Poetic Form Review

ECHO ECHO: REVERSO POEMS ABOUT GREEK MYTHS

Photo retrieved from Amazon.com

A. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Singer, Marilyn. ECHO ECHO: A BOOK OF REVERSO POEMS. Ills. by Josee Masse. New York, NY: Dial Books, 2016.  ISBN 978-0803739925

B. CRITICAL ANALYSIS AND REVIEW

In another book of reverso style poems, Marilyn Singer entertains the young and old in this fun and unique presentation of Greek myths.  Offering a viewpoint from both sides of the myths, Singer offers a fun take on the well-known stories that have survived through the years.  In fourteen poems, she creates a snapshot of many tales of misfortune, greed, and love gone cursed. While the poems are short, they must be read carefully and repeatedly in order to connect the poems and find meaning in the opposing perspectives.

By using creative punctuation, Singer reverses each set of poems and has created a playful form of poetry.  Although some of the myths may be unfamiliar to very young children, the themes are universal and children can be guided toward understanding the themes.  These poems may create an early interest in Greek mythology for young ones, and they may find themselves looking for more books about these myths.

The poems consistently maintain the reader’s attention as young ones look back to check that the poems are truly written in reverse.  The poems provide a short synopsis of what each of the Greek  myths is about, and short conversations about each story may naturally ensue.  The illustrations in ECHO ECHO are provided by Josee Masse, who has also illustrated other reverso style poems by Singer, such as MIRROR MIRROR and FOLLOW FOLLOW. The illustrations are vibrant and whimsical.  Bold colors of golds, yellows, blues, and greens are used throughout the double paged layout.  The illustrations are intertwining of each other,  and they mirror the poems to provide much entertainment to the reader. Singer also provides a very brief explanation of the Greek myth on the bottom of the page of each poem, which a teacher or parent may find very useful when explaining the myths to children.  

C. HIGHLIGHT POEM

King Midas and His Daughter

Golden

girl.

alas, my

good father

still dares to call me,

who

would never offer a gentle hand.

What kind of man would for years not give a caress?

I must confess

I suffer much.

Today-

so needy

so greedy-

for one magic touch.

For one magic touch-

so greedy,

so needy-

today.

I suffer much,

I must confess.

What kind of man would for years not give a caress,

would never offer a gentle hand?

Who still dares to call me

“good Father?”

Alas, my

girl!

Golden.

When reading this particular poem with young ones, the teacher may first provide background information.  This could be done at storytime, using the book King Midas and the Golden Touch or showing them a video, such as the one at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zdTjVrbjKI  After presenting one of these two formats (or both!), the teacher can share the poem with the students.  The teacher can provide students with pre-made rose cut-outs, and students will use gold glitter to fill in their rose. Ask students what the meaning of the gold rose was in the story, and allow them to discuss the meaning of greed, need, and family in this story.

Verse Novel

DIAMOND WILLOW

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Frost, Helen. Diamond Willow.  New York, NY: Frances Foster Books, 2008. ISBN 9780374317768

CRITICAL ANALYSIS AND REVIEW

Diamond Willow is young adult novel written in verse by Helen Frost.  It is the story of a young  Native American Alaskan girl who finds her truth during an unexpected  adventure to her grandparents house.  It is told in first person perspective, by the main character, Diamond.  The story is fast and the plot is so enjoyable that  this novel can easily be read within a couple of hours or less.  The rhythm is very gentle, and flows very nicely throughout the book.  It brings emotion, excitement, love, and refrain all at once.  From  stepping out alone for the first time, the anguish of unintentionally  hurting someone you love, and the discovery of a long kept secret, Diamond Willow is a novel many will continue to ponder once they have finished reading it.

The poetic verse of the book is very easy to read through and enhances the story line. Within each diamond shaped verse, words are printed in bold that can be read as a simple sentence within the verse.  It is an additional quality that makes this novel so enjoyable for the reader.  As a middle school aged girl, Diamond experiences many of the young teenager feelings and emotions that are common to this age group.  Young adults will easily connect to Diamond, as she speaks from an honest and real perspective.  

