This document discusses poetry and drama, and includes information about mice. It provides definitions and discussions of poetry, including what poetry is, how poets have defined it, and thoughts on poetry from a 12-year-old. It also discusses drama, including definitions of drama and theater. Additionally, it covers various poetry and drama topics like poetry slams, readers theater, Native American poetry and plays, and using drama in education.

1. Poetry
and
Drama
--and Mice!
ELE 616 Readings and Research in
Children‟s Literature
Fall 2012

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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

5. 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 an older version of the “Poetry” article in
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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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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How poets have defined it
Here’s how some famous poets define 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
What is poetry?

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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.

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Other poetry websites
Poetry For Children

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A poet who wrote a load of nonsense
Edward Lear, Limericks,
and Nonsense: A Little
Nonsense
Edward Lear, Limericks,
and Nonsense: There Once
Was…

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A Lear Mouse Limerick

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Shel Silverstein
The Shel Silverstein Archive

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Mouse poem by Shel Silverstein

21. Jack Prelutsky, the nation’s first 21
Children’s Poet Laureate
“Never Poke Your Uncle With a Fork”
For years Jack Prelutsky has been known
informally as a poet laureate for kids. Now the
Poetry Foundation has made it official, naming
him the nation‟s first Children‟s Poet Laureate
and putting a prestigious stamp of approval on
the man and his work.

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Mice by Prelutsky

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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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National Poetry Month
What is National
Poetry Month?
Celebrate national Poem In Your Pocket
Day on Thursday, April 26, 2012!

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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 children’s poetry?
Three elements of good children’s poetry:
an emphasis on form
a not too elaborate grammatical and
narrative complexity
 a reasonable familiarity and
established place in the language.
It‟s worth noticing, however, that this
has the harsh consequence that
children are unable to write good
children‟s verse—and we make a
mistake when we demand they do so.
• J. Bottum, What Children‟s Poetry is For
American Educator, Fall 1997.

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A Native American Poet

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Poetry by young Native Americans

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More Dewey and Poetry

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What is a poetry slam, anyway?

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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.

32. What about
Drama?

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What is drama?
What is drama?
„Drama‟ is an Ancient Greek word
meaning „act‟ or „deed‟. The Ancient
Greek philosopher Aristotle used this
term in a very influential treatise called
the Poetics. In this text, Aristotle
classified different forms of poetry
according to basic features he thought
could be commonly recognised in their
composition. He used the term „drama‟
to describe poetic compositions that
were „acted‟ in front of audiences in a
theatron.

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What about theatre?
What is theatre?
Theatre is a living art. Theatre is
storytelling at its most magical.
Theatre is reality. Theatre is
fantasy. Theatre is the expression of
the human condition in its myriad
forms throughout history. Theatre
is experimentation. Theatre is
problem-solving, and Theatre is
fun.
• BA in Theatre – Major/Minor

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The Purpose of Drama
Why study drama?
Through drama you can become
anyone, anywhere, at anytime. By
understanding drama you can learn
to understand anyone, anywhere
anytime. Plays often capture the
essence of a culture or a group
within that culture. They reveal the
attitudes and opinions of their day.
•

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Drama in education
Why can drama lead to successful teaching and
learning?
Drama . . . can offer a powerful
stimulus in motivating children to
learn as they are operating within a
relationship that is human- to-
human, rather than one that is
human- to- abstract concept. It is this
that acts as the lure to draw members
of the class in and enables them to see
the relevance of the learning
• Holden, J. (2002, Summer). What‟s this got to do
with maths? Education Review, 15,2

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Drama as a motivator

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A special form of drama
Reader’s theatre
Readers Theatre is an oral reading
activity that closely resembles radio
drama. Two or more readers stand
or sit side by side, usually in a
semicircle, holding scripts and
reading their parts to portray
characters, narration or exposition.
Physical movement is minimal.
Instead, speech conveys the action.
• Readers Theatre by Sam Sebesta

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What Is RT?
And How Do You Really Spell It?
There are many styles of reader‟s
theater, but nearly all share these
features:
• Narration serves as the framework of
dramatic presentation.
• No full stage sets. If used at all, sets are
simple and suggestive.
• No full costumes. If used at all, costumes
are partial and suggestive, or neutral and
uniform.
• No full memorization. Scripts are used
openly in performance
– Aaron Shepard
For more reader‟s theater, visit Aaron Shepard‟s RT Page at
www.aaronshep.com/rt

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Native American plays
Pushing Up the Sky: And
Other Native American
Plays for Children (2000) A
collection of stories by Joseph
Bruchac
From acclaimed Native
American storyteller
Joseph Bruchac comes a
collection of seven lively
plays for children to
perform, each one adapted
from a different traditional
Native tale.

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Drama from YA Librarian Dewey

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Lesson plan ideas with drama
Including a mouse!
Getting children to start reading at a
young age can be a real challenge. A
great way to get elementary-aged
children interested in reading is by
staging or reading a play.
The Lion & The Mouse
Tess is a fearless mouse looking for an
adventure. When her quest for an
adventure leads her into a lion‟s cave,
Tess finds herself at the mercy of
Balthazar the lion. Rather than eating
her for dinner, Balthazar decides to
become friends with Tess.