Introduction to Literature (Course Guide / Amery Bodelson)

"Poetry, I tell my students,
is idiosyncratic. Poetry.
is where we are ourselves..."
Source: Poetry Foundation (online).

"I, too, dislike it: there are things that are important beyond all this fiddle.."
Source: Database - Poetry & Short Story Reference Center (EBSCO). PDF Full Text link.

"I love how they know things
only to pass them on..."
Source: Database - Poetry & Short Story Reference Center (EBSCO).

"We real cool. We Left school...."
Source: Database - Poetry & Short Story Reference Center (EBSCO)

'sometimes at night
we stroll the market aisles
ben and jemima and me ...'
Source: Database - Poetry & Short Story Reference Center (EBSCO) PDF Full Text.

"She wanted a little room for thinking;
but she saw diapers steaming on the line>>"
Source: Poetry International (online)

" I was on my way to becoming a philanthropist,
or the president, or at least someone who gave a shit,
but I was a nontraditional student..."
Source: OER Textbook: Humanity 101: An Exploration of What it Means to be Human by Ryna May

"I ask them to take a poem
and hold it up to the light
like a color slide..."
Source: Poetry Foundation (online).

"the Cambridge ladies who live in furnished souls
are unbeautiful and have comfortable minds..."
Source: Poetry Foundation (online)

"Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be."
Source: OER Textbook: Introduction to Literature and Critical Thinking - Oxnard (Libre Texts)

", too, sing America.
I am the darker brother..."
Source: Database - Literature: LitFinder (Gale)

"The Kurd remembers, when I visit him, his tomorrow …
so he sweeps it away with a broom...":
Bilingual Arabic/English.
Source: Database - Poetry & Short Story Reference Center (EBSCO). PDF Full Text.

"Unfunny uncles who insist
in trying on a lady's hat,.."
Source: Writers' Almanac. Minnesota Public Radio (online)

"And the came back in the night through alleys to find us..."
Source: Poetry (October 1968). Poetry Foundation/JSTOR (online)

"They say
when I arrived,
traveling light,
the women who waited
plugged
the cracks in the walls
with rags
dipped in alcohol..."
Source: Database - Poetry & Short Story Reference Center (EBSCO). PDF Full Text.

"My dolls have been put away like dead
children in a chest I will carry
with me when I marry..."
Source: Poetry Foundation (online)

"Remember the woman in the blue burka forced to kneel
In the stadium and then shot in the head?
That was me..."
Source: Database - Poetry & Short Story Reference Center (EBSCO)

"A brother versed in ideological & material swagger
Seeks dime ass trill bitch starved enough to hang..."
Source: Database - Literature: LitFinder (Gale).

"Our fathers have formed a poetry workshop.
They sit in a circle of disappointment over our fastballs
and wives..."
Source: Poetry Foundation (online)

PRINCIPLE: Under fair use, an online resource (such as a blog or web site) may make examples of selected published poetry electronically available to the public, provided that the site also includes substantial additional cultural resources, including but not limited to critique or commentary, that contextualize or otherwise add value to the selections.

"Wanting to say things,
I miss my father tonight..."
Source: Writers Almanac. Minnesota Public Radio (online)

"They fuck you up, your mum and dad.
They may not mean to, but they do..."
Source: Database - Poetry & Short Story Reference Center (EBSCO).

"What begins as a slow drift into half-light
suddenly accelerates: a plunge into darkness..."
Source: Database - Poetry & Short Story Reference Center

"You do not do, you do not do
Any more, black shoe..."
Source: Poetry Foundation (online)

"I have done it again.
One year in every ten
I manage it——..."
Source: Poetry Foundation (online)

Writing about poetry can be one of the most demanding tasks that many students face in a literature class. Poetry, by its very nature, makes demands on a writer who attempts to analyze it that other forms of literature do not. So how can you write a clear, confident, well-supported essay about poetry? This handout offers answers to some common questions about writing about poetry.

The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine, is an independent literary organization committed to a vigorous presence for poetry in our culture. It exists to discover and celebrate the best poetry and to place it before the largest possible audience.

An extensive library of poetry and poetry resources. Founded in 1934 to support American poets at all stages of their careers and to foster the appreciation of contemporary poetry— the producer of Poets.org, Poem-a-Day, National Poetry Month, and more.