Ms. Smith's Poetry Page

On this page you will find links to collections of poetry on the web, ideas and resources for teaching poetry, links to favorite poets, and a collection of favorite quotes about poetry. Enjoy!

"A good poem is a contribution to reality.
The world is never the same
once a good poem has been added to it.
A good poem helps to change the shape of the universe,
helps to extend everyone's knowledge of himself
and the world around him."
-- Dylan Thomas

POETRY COLLECTIONS ONLINE:

Poets' Corner This is truly an impressive piece of work, a user friendly library of thousands of poems.

Favorite Poem Project . . . a project begun by Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky for the Library of Congress

"WhyPoetryWhat" provides activities to help students explore various aspects of poetry.

Grandpa Tucker's A Time for Rhyme A fun guide to writing poems that rhyme

Children's Haiku GardenThis site features haiku verses with illustrations from Japanese children and other children from the USA or other countries.

POETRY LESSONS AND RESOURCES:

"For me, poetry is an impish attempt to paint the colour of the wind." -- Maxwell Bodenheim

Poetry Analysis: A Quick Reference Guide

Poetry Pals Resources, Lessons, and Activities

Poetry on the Web

ProTeacher Poetry Lessons

Still more wonderful Poetry resources, lesson plans, and web based activities.

Kristy O'Connell George : Poetry Power! Ideas and resources for teaching poetry

Be sure to visit Outta Ray's Head - The Poetry Page for more ideas and lessons.

Giggle Poetry Here's a poetry site for kids with lots of poetry fun!!!

"Helping Kids Find and Enjoy the Poetic SIde of Life" Be sure to read this article by Joyce Melton Pagés, Ed.D. which offers wonderful tips for sharing the joy of poetry with children

You'll also find wonderful pieces of poetry by my students on the Student Authors page.

The best book I've ever found for helping children of all ages learn to write poetry is Benjamin Greene's Beyond Roses Are Red, Violets Are Blue : A Practical Guide for Helping Students Write Free Verse. You may order it from Amazon.com by clicking on the title. I've had wonderful success using this material with my eighth graders, and I know it would work equally well with younger or older students.

"If a poem is written well,
it was written with the poet's voice and for a voice.
Reading a poem silently instead of saying a poem
is like the difference between staring at sheet music
and actually humming or playing the music on an instrument."
-- Robert Pinsky, the 39th Poet Laureate of the United States

POETS:

Virtual Emily and The World of Emily Dickinson

Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Robert Frost Web Page and Literary Traveler: Robert Frost Road Trip

Sara Holbrook, Poetry for the Not So Bad

The American Academy of Poetry - Langston Hughes , James Langston Hughes (1902-1967)

The Verse of Ogden Nash

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Shel SIlverstein WWW Links

"You will not find poetry anywhere unless you bring some of it with you."

-- Joseph Joubert

"Poetry is the journal of a sea animal living on land, wanting to fly in the air."

-- Carl Sandburg

"When power leads man toward arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the areas of man's concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of his existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses."
-- John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Poems about Paintings - Step One (A writing guide for my students)

Updated June 15, 2002

Comments/Questions/Suggest a link . . . Please let me know if you have a problem with any of these links. jesmith@earthlink.net

URL for this page = http://home.earthlink.net/~jesmithPoetry.html

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