The Art of Poetry Paperback – January 1, 2009

I was greatly impressed by this textbook. The approach actually helps the student to understand the tools of poetry by examining the masters who used them. The book includes explanations of the tools, historical background of the poems and a short biography of each poet. There are plenty of assignments for student work to choose from, spanning from invention of personal poetry within the style being studied, to essays, recitations, and artistic interpretations. Perhaps most helpful of all are the short analyses that the author provides for some of the poems. I wish I had bought the teacher's guide which I saw too late, includes many more of these essays. They are a fantastic model for any student who wishes to read and write thoughtfully about poetry. My student and I completed the text in 3 months but are still using it as a reference and guide to reading poetry thoughtfully.Although I used the text within a homeschool setting, it is not written for that and could be used in any highschool classroom. I recommend this book to all the poets participating in the Athanatos Christian Ministries yearly poetry contest.

Clear, straightforward writing. The author assumes no prior knowledge but is cheerful and positive about poetry, and does not talk down to the student. have used it in a small group setting (think homeschool co-op) and one-on-one, and it works well in both.

I have been working my way through this book with the intention of improving my understanding of poetry so that scripture reading will be more beneficial. I am only on the 3rd chapter, but have enjoyed it very much so far.I learned about the book from seeing her interview on YouTube. I very much enjoyed that and was happy to learn that she is a Christian. She seems very insightful and thoughtful. During her interview, she was moved to tears while doing her presentation. I wish that some of my college profs would have been so deep and emotionally genuine.After listening to her interview, I wanted to know what she had written. I am very pleased with this book.

I purchased the teacher's guide to the Art of Poetry based on the recommendation of a homeschooling friend of mine, and now wish that I had not spent the money. The index to the poems is buried somewhere about 2/3 of the way through the book, and every time I wanted to find a poem, I was frustrated by searching for the index. (For a long time I thought there was no index. Perhaps the index should be in the Table of Contents.- which does not list any poems or authors.) This Poetry book claims to be a a tool for those teaching classically; however, its presentation is pretentious and very, very much in the manner of traditional schools- dry and rambling! Ok, the poems included would pass any parent's test of innocuous and safe, but the divisions are artificial- the fact that a poem might possibly overlap between symbolism, metaphor, and rhythm is never addressed. The artificial grouping is frustrating and gives an overall effect of "putting on airs."This book has all the appearance of a "pretender". More space is spent on questions, analysis, and ways in which to organize one's Poetry club- which, by the way, if one doesn't have a Poetry Club, he obviously does not belong to the "intelligent" class of poetry appreciating elites for whom this book PURPORTS to be intended. The irony is that few who truly enjoy poetry would purchase this book - even as a teaching tool. The actual intended audience is clearly the "pretenders," - those who like to surround themselves with people who have a literary background, yet have not a clue about how to actually enjoy poetry themselves. The selection of poems is hardly representative and very, very small in relation to the size of the book. None of the poems are remotely entertaining- "funny", which by itself let's the reader know immediately that poetry is not for the average individual but for those who prefer to cogitate or to meditate or to impress their peers with their depth of intelligence and understanding.How can this "poetry" book claim to be for lovers of poetry? Those who truly LOVE to read poetry would much prefer a dog eared volume with a rich and varied selection of respectable, beautiful, entertaining, thought provoking poems.Unfortunately, this tome is a "Teacher's Manual." for those who haven't a clue about how to study poetry, let alone teach poetry to others, yet the teacher who wades through the poorly organized 313 page encumbrance and spends hours reading the pages of analysis for one small poem is not very likely to captivate his students. Ms. Perrin should have offered a CLASS on how to appreciate and teach poetry and spent more page space on more poems!

If you are interested in diving deeper into poetry this a great book to start. Regardless of age you can learn a lot from it.

Amazing.