Keeping the Poetry Flame Alive

Andrea Louise Ambler

Illustrator Christine J. Curry

 

Keeping the Poetry Flame Alive is the third book in a three-volume series. Other books in the series are as follows: Book One, Igniting the Poetry Flame and Book Two, Stoking the Poetry Flame. The series seeks to ignite and invigorate the creative poet within each student. Each book in the series can be used as a stand-alone but best used in conjunction with the other books. 

 

Book Three, Keeping the Poetry Flame Alive connects literature and American history with poetry. The content is challenging, stretching the student’s intellect. The book builds upon the student’s knowledge, appreciation, and love of poetry through a deeper understanding of additional strategies and techniques used for writing it. Book Three is an easy-to-follow, field-tested resource for teachers and home-school parents to use at all grade levels and for all abilities.

 

Purposes, biographical information, specific poetic structures, and classroom student tasks are included in each chapter. Examples of original student poems illustrate each lesson. A Resource List and Bibliography are found at the end of each chapter, and a Glossary of Literary Terms is at the end of the book. A meaningful project includes directions for creating an anthology of the student’s poems.

 

Following this project is a poetry reading for invited family members, teachers, administrators, and outside guests. A culminating activity was having students reflect in writing what reading, writing, and poetry meant to them.

 

The subjects, lessons, and activities in Book Three offer opportunities for students to experiment with words, to see life in new ways, and to express freely their thoughts and feelings. The students applied what they learned about the strategies and techniques in writing poetry to discuss and write about the vibrancy of the American language; the spirit of America, its promise, discovery, and survival; and American light verse, humor, and whimsy.