitioners need to recognize the beauty and requisite skill displayed in more structured forms like sonnets and villanelles.

Typically, a poem uses the natural rhythms of language to conjure meaningful images for the reader. While poets in every age have been attracted to its form as a tool for intellectual or philosophical rhetoric, a truly great poem is one that imparts to individuals an attitude, emotion or idea without seeming to do so. More than writers in any other genre, poets must interest their audience if they're to impact them.

This isn't to suggest a poem means whatever any reader wants it to mean, or that it should merely delight. Far from it: without a definite (or at least, apprehendable) idea in mind, the poet ends up communicating nothing, just as he does if he simply intends to entertain.

What it does mean is that a poem should be universal to the extent that anyone can read it and get something out of it. Obviously, identifiying and understanding allusions, analogies and metaphors will heighten understanding (and enjoyment), but if an initial encounter ends void, the poet has failed to do what he or she set out to do.

Many of the world's greatest writers have been poets. The opportunity for a clever or brilliant turn of phrase in a poem is much higher than in a novel or treatise; poets often sweat for days over a single word, intent on using the language to its absolute potential. This is the paradox of poetry—even in its most primordial form, whispering to our deepest selves, poetry-making requires an active and agile mind.

But don't come to any poem primarily to learn in a cognitive sense; come first to enjoy, and then to learn what it means to love, to be human, to value and respect beauty, even to fear and mourn. Any novel can tell you how other people think, but few of them can unite all readers the way a poem can, to tear down barriers and speak where language is only a vague notion, and words are much more than their definitions.

Introduction by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.
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Poetrymagazine.org
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Audio files of poets reading their own work.
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104 Poems of Whimsy and Wisdom
by Amy Lykosh (editor), illustrated by Summer Wilhour
from Avyx, Inc.
for 2nd-4th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$11.00 (1 in stock)
All the Small Poems and Fourteen More
by Valerie Worth
from Sunburst Book
Lyrical Poetry for Preschool-4th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$9.99 $5.00 (6 in stock)
All the World's a Stage
by Rebecca Piatt Davidson, illustrated by Anita Lobel
from Greenwillow Books
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$6.40 (1 in stock)
AmblesideOnline Poetry Anthology Volume Six
from Ambleside Educational Press
for 5th grade
in Poetry Curriculum & Resources (Location: LIR-POET)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
America the Beautiful
by Katharine Lee Bates
from Aladdin Paperbacks
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
American Poetry
by David S. Shields
from Library of America
for 11th-Adult
in Poetry Anthologies (Location: POET-ANTH)
$20.00 (1 in stock)
American Poetry
by Gay Wilson Allen, Walter B. Rideout, James K. Robinson
from Harper & Row
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Poetry (Location: VIN-POET)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Anchor Book of Chinese Poetry
by Tony Barnstone & Chou Ping, eds.
from Anchor Books
for 9th-12th grade
in Poetry Anthologies (Location: POET-ANTH)
$17.00 $9.00 (1 in stock)
Another Book of Verses for Children
by E.V. Lucas (editor), illustrated by F.D. Bedford
from Macmillan
for 1st-5th grade
in Vintage Poetry (Location: VIN-POET)
$20.80 (1 in stock)
Arnold Lobel Book of Mother Goose
by Arnold Lobel
from Random House
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Mother Goose & Nursery Rhymes (Location: PIC-MG)
$9.60 (2 in stock)
Best Loved Fairy Tales / Selections from a Child's Garden of Verses
by Walter Crane & Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Jessie Wilcox Smith
from Grolier Publishing
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Vintage Picture Books (Location: VIN-PIC)
$4.80 (1 in stock)
Big Ball of String
by Marion Holland
from Random House Books for Young Readers
for Preschool- 3rd Grade
in Beginner Books (Location: EAR-BB)
$3.60 (2 in stock)
Book of Americans
by Rosemary and Stephen Vincent Benet, illustrated by Charles Child
from Farrar & Rinehart
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Poetry (Location: VIN-POET)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Booked
Crossover #2
by Kwame Alexander
from HMH Books for Young Readers
for 5th-7th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Canterbury Quintet
by Geoffrey Chaucer
from Little Leaf Press
for 10th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Canterbury Tales
by Geoffrey Chaucer (edited by Kolve V.A. & Glending Olson)
2nd edition from W. W. Norton and Co.