As the plot is very quick, Frost uses imagery throughout the book and which provides a movie-like quality to the novel.  Vivid descriptions of scenery are created for the reader, and emotions so touching a tear may find itself falling onto the pages of this book.  Animal and human emotions take on a new meaning at the completion of this book, and the undeniable relationships that exist between the two species

Helen Frost provides an amazing twist on poetic verse in Diamond Willow.  A reader will naturally want to learn more about Alaskan culture and customs, even about Helen Frost, herself.  An appreciation for the Alaskan way of life will surely be gained.  She may even inspire a young writer to try their hand at shape poetry or simply inspire them to read more novels written in verse.  

Frost arranges each page of verse in changing diamond shapes.  Some are long and thin, while others are rounder.  The theme of the diamond willow tree is maintained by this feature, and later in the book the reader will discover a touching surprise regarding the diamond willow.  The cover of the book is an illustration of the young girl and her malamute dog facing each other, and one of the poem structures seems to provide a similar depiction of the cover illustration.  The diamond shaped verse is occasionally broken by the narration from the ancestors, but these breaks provide a chapter like break while reading.  Frost includes a simple heading for these narrations that explain who the narrator is.  She also includes an author’s note at the beginning which gives background information on the diamond willow tree and the geographical region where the story takes place.

HIGHLIGHT POEM

From pg. 19 in Diamond Willow:

All

my life,

this has been

my favorite place.

Grandma’s beadwork

on the table, Grandpa’s furs

stretched out to dry, the smell of

wood smoke mingling with the smell

of moose meat frying on the stove.

As soon as I walk in, I see that

Grandma’s made a batch of

doughnuts.  It’s how she

tells me, without

saying much,

she’s happy

the I’m

here.

Prior to reading this poem, the teacher can discuss favorite places and what that means to himself or herself. She or he can discuss their childhood and where and how they grew up. Then, he or she can read this part of the novel with the class and give students an opportunity to share out loud or on paper their favorite place as a young child. Who were the special people besides their parents who were in their lives? What are the vivid memories of the smells, feels, and and tastes of that favorite place? Allow students to have a show and tell of some of the items from their childhood and allow them to share these with the class.

Florian Poetry

COMETS, STARS, THE MOON, AND MARS

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A. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Florian, Douglas. COMETS, STARS, THE MOON, AND MARS: SPACE POEMS AND PAINTINGS.  Orlando, FL: Harcourt, 2007. ISBN 9780152053727

B.  CRITICAL ANALYSIS AND REVIEW

This collection of poetry by Douglas Florian is presented in a picture book format for young and older readers to enjoy.  This collection of twenty poems are centered around astronomy, and provide a fun and exciting twist on the subject.   They begin with sky watching, travel through universe, the galaxy, the solar system and the planets.  This natural progression may enhance a child's understanding of distance and the vastness of space.  He also includes poems about some of the other tidbits in the universe, such as comets.  His poetic formats vary throughout the book, and include free verse, rhyming, and shape poetry.  His poems seem to interact with the poetic format, and make for a wonderful visual experience.  While his collection is scientific in subject matter, Florian demonstrates his ability to use humor within his poetry and the context.  Florian does not refrain from introducing more advanced vocabulary, however, this does not take away from it child-like appeal.  

This collection features an interactive feel with cut-out circles and shapes in between pages that act like peek-holes into the next page. Each cut-out provides a small hint of what illustration and structure is to come.   The illustrations, illustrated by Florian, spread across the two pages and are fun to inspect and wonder about.  The dark colors and use of different media make for a great book gazing session.

Florian  includes a table of contents, a glossary of terms at the end of the book, and a bibliography. Each of these components adds an instructional value to the collection, as they each can be used for teaching parts of a book to young ones.  Florian also incorporates a touch of other languages.  In The Sun, young ones can have fun while they learn how to say "sun" in a variety of other languages! With this wonderful collection of poems about space, young children are likely to be excited about learning more about our solar system and universe.  

