Annotated Teacher Bibliography
Burnshaw, Stanley. Robert Frost Himself. New York: Brazellier, 1989.
A poet himself, Burnshaw has written a book on Frost that pays tribute to his genius while, at the same time, accommodating his idiosyncrasies and recognizing the tragic nature of his personal life. He paints a clear picture of the tortured genius that emanated from Frost's unique combination of mental acuity, personal angst and dysfunctional relationships.
Elbow, Peter, ed. Landmark Essays on Voice and Writing. Mahwah, NJ: Hermangoras Press, 1994.
Elbow puts together group of essays on voice and writing that offer diversity and depth from a range of writers. His thorough introduction is the glue that holds the essays together.
Frost, Robert. "The Imagining Ear," in Collected Poems, Prose & Plays. New York: Library of Congress, 1995.
In this somewhat amusing piece, Frost shows how he went from being clueless about producing the right tone to masterful in finding the right expressions for his thoughts.
-. The Voice of Robert Frost: Read by the Author. USA: Random House Inc., 2003.
This source is a CD of Frost's poems read by him, and contains his most famous poems including the three selected for this unit.
Gentile, J. Ronald and James P. Lalley. Standards and Mastery Learning: Aligning Teaching and Assessment So All Children Can Learn. CA: Corwin Press, Inc., 2003.
Gentile and Lalley identify obstacles to mastery learning and outline some of the ways these can be removed for the necessary alignment between mastery learning and standards to take place.
Hass, Robert. "Listening and Making." Twentieth Century Pleasures. New York: Ecco, 1984.
Hass very thoroughly and convincingly shows how rhythm and the change of rhythm are not superficial devices, but mechanisms that penetrate to the depths of our being.
Hartman, Charles O. Free Verse: An Essay on Prosody. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1980.
In this well written article on prosody and its elements, Hartman identifies five elements of prosodic organization. He discusses each in detail to help readers understand some of the characteristics of free verse. He states that "in each poetic tradition, one or two elements are likely to dominate and determine the conventional prosody" (16).
Hirsch, Edward. How to Read a Poem: And Fall in Love with Poetry. USA: Harvest Book, 1999.
Hirsch, an aficionado of poetry, shares his love of the genre with his reader. He goes into the intricacies of poetry making offers tips for not only the aspiring poet, but for the student and teacher of poetry.
Hooks, Bell. "'When I Was a Young Soldier for the Revolution': Coming to Voice," in Landmark Essays on Writing and Voice.
Hooks describes her experiences as a student discovering African American poetry and experiencing the "pure enchantment" of learning by listening and reciting.
Hughes, Langston. "Children and Poetry" and "The Fun of Being Black," in The Collected Works of Langston Hughes, Vol. 9. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2002.
In "Children and Poetry," Hughes observes that children are more open to poetry than adults. He also posits that poetry helps people to remember. He describes the circumstances under which he wrote several poems. In "The Fun of Being Black," he attributes mankind's best performances to existing conflict within the society. This explains the title of his essay: racial conflict generates enjoyment for the underdogs.
McKay, Claude. A Long Way from Home." USA: Harcourt, Brace & Company, 1970.
In this autobiography, McKay incorporated much of his poetry, thus providing a context for much of his work. He also described his surprise to the enthusiasm with which his sonnet was received.
McKeague, Patricia. Step by Step: Writing About Literature. Iowa: Kendall Hunt Publishing Co., 2007.
This book is an outstanding resource for both students and teachers. McKeague focuses on literary analysis using literary elements and activities and providing specific examples and models of literary analysis. Her section on poetry, like all the other sections of this book, is very well done.
Ong, Walter. "Word as Sound," in Landmark Essays on Voice and Writing. Peter Elbow, ed. Manwah, NJ: Hermagoras Press, 1994.
Ong argues that spoken words have much more power than written words. Consequently, we communicate much more effectively when we use sound. He article is very scholarly and culminates with Ong's contrasting the psychoses of sound oriented and sight oriented cultures.
Pinsky, Robert. The sounds of Poetry: a Brief Guide. NY: FSG, 1998.
The chapter on "Accent and Duration" is very well done. Pinsky explains that the stress on a syllable in English is not fixed, but relative, depending on the words around it. He also helps the reader to understand the difference between accent and duration.
Poirier, Richard and Mark Richardson. Frost: Collected Poems, Prose, & Plays. NY: Library of America, 1995.
This book is useful for finding authentic versions of Frost's three poems used in this unit: "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening," "Mending Wall," and "The Road Not Taken."
Rampersaud, Arnold. The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes. New York: Vintage Classics, 1999.
Rampersaud does an excellent job of organizing Hughes' immense oeuvre. He also covers every aspect of his life making this book the official reference on this very prolific writer.
Sitomer, Alan and Michael Cirelli. Hip-Hop Poetry and the Classics. Canada: Milk Mug Publishing, 2004.
This book is an excellent teacher resource. It has many brilliant strategies and activities for teaching poetry.
Whitman, Walt. Leaves of Grass. New York: Prometheus Books, 1995.
This book provides a complete copy of the excerpts that I will use to teach Whitman's poetry. They are from "Song of Myself," Stanzas 1, 6, 7, 10 (last ten lines) and 16.
Wormser, Baron and David Cappella. Teaching the Art of Poetry. Mahwah: Lawrence Earlbaum Assoc. Inc., 2000.
This article explains how poets use combinations of sounds to achieve the effect they seek. Worser uses specific poems to illustrate his argument focusing on the full range of sound devices. He refers to the "poet's ear": the ability to combine certain sounds to activate particular effects or "sound satisfactions."
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