for 10th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
$11.20 (1 in stock)
Casey at the Bat
by Ernest L. Thayer & Christopher Bing
1st edition from Chronicle Books
for 2nd-6th grade
2001 Caldecott Honor Book
in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER)
$19.99 $10.00 (1 in stock)
Child's First Steps to Virtues
by Emily Hunter
from Harvest House
for Nursery-3rd grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Tasha Tudor
from Simon and Schuster
Poetry for 1st-5th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$16.99 $11.60 (1 in stock)
Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson
from Dover Publications
for 1st-5th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$4.00 $1.50 (1 in stock)
Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Eulalie
from Platt and Munk Publishers
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Cooper Edens
from Chronicle Books
for 1st-5th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Child's Garden of Verses
Arcadia
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Charles Robinson
from Princess House Books
Poetry for 1st-5th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson
from Macmillan
for 1st-5th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith
from Weathervane Books
for 2nd-5th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$6.40 (1 in stock)
Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Eulalie
Popular Edition from Platt and Munk Publishers
in Vintage Poetry (Location: VIN-POET)
$6.40 (1 in stock)
Child's Garden of Verses - A Poetry Pop-Up Book
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Martin & Alice Provensen
from Golden Books
for Preschool-1st grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Child's Introduction to Poetry
Books for Young Explorers
by Michael Driscoll & Meredith Hamilton
from Black Dog & Leventhal
for 2nd-8th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
Classic Poetry
by Michael Rosen & Paul Howard
from Candlewick Press
for 1st-6th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$11.00 (1 in stock)
Collected Poems of Robert Service
by Robert W. Service
1966 Edition from Dodd, Mead & Co.
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Poetry (Location: VIN-POET)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Complete Sonnets
Dover Thrift Editions
by William Shakespeare
from Dover Publications
Lyrical Poetry for 9th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$3.83 $1.60 (2 in stock)
Cornstalks: A Bushel of Poems
by James Stevenson
from Avyx, Inc.
for 4th-8th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$8.00 (4 in stock)
Dime a Dozen
by Nikki Grimes, Illustrated by Angelo
from Dial Books for Young Readers
for 5th-8th grade
in Poetry (Location: POET-GEN)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Drat These Brats!
from Margaret K. McElderry Books
for 1st-3rd grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Dream Keeper And Other Poems
by Langston Hughes
from Scholastic Inc.
for 5th-9th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Eric Carle's Animals Animals
by Eric Carle
First Edition from Philomel Books
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Family of Poems
by Caroline Kennedy
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Favorite Poems for Children
by Holly Pell McConnaughy, editor
from Barnes & Noble
for 1st-6th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Favorite Poems of Childhood
by Christina Rossetti, Edward Lear, Emily Dickinson, Eugene Field, Lewis Carroll, Robert Louis Stevenson, Sarah Josepha Hale
from Dover Publications
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$4.00 $2.50 (2 in stock)
Favorite Poems Old and New
by Helen Ferris
from Delacorte Press
Poetry for All ages
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$26.99 $17.50 (2 in stock)
First Poems of Childhood
by Tasha Tudor
from Grosset & Dunlap
for Nursery-3rd grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Flower Fairies of the Spring
by Cicely Mary Barker
from Frederick Warne & Company
for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$3.20 (1 in stock)
Flower Fairies of the Spring—A Celebration
by Cicely Mary Barker
from Frederick Warne & Company
for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$6.40 (1 in stock)
Fortune's Bones
by Marilyn Nelson, notes and annotations by Pamela Espeland
from Front Street
for 4th-8th grade
2005 Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book
in Slavery & the Underground Railroad (Location: HISA-19SL)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Fun Poems & Finger Plays
2nd edition from A Beka Books
for Preschool
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$13.00 (1 in stock)
Great Frog Race
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Harp and Laurel Wreath
by Laura M. Berquist
from Ignatius Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Poetry Anthologies (Location: POET-ANTH)
$24.95 $15.00 (1 in stock)
Heart to Heart
by Jan Greenberg
from Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
for 7th-12th grade
in Poetry (Location: POET-GEN)
$9.50 (2 in stock)
Highwayman
by Alfred Noyes, illustrated by Charles Mikolaycak
1st edition
for 3rd-8th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
How Do I Love Thee?