C.  HIGHLIGHT POEM 

Galaxy (This poem is presented in a spiral shape in the book)

A galaxy has stars galore:

a million, a billion,

billion, even more.

Some galaxies are round,

some flat.

Some form spirals.

Some seem far.

Some are egg shaped.

Some have bars.

All have stars, 

and stars, and stars.

During a science unit with elementary students, the librarian or teacher will read this collection of poems.  After the reading, the teacher or librarian will focus on this shape poem for the lesson.  The words on the accompanying page will be studied more carefully: spiral, flattened, irregular, ball-shaped, elliptical,  egg shaped, and barred.   How do the illustrations help the reader understand what those shapes look like?  The teacher or librarian will provide each table with a different word, and students will use clay to mold the shape they have.  Words like smooth, sharp, edges, round, and circles could be words incorporated from math.  

Once each table has created their shapes, each group will present their shapes and talk about what makes their shape special and unique.  Their "artwork" can then be shown off next to a copy of the poem at a parent teacher conference night or other event.

Note:  The book I reviewed had tears on some of the cut-outs, most likely from young hands poking though the holes.  Teachers and librarians may want to be cautious with very little ones!

PAT MORA POETRY

DIZZY IN YOUR EYES: POEMS ABOUT LOVE

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A. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Mora, Pat. DIZZY IN YOUR EYES: POEMS ABOUT LOVE. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 2010. ISBN 97803758437544

B. CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Pat Mora presents a collection of fifty poems about the trials and tribulations of love. Through the eyes of a variety of points of view, she connects her poetry with the overall theme of love. She includes points of view from teenage boys, teenage girls, and even love that has passed through the years. Each poem stands independently in this sense, however, Mora manages to maintain cohesiveness throughout the collection by traveling through the cycle of love. From the exciting beginning stages, to painful break-ups, and back to finding love again. Her collection provides a comforting assurance that love occurs in cycles, and that part of the process is discovering oneself.
She incorporates culture into the poem by including Spanish words sporadically throughout her poems, which are italicized for greater emphasis. This feature highlights her cultural self-awareness and provides a point of surprising imagery in some of her poems. This characteristic of the collection may make it more appealing for students who are still becoming comfortable with reading in English. Additionally, it may help to briefly review the format of the book with a young reader, as at first it takes a few poems to understand who the speaker of each poem is.

Mora acknowledges the difficulty that some poetic forms present, and she explains her approach. In Love Haiku, she provides a description of the traditional form, and goes on to explain how she approached the form in her poem. This aspect of the book can encourage a poetry-resistant teen or even adult to appreciate the different styles of poetic forms. Through this acknowledgement and explanation, she allows her poetry to be more enjoyable.  

She includes a substantial variety of poetic forms such as clerihew, list poems, dialogue form, blank verse, tanka, letter style, pantoum, sestina, villanelle, sonnet, cinquain, anaphora, haiku, acrostic, triolet, blues, couplet, lyric, ode, oda, and song. Although these poetic forms may be unfamiliar to the reader, the different styles add a novel touch to each poem. They may even inspire a writer to take a risk and try a new style when writing poetry!

The poems are arranged into a small and compact book, which make this a fun book to keep handy by a bedside or hidden away in a backpack. The cover is a black and white spiral illustration, with touches of red. It naturally attracts the eyes to the book, and provides a subtle hint for the tone of the book. It is mature of enough for a teen, and equally so for any adult. The poems are presented on the right side of the book, and there are random geometric shape designs on the opposite page.

C. HIGHLIGHT POEM

Introduce this poem during the week of Valentine's Day.  Discuss what took place in the poem and how they may relate to it.  Once the poem has been read several times, use the follow-up activity for writing.

Revenge X 3

I slipped a note to three-
the same note-Romeo me,
experienced at poetry.

All three were sweetly pretty.
Each read my words, smiled slyly.
I felt clever and happy.

My life would be a movie-
calls to make, hands to hold lightly,
poems to write nightly.

