AP Poetry Project – Purchasing Books for the Library

The library has a $2000 budget for new poetry books, and we’re putting that money in your hands. With this project, you are going to make a pitch to Ms. Lhutala and Ms. Sheehan about the books by living poets that should be included in this purchase.

The Project

We’ve just entered into a new year, the last year of the second decade of the 21st century. And yet, so often when we think of poetry, poets that lived centuries (and centuries) ago and whose work has come to define the canon. The Poetry Foