Today is Labor Day, which typically signals the end of summer as students head back to school and the weather slowly begins to change. Since I headed back to school and began my junior year at Hope College I have been thinking about change. I do not often think of change as beautiful because I …
Category Archives: Poetry
Poetry Forms
The form of a poem is one of the first things readers notice about a poem. Oftentimes a poet chooses a form that fits with the message of the poem. Below are a few types of poetry and poems that fit within this category. These may be helpful when reading Joy Harjo’s book, An American …
Recap of Poetry Tips
Here’s a recap of the poetry tips shared on our blog and social media posts so far. Use these tips to explore poetry and this year’s book collection, An American Sunrise by Joy Harjo. Read Outside: Sometimes all it takes to better understand something or to want to read something is a change of space. …
Songs are Poems too!
Have you ever thought about the similarities between songs and poetry? Music often feels more accessible because it is part of our daily lives, but poetry can be just as accessible with practice! There are countless genres of music, which means each individual has different variations of genres and artists. Similarly, people have favorite poets …
Watch your tone!
One of our past poetry strategies has been to think about your mood as you read a poem. Another great strategy is to think about the tone the author takes within a poem. Tone and mood often go hand in hand because the attitude or tone a poet takes within a poem impacts the mood …
Nervous about Poetry?
Our Big Read 2021 book announcement day was last week and there’s already lots of excitement around our chosen book, An American Sunrise by Joy Harjo. We have lots of poetry fans along the Lakeshore, many of whom have been waiting a long time for our Big Read program to choose a book of poetry. We’ve …
Every Word Counts!
Words in a poem are like sentences in a novel. Poems tend to vary in length but each word is usually chosen by the author for a reason. For those who read poetry, a good strategy is to pay attention to the diction, or the choice of words within a poem. One way to do …
Happy Memorial Day: Remembrance through Poetry
Memorial Day usually means the kick-off to summer with picnics and time with family and friends. I sometimes become so excited by that summer has arrived that I forget about the origins of Memorial Day and its purpose of helping us remember history and those in our country who lost their lives in service to …
Continue reading “Happy Memorial Day: Remembrance through Poetry”
Poetry: Tell Me How You Really Feel
Sometimes when we study poetry in school, it can be easy to focus on analyzing the literary aspects of a poem. We can forget to simply delight in how a poem makes us feel. In some of my English classes over the years, I have talked so much about rhyme schemes, metaphors, and meanings that …