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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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Poetry Foundation
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Acts of Light
by Emily Dickinson, illustrated by Nancy Ekholm Burkert, appreciation by Jane Langton
Third Printing from Little, Brown & Company
for 4th-Adult
in Poetry (Location: POET-GEN)
$5.00 (1 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)
$8.00 (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)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Annotated Mother Goose
by William S. Baring-Gould & Ceil Baring-Gould
from Bramhall House
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$9.00 (2 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)
$26.00 (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)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Babes and Cradles
by Maud Wolcott Spalding, illustrated by Lucile Patterson Marsh & Anita Parkhurst
from Southern Publishing Association
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Vintage Picture Books (Location: VIN-PIC)
$11.00 (1 in stock)
Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
by Fred Rogers, illustrated by Luke Flowers
from Quirk Books
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Best Loved Poems of the American People
by Hazel Felleman (editor)
from Doubleday & Company
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Poetry (Location: VIN-POET)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Bilbo's Last Song
by J.R.R. Tolkien, Illustrated by Pauline Baynes
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 3rd-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$16.99
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)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Book of Pigericks
by Arnold Lobel
First Ediition from Harper & Row
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Book of Verses for Children
by E. V. Lucas
1st THUS from Popular Culture Ink
for Preschool-4th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
BOX: Henry Brown Mails Himself to Freedom
by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Michele Wood
from Candlewick Press
for 4th-6th grade
2021 Newbery Honor Book
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$17.99
Carver: A Life in Poems
by Marilyn Nelson
from Boyds Mill Press
for 7th-11th grade
2002 Newbery Honor Book, Coretta Scott King Honor Award
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$16.95
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
Child's Book of Poems
by Gyo Fujikawa
from Sterling Publishing Co.
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$14.99
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)
$19.99 $14.50 (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
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith
from Charles Scribner's Sons
for Preschool-4th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$9.00 (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, illustrated by Joanna Isles
from Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
for 1st-5th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Thomas Kinkade
First Edition, Thus from Thomas Nelson Publishers
for 1st-5th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$10.00 (2 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)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Juanita C. Bennett
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 2nd-5th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$16.00 (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)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Child's Garden of Verses
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 Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Eulalie
from Platt and Munk Publishers
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Vintage Poetry (Location: VIN-POET)
$8.00 (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 (2 in stock)
Child's Introduction to Poetry
Books for Young Explorers
by Michael Driscoll & Meredith Hamilton
First Revised Edition from Black Dog & Leventhal
for 2nd-8th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$19.99
Christopher Robin Book of Verse
by A. A. Milne, illustrated by Ernest H. Shepard
1st edition from E.P. Dutton & Co.
for 1st-3rd grade
in Vintage Poetry (Location: VIN-POET)
$13.00 (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)
Collected Poems of T. S. Eliot
by T. S. Eliot
1st edition from Harcourt
for 10th-Adult
in Poetry (Location: POET-GEN)
$25.00
Collected Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe
by Edgar Allan Poe
from Modern Library
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$25.00
Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night
by Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Rick Allen
from Houghton Mifflin
for 1st-4th grade
2011 Newbery Honor Book
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$17.99
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)
Divine Comedy
by Dante Alighieri, translated by Allan Mandelbaum
from Everyman's Library
for 10th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
$35.00
Emily Dickinson Poems
by Emily Dickinson
2nd edition from Castle Books
for 6th-Adult
in Poetry (Location: POET-GEN)
$7.00 (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 (2 in stock)
Family of Poems
by Caroline Kennedy
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Family Read-Aloud Holiday Treasury
by Selected by Alice Low, Illustrated by Marc Brown
First Ediition from Little, Brown & Company
for Kindergarten-4th grade
in Picture Book Treasuries (Location: PIC-TRE)
$5.00 (1 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
Flower Fairies of the Spring
by Cicely Mary Barker
from Frederick Warne & Company
for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$4.00 (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)
$8.00 (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)
Frog Went A-Courtin'
by John Langstaff, illustrated by Feodor Rojankovsky
from Harcourt, Brace & World
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$9.00 (2 in stock)
Heart to Heart
