What is poetry?????

That question has been answered many ways and provoked a lot of discussion. Believe it or not, English teachers will argue about what poetry "is" and what it is "not."

So with that question in mind, this unit introducing the concepts of "closed form" (also called "traditional poetry") and "open form" (often referred to as "modern" poetry) provides an occasion to explore exactly what poetry is.

To that end, a recommended supplemental reading for you: The Wikipedia online encyclopedia's discussion of "poetry." (Click here to link to Wikipedia.)

Reading the Wikipedia article will take you 10 or 15 minutes, but the overview is worth it. (You don't have to read every word of every part of it--Just skim. You'll know where to slow down and drink deeply and where you can just speed on by.)

You may find some ideas and/or information in the Wikipedia article that will come in handy on a future writing assignment.

For further discussion, consider posting the following:

• share a web link to a helpful or interesting resource on poetry that you found
• what you believe poetry is.
• an original poem that you wrote
• a copy of a poem that you find meaningful or special to you
• anything else related to "what is poetry?"