by Linda Rhodes (selected by), illustrated by David Johnson
from Hallmark Publications
for 6th-Adult
in Poetry Anthologies (Location: POET-ANTH)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
How to Eat a Poem
from Dover Publications
for 5th-8th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$2.00 (2 in stock)
I Sat by the Sea
by Jenny Phillips (editor)
from The Good and the Beautiful
for 3rd grade
in GATB Language Arts & Reading (Location: CUR-GABELA)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
I Saw Esau
by Iona & Peter Opie
First U.S. Edition from Candlewick Press
for 2nd-6th grade
in Poetry (Location: POET-GEN)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
I'm In Charge of Celebrations
by Byrd Baylor, illustrated by Peter Parnall
from Aladdin Paperbacks
for 2nd-6th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$3.60 (1 in stock)
If I Were In Charge of the World and Other Worries
by Judith Viorst, illustrated by Lynne Cherry
from Aladdin Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
John Brown's Body
by Stephen Vincent Benet
from Rinehart & Company, Inc.
for 10th-Adult
Pulitzer Prize Winner
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Joyful Noise
by Paul Fleischman
from HarperCollins
for 2nd-6th grade
1989 Newbery Medal winner
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$6.99 $4.00 (1 in stock)
Joyful Noise
by Paul Fleischman
1st edition from HarperCollins
for 4th-6th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Joyful Noise
by Paul Fleischman, illustrated by Eric Beddows
1st edition from Harper & Row
for 4th-6th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
La Vita Nuova
by Dante Alighieri
from Dover Publications
Medieval Poetry for 10th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
$2.55 $1.20 (1 in stock)
Lady of the Lake
The Students' Series of English Classics
by Sir Walter Scott, edited with introduction and notes by James Arthur Tufts
from Leach, Shewell & Sanborn
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Poetry (Location: VIN-POET)
$4.80 (1 in stock)
Leaves From a Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, Illustrated by Donna Green
from Vermillion, Inc
for Preschool-1st grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$4.80 (1 in stock)
Lessons from Nature
by John Bunyan
from Back Home Industries
Lyrical Poems for 3rd-6th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$24.00 $12.00 (1 in stock)
Lion and Blue
by Robert Vavra, illustrated by Fleur Cowles, preface by the Prince of the Netherlands
from Reynal and Co.
for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in Vintage Poetry (Location: VIN-POET)
$7.20 (1 in stock)
Lives of the Artists
by M. B. Goffstein
from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
for 3rd-8th grade
in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Llama Who Had No Pajama
by Betty Fraser, Mary Ann Hoberman
from Harcourt
for Ages 5-10
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$7.64 $4.40 (2 in stock)
Loony Limericks from Alabama to Wyoming
by Jack Stokes
from Doubleday & Company
for 3rd-6th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Lover's Posy
by Celia Haddon
from Michael Joseph
Valentine's Day Poetry for 6th-Adult
in Poetry Anthologies (Location: POET-ANTH)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Lowell's Vision of Sir Launfal
from Macmillan
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Poetry (Location: VIN-POET)
$7.20 (1 in stock)
Lullabies & Good Night
by Stephen Elkins (editor), illustrated with paintings by Mary Cassatt
from Ideals Children's Books
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Luxury of Words
by R. J. Rushdoony
from Chalcedon / Ross House Books
in Poetry (Location: POET-GEN)
$5.00 (2 in stock)
Mentor Book of Major American Poets
by Oscar Williams & Edwin Honig
from Mentor Books
in Poetry Anthologies (Location: POET-ANTH)
$8.99 $5.00 (1 in stock)
Merry Ballads of Robin Hood
by Laurabelle Dietrick, assisted by Joseph Franz-Walsh and illustrated by Edna Reindel
from Macmillan
Songs and Ballads for 7th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$9.60 (1 in stock)
Midnight Ride of Paul Revere
by Henry W. Longfellow, illustrated by Jeffrey Thompson
Reprint from Scholastic Inc.