by Jan Greenberg
from Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
for 7th-12th grade
in Poetry (Location: POET-GEN)
$12.00 (2 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, Too, Am America
by Langston Hughes and Brian Collier
from Simon and Schuster
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$19.99
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
1st edition from HarperCollins
for 4th-6th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Lady of the Lake
by Sir Walter Scott, edited with notes by William J. Rolfe
from Houghton Mifflin
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Poetry (Location: VIN-POET)
$6.00 (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)
$6.00 (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)
$6.00 (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
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)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Little Book of Poems & Prayers
by Joan Walsh Anglund
1st edition from Simon and Schuster
for Nursery-3rd grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$5.50 (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)
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)
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)
Marshmallow Clouds
by Ted Kooser and Connie Wanek, illustrated by Richard Jones
from Candlewick Press
for Kindergarten-5th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$19.99
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)
$12.00 (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 Weathervane Books
for Nursery-Kindergarten
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes
by Arthur Rackham (illustrator)
from Viking Press
for Nursery-Kindergarten
in Mother Goose & Nursery Rhymes (Location: PIC-MG)
$9.00 (2 in stock)
My Daddy Rules the World
by Hope Anita Smith
from Henry Holt and Company
for Preschool-4th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$17.99
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 Symphony
by William Henry Channing, illustrated by Mary Engelbreit
from Andrews McMeel
for 3rd-Adult
in Poetry (Location: POET-GEN)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
My Uncle Emily
by Jane Yolen
from Philomel Books
for Nursery-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$17.99
My Very First Mother Goose
by Iona Opie
from Candlewick Press
for Nursery-kindergarten
in Mother Goose & Nursery Rhymes (Location: PIC-MG)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Night Before Christmas with DVD
by Clement Moore, illustrated by Jan Brett
from Putnam Juvenile
for Preschool- 3rd Grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$9.00 (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)
$19.99
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)
$19.00 (1 in stock)
Odes of Keats
by Robert Gittings, John Keats
from Kent State University Press
for Adult
in Vintage Poetry (Location: VIN-POET)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Ordinary Hazards
by Nikki Grimes
from Wordsong
for 10th-Adult
2020 Robert F. Siebert Honor Book
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$19.99
Original Mother Goose
by Blanche Fisher Wright, illustrator
from Running Press
Rhyming Books for Preschool-Kindergarten
in Mother Goose & Nursery Rhymes (Location: PIC-MG)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Out of the Dust
by Karen Hesse
1st edition from Scholastic Inc.
Realistic Fiction for 6th-8th grade
1998 Newbery Medal winner
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$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)
$4.00 (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)
$6.50 (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)
$24.00 (1 in stock)
Peaceful Pieces: Poems and Quilts About Peace
by Anna Grossnickle Hines
from Henry Holt and Company
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Piper, Pipe That Song Again
by Nancy Larrick
from Random House
for Preschool-5th grade
in Vintage Poetry (Location: VIN-POET)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Poems with Power to Strengthen the Soul
by James Mudge, compiler
Wartime Edition from Abingdon-Cokesbury Press
for 8th-Adult
in Vintage Poetry (Location: VIN-POET)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Poetry Speaks to Children w/CD
by Elise Paschen (editor), illustrated by Judy Love, Wendy Rasmussen, Paula Zinngrabe Wendland
from Sourcebooks
for Kindergarten-6th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Poke in the I
by Paul Janeczko
1st edition from Candlewick Press
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Prayer for a Child
by Rachel Field
1957 Printing from Macmillan
for 1st-3rd grade
in Vintage Picture Books (Location: VIN-PIC)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Prison Poems
by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
from Zondervan
for 9th-Adult
in Poetry (Location: POET-GEN)
$11.99
Rainbow Gold
by Sara Teasdale
from Macmillan
for 1st-5th grade
in Vintage Poetry (Location: VIN-POET)
$19.00 (1 in stock)
Rainbow in the Sky
by Louis Untermeyer, illustrated by Reginald Birch
from Harcourt, Brace & Company
for 1st-4th grade
in Vintage Poetry (Location: VIN-POET)
$15.00 (1 in stock)
Randolph Caldecott's Favorite Nursery Rhymes
by Randolph Caldecott
from Castle Books
for Nursery-2nd grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Random House Book of Poetry for Children
by Jack Prelutsky
from Random House
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
Real Mother Goose
by Blanche Fisher Wright, illustrator
from Scholastic Inc.
Rhyming Books for Preschool-Kindergarten
in Mother Goose & Nursery Rhymes (Location: PIC-MG)
$9.95 $6.00 (1 in stock)
Real Mother Goose
by Blanche Fisher Wright, illustrator
from Barnes & Noble
Rhyming Books for Preschool-Kindergarten
in Mother Goose & Nursery Rhymes (Location: PIC-MG)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Real Mother Goose
by Blanche Fisher Wright
for 1st-3rd grade
in Mother Goose & Nursery Rhymes (Location: PIC-MG)
$6.00 (2 in stock)
Requiem for Love
by Calvin Miller
from Word Publishing
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
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