Haiku Handbook: How to Write, Share, and Teach Haiku - by William J. Higginson, 1992
It seems that some of the better poetry handbooks were written about a decade or more ago, and this book is no exception. What makes this haiku book stand out above the rest is its representations of haiku poets who wrote in English, Spanish, French, German, and five other languages on an equal footing with Japanese poets. Not only are the four great Japanese masters of the haiku represented (Basho, Buson, Issa, and Shiki) but also several major Western authors not commonly known to have written haiku. In addition, you get a history of haiku, lesson plans for both elementary and secondary school use, and lists of haiku publishers and magazines (in several languages). The Handbook concludes with a full reference section of haiku-related terms, bibliography, and a comprehensive season-word list to aid in understanding and appreciating Japanese haiku.
Posted by beanybabe at 10:34 PM PST
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Rules for the Dance: A Handbook for Writing and Reading Metrical Verse - by Mary Oliver, 1998
“True ease in writing comes from art, not chance, / As those move easiest who have learn’d to dance,” wrote Alexander Pope. “The dance,” in the case of Oliver’s brief and luminous book, refers to the interwoven pleasures of sound and sense to be found in some of the most celebrated and beautiful poems in the English language, from Shakespeare to Edna St. Vincent Millay to Robert Frost. With a poet’s ear and a poet’s grace of expression, Oliver shows what makes a metrical poem work - and enables readers, as only she can, to “enter the thudding deeps and the rippling shallows of sound-pleasure and rhythm-pleasure that intensify both the poem’s narrative and its ideas.”
Mary Oliver has written more than ten volumes of poetry and prose and is one of America’s best-selling and most honored poets, a winner of both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. A longtime resident of Provincetown, Massachusetts, she is now on the faculty of Bennington College in Vermont.
Posted by beanybabe at 10:19 PM PST
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In the Palm of Your Hand: The Poet’s Portable Workshop - by Steve Kowit, 1995
Every poet - as well as any writer - has their own method of getting that bird in the hand, rather than beating around the bush. This is another one of Linda’s favorite books for chewing through miscellaneous crap to get to the essentials. Kowit employs more than 100 poems and excerpts to illustrate his discussions on everything from metaphor to meter to metaphysics. If you work your way through this book you’ll feel as though you’ve sat in on a terrific creative-writing seminar, minus the criticism (both constructive and destructive) of fellow students. If you go by the book, you’ll have written at least 69 poems by the last page.
Posted by beanybabe at 10:16 PM PST
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The Poet’s Companion: A Guide to the Pleasures of Writing Poetry - by Kim Addonizio, Dorianne Laux, 1997
This book continues to be one of our all-time favorites. Craft, technique, tweaks, chirps, & flutters…Linda wouldn’t know what to do without this one. There are three main sections: “Subjects for Writing” (e.g. death, the erotic), “The Poet’s Craft” (metaphor, rhyme), and “The Writing Life” (self-doubt, writer’s block); four separate appendixes list other writing texts, anthologies, marketing tips, and electronic resources. Addonizio and Laux are both well-published poets, and very familiar with the poetry “scene.” They’re both young, but kind, knowledgeable, and kreative. Great tool.
Posted by beanybabe at 10:12 PM PST
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Taking Journalism Seriously: News and the Academy - by Barbie Zelizer, 2004
Taking Journalism Seriously argues that scholars have remained too entrenched within their own disciplinary areas resulting in isolated bodies of scholarship. This is the first book to critically survey journalism scholarship in one volume and organize it by disparate fields. The book reviews existing journalism research in such diverse fields as sociology, history, language studies, political science, and cultural analysis and dissects the most prevalent and understated research in each discipline. This book is designed for undergraduate and graduate students in advanced courses on Journalism and Journalism Studies. It will also be of interest to scholars, academics, and researchers in the fields of Journalism, Communication, Media Studies, Sociology, and Cultural Studies.
Posted by beanybabe at 10:07 PM PST
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