for 1st-4th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$1.60 (1 in stock)
Mirror, Mirror
by Marilyn Singer, illustrated by Josee Masse
from Dutton Children's Books
for 2nd-4th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Mother Goose
by Arthur Rackham (illustrator)
from Wordsworth Classics
for Nursery-Kindergarten
in Mother Goose & Nursery Rhymes (Location: PIC-MG)
$2.40 (1 in stock)
Mother Goose
by Arthur Rackham (illustrator)
from Weathervane Books
for Nursery-Kindergarten
in Mother Goose & Nursery Rhymes (Location: PIC-MG)
$7.20 (2 in stock)
Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes
by Arthur Rackham (illustrator)
from Viking Press
for Nursery-Kindergarten
in Mother Goose & Nursery Rhymes (Location: PIC-MG)
$7.20 (2 in stock)
Mouse of Amherst
by Elizabeth Spires, Illustrated by Claire A. Nivola
from Scholastic Inc.
for 3rd-6th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$2.40 (2 in stock)
My America
by Lee Bennett Hopkins
from Scholastic Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
My Favorite Kindergarten Poems (old)
from A Beka Books
for Kindergarten Age 5
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$5.80 (1 in stock)
My First Oxford Book of Poems
by John Foster (compiler)
from Oxford University
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
My Shadow
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Ted Rand
First Impression from G.P. Putnam's Sons
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
My Very First Mother Goose
by Iona Opie
from Candlewick Press
for Nursery-kindergarten
in Mother Goose & Nursery Rhymes (Location: PIC-MG)
$5.60 (1 in stock)
My Very First Mother Goose
by Iona Opie
from Scholastic Inc.
for Nursery-kindergarten
in Mother Goose & Nursery Rhymes (Location: PIC-MG)
$3.60 (1 in stock)
My Very First Mother Goose
by Iona Opie
from Candlewick Press
for Nursery-kindergarten
in Mother Goose & Nursery Rhymes (Location: PIC-MG)
$4.80 (1 in stock)
Night Before Christmas
by Clement Moore, illustrated by Jan Brett
from Scholastic Press
for Preschool- 3rd Grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Now We Are Six
by A. A. Milne
from Dutton Children's Books
Poetry for Kindergarten-4th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Nursery Friends from France
from Book House for Children
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Vintage Anthology Collections (Location: VIN-ANTH)
$15.20 (1 in stock)
Odes of Keats
by Robert Gittings, John Keats
from Kent State University Press
for Adult
in Vintage Poetry (Location: VIN-POET)
$9.60 (1 in stock)
Once Upon a Poem
by Kevin Crossley-Holland, illustrated by Peter Bailey, Sian Bailey, Carol Lawson, Chris McEwan
from Scholastic Inc.
for 2nd-6th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Original Mother Goose
by Blanche Fisher Wright, illustrator
from Running Press
Rhyming Books for Preschool-Kindergarten
in Mother Goose & Nursery Rhymes (Location: PIC-MG)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Owl and the Pussycat
by Edward Lear, illustrated by Colin West
from Frederick Warne & Company
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$3.20 (1 in stock)
Owl and the Pussycat
by Edward Lear, illustrated by Gwen Fulton
from Atheneum
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$5.20 (1 in stock)
Owl and the Pussycat
by Edward Lear, illustrated by Gwen Fulton
from Katherine Tegen Books
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Oxford Book of Children's Verse in America
by Donald Hall, ed.
from Oxford University
for 2nd-6th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Oxford Book of Friendship
by D.J. Enright & David Rawlison
from Oxford University
for 9th-Adult
in Poetry Anthologies (Location: POET-ANTH)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Oxford Book of Poetry for Children
by Edward Blishen (editor), illustrated by Brian Wildsmith
from Franklin Watts
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Poetry (Location: VIN-POET)
$19.20 (1 in stock)
Oxford Illustrated Book of American Children's Poems
by Donald Hall
from Oxford University
for 2nd-5th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$12.74 $7.20 (1 in stock)
Paradise Lost
by John Milton
from Dover Publications
for 10th-Adult
in 17th Century Literature (Location: LIT4-17)
$12.00 $5.50 (2 in stock)
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