But one day, three cam frowning toward me,
no hint of beauty.  Running, I yelled loudly,
"Your frowns will make you ugly!"

Each crowned me-not that lightly.
"Rat!" they shouted, pounding fiercely,
shouted-pounded, "Triple-header!!" furiously.  

After reading the poem as a class, separate the girls and boys on opposite sides of the room.  Allow them to discuss within their own gender their perception of what happened in the poem.  Then, have the two groups face each other (like a debate), and share their ideas with each other.   The teacher can act as a facilitator, and can ask questions to keep the discussion going!  

NCTE AWARD POETRY

DARK EMPEROR & OTHER POEMS OF THE NIGHT

Photo Retrieved from Amazon.com

A. Bibliography

Sidman, Joyce. DARK EMPEROR & OTHER POEMS OF THE NIGHT. Ill by Rick Allen. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010. ISBN 9780547152288

B. Review and Critical Analysis

The book is a collection of short poems written by award winning poet Joyce Sidman, and does not include the works of any other poets. Although each poem is written by the same author, each poem is unique as it beautifully describes each creature and organism of the night presented in the book. In Snail at Moonrise, Sidman uses rhyming and rhythm to describe the nightly activities of the nocturnal snail. The quiet snail’s movements and structure are described using sensory imagery.  Sidman uses a variety of styles in her poetry, and the styles complement the content of the book very well.

As the illustrations work together with the poetry, the poems sustain the interest of the reader throughout the book. The lyrical nature of the poems add a soothing touch as the creatures, insects, and plants are quietly featured in each poem. The creatures, such as the spider and cricket, connect the reader to the typical crawling animals wondering through the night. Sidman animates the eleven organisms and the moon as she incorporates science and poetry together for a creative blend of content and poetry. For each creature and the moon, the author includes an informational text feature for the reader’s reference. This component in the book is a valuable element, as it provides general information that may help the reader clarify his or her understanding of the poem. For example, young readers may have limited knowledge or interaction with animals such as the porcupine and the snail, and Sidman provides informational content for them throughout the book.

As the book cover and title suggest, the poems deliver on the mood of the book. The tone is nocturnal, while the poems shed light on the night life of nature. Since children tend to fear the night time and creatures of the night, this collection may spark a new appreciation and curiosity for these tranquil animals and plants.

Sidman provides a delicately colored table of contents for her collection of poems. Each poem is accompanied by lavish illustrations by Rick Allen, and they are presented on the opposite page of the poem. Allen allows a small illustration to creep onto the poem page, which blends the poetry and illustrations together nicely. The last pages of the book present a two page spread of the sun peeking out from the covers of the night, and the absence of the creatures of the night. Sidman also includes a Glossary, with each term in a bold type and delicate color tone. A nice feature of the book is a purple color on the front case, and a light orange color on the back case.  From cover to cover, the theme  of the book is maintained by all of the wonderful features of this book.

C. Highlighted Poem to Support Critical Analysis

I Am A Baby Porcupette

I am a baby porcupette.
My paws are small; my nose is wet.
And as I nurse against my mom,
we mew and coo a soft duet.

I am a baby porcupette.
I cannot climb up branches yet.
While Mom sleeps in the trees, I curl.
beneath a log until sun has set.

I am a baby porcupette.
I nibble in the nighttime wet:
a sprig of leaves, a tuft of grass,
in hidden spots I won’t forget.

I am a baby porcupette.
My fur is soft; my eyes are jet.
But I can deal with any threat:
I raise my quills and pirouette.

This poem would be a wonderful poem to incorporate for a Mother’s Day lesson to discuss mother and child relationships. The teacher could use the following discussion questions:

• How is the baby porcupette similar to a human child? 

• How is the baby porcupette’s feelings toward his mother similar to your feelings toward your mother? 

• What are differences between a human child and baby porcupette? 

• What animal reminds you of the relationship between you and your mother?

Any of the poems from the book could also be used as supplemental material for a science unit on animals.  During a unit of study on nocturnal and diurnal animals, poems could be presented during a poetry break throughout the unit.