This document provides an overview of poetry for young adults, including definitions of poetry, characteristics of poetry for young adults, different types of poetry like slam poetry, and organizations that promote poetry for various age groups. It discusses how poetry allows for creative expression and can elicit emotional responses from readers. Various poets provide their thoughts on what defines poetry. Overall, the document explores poetry from several angles to help introduce readers to this artistic form.

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Poetry and
Young Adults

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Young Adult Librarian Dewey on poetry

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Dewey and poetry 2

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More Dewey and poetry

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What is
Poetry?

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 Poetry
– Poetry (ancient Greek: ποιεω (poieo) = I
create) is an art form in which human
language is used for its aesthetic
qualities in addition to, or instead of, its
notional and semantic content. It
consists largely of oral or literary works
in which language is used in a manner
that is felt by its user and audience to
differ from ordinary prose.
• from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(the actual article has since been changed!)

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What is poetry?
 What is poetry?
– Poetry really has no one set definition.
Shadow Poetry defines poetry as the art
of writing thoughts, ideas, and dreams
into imaginative language which can
contain
verse, pause, meter, repetition, and
rhyme.

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Here’s how some famous poets have defined
poetry:
•: “The best words in the best order.”
• Samuel Taylor Coleridge
– “The record of the best and happiest
moments of the best and happiest minds.”
• Percy Bysshe Shelley
– “If I read a book and it makes my whole
body so cold no fire can ever warm me, I
know that it is poetry.”
• Emily Dickinson
– “Poetry is the spontaneous
overflow of powerful feelings.”
• William Wordsworth

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A poetical answer
What is Poetry?: A Non-Lecture
– What is poetry?
Love lie with me, and I will tell.
Poetry a lawless enterprise.
Poetry the truth that reveals all
lies.
Poetry a camera-eye without a
shutter.
Poetry, unlike armchair
philosophy, does not leave the
world unchanged.
• Selection: What is Poetry?
Rough Draft of an ARS POETICA
Delivered, on the occasion of his
receiving The Frost Medal,
by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

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 12-year old Katie’s thoughts on poetry
from True to Form by Elizabeth Berg:
– If you see a sunset and try and describe it
to someone in normal words, all you can
say is, “Boy, I saw a great sunset last
night.” But if you are a poet, you can give
it to someone to feel for themselves. Like
you make a little seed of what you
saw, they swallow it, and it blooms again
inside their own heart.
– “. . . then there is the scritch scritch of my
pen, trying to say something so true. What
if it works? Then when I read it again, the
little voice inside will say, Yes. Yes. Yes.
• From Poetry “Thinks”
by Kristine O'Connell
George

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
– The Poetry Foundation, publisher
of Poetry magazine, is an
independent literary organization
committed to a vigorous presence
for poetry in our culture. It exists
to discover and celebrate the best
poetry and to place it before the
largest possible audience.
– Poetry Magazine. Founded in
Chicago by Harriet Monroe in
1912, Poetry is the oldest monthly
devoted to verse in the English-
speaking world.

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Sponsored by Poetry Foundation

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 Welcome to poetry.org
– Poetry.org is a resource site for poetry
and poets. Here you can learn about the
history, meaning, and types of poetry, as
well as terms often used when reading
and studying poetry. There is also the
resource page: a series of links to various
poetry sites for daily poetry, poetry
organizations, poet biographies, and
more. And there is our selection of
poetry from various famous
poets, including William
Shakespeare, Robert Frost, Emily
Dickinson, and e e cummings.

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
– The Academy of American
Poets . . . administers a wide
variety of programs, including
National Poetry Month (April),
the largest literary celebration
in the world; online educational resources
providing free poetry lesson plans for high
school teachers; the Poetry Audio Archive, a
collection of over 700 recordings dating back
to the 1960s; and Poets.org, our award-
winning website which provides a wealth of
content on contemporary American
poetry and receives a million unique
users each month.
• About Us

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Other poetry websites

17. 17 A poet who wrote a load of nonsense

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Shel Silverstein
The Shel Silverstein Archive

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A Poet for Young Adults

Ego Tripping (there may be a reason why)

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Poetry lessons
WritingFix Project: Poetry
Lessons & Prompts
resources inspired by the
NNWP's annual Piñon Poetry
Festival

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What’s the use of poetry?
 Can Poetry Really Change the World?
– . . . there are those, including
myself, who believe in poets as the
antennae of the race, as the conscience of
society, or at least as Jack Kerouac
said, “the great rememberer redeeming
life from darkness.” The greatest poets’
greatest lines have entered mass
consciousness, and they are great
precisely because they have continued to
resonate in our lives today.
• Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Poetry As News

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What makes good YA poetry?
 Bucher and Manning:
– Does the poem have meaning for the young
adult—can the young adult relate to the topic, the
setting, the theme, or the emotion being conveyed?
– Does the poem elicit rich sensory images or deep
emotional responses, which young adults
appreciate or understand?
• Characteristics of Poetry for
Young Adults Excerpted From:
• See a revised version on p. 296
of the 2nd ed. by Bucher and
Hinton (current text for LIB 617)
Young Adult Literature
Exploration, Evaluation,
and Appreciation 1st ed.

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More characteristics of YA Poetry
Bucher and Manning:
– Does the poem allow adolescents to experience the
power of words and to explore how words can elicit
certain emotional responses?
– Does the poem have vivid imagery and vibrant
language?
– Will the poem provide pleasure (i.e., can young
adults relate to the poetry in some way either as an
event or emotion they have experienced Excerpted From:
or would like to experience)?
• Characteristics of Poetry for Young Adults
Young Adult Literature
Exploration,
Evaluation, and
Appreciation 1st ed.

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More Dewey and Poetry

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What is a poetry slam, anyway?

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What is a poetry slam?
 What is poetry slam?
– Simply put, poetry slam is the
competitive art of performance poetry.
It puts a dual emphasis on writing and
performance, encouraging poets to
focus on what they’re saying and how
they're saying it.

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An organization for poetry slams
What is Poetry Slam, Inc.?
– Poetry Slam, Inc. is the official 501(c)(3) non-
profit organization charged with overseeing
the international coalition of poetry slams.
Though slams are maintained in a growing
number of cities by local volunteer
organizers, the vast majority of slam series
follow the rules established by the governing
body, and are certified by the governing body
as slams that adhere to the vision slam's
founders established for the art form over a
decade ago.

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And one that claims to have started it all
 The uptown poetry slam
– ....the one that started them all, has been
running for over 20 years, hosted by the
slampapi himself, the one WHO started IT
all... the creator of the poetry slam...
Marc Kelly Smith. (so what!)
– See “Official Poetry Slam History
and Beliefs”
– And “What is a Poetry Slam?”

29. 29 A new organization for poetry for YA and
children
 Poetry Advocates for Children & Young
Adults
– A grassroots, not-for-profit organization
dedicated to promoting poetry for every age
group. Founded by poet Steven Withrow in 2011.
– You may follow us on Facebook and Twitter, or
subscribe to this blog
– ANNOUNCEMENT: PACYA Goals for 2011 and
2012

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TRANSITIONAL PAGE