Song of Myself and Other Poems by Walt Whitman
Selected and Introduced by Robert Hass
With a lexicon of the poem by Robert Hass and Paul Ebenkamp
Counterpooint, 2010
You’re probably thinking, Does the world need another edition of Walt
Whitman’s “Song of Myself”? Of course, the answer is
no.
And yet, when a poet like former US Poet Laureate, Robert Hass, creates a
new edition, it’s worth a look. This edition includes the original
version of the poem published in 1855 and the so-called “deathbed edition” of
1891. I’m a Whitman fan and agree with Haas, who says of the long poem, “It
was then and is now an astonishment, perhaps the most unprecedented poem
in the English language.” To celebrate the brilliance and playfulness
of Whitman’s language, this edition includes a helpful lexicon of the
poem.
The Ode Less Travellled: Unlocking the Poet Within
by Stephen Fry
Gotham Books (Penguin Group)
If you enjoy teaching poetry to young people, chances are you dabble in the
poetic arts yourself.
The Ode Less Travelled: Unlocking the Poet Within by
Stephen Fry is a book for a writer who wants to be challenged by exploring
some of the finer points of more formal poetic forms. Fry covers such
concepts as meter, rhyme, form, and diction as he introduces the reader to
the features of such poetic forms as the sonnet, ode, villanelle, ballad
and haiku. Try this book if you believe as Fry does that “a small,
often ignored corner of us positively yearns” to write poetry.
Integrating Literature in the Content Areas: Enhancing Adolescent
Learning and Literacy
by Sharon Kane
Holcomb Hathaway, Publishers
Although you’re
unlikely to find this book on the shelf of your local bookstore, it is worth
tracking it down because Kane offers valuable strategies
for integrating literature into the content areas by serving up specific
teaching strategies, annotated reading lists, and author studies for informational
books, fiction, poetry, and biography, autobiography, and memoir. Kane has
done middle school and high school teachers a great service with this practical,
accessible resource.
You can get more info about this title at:
http://www.hh-pub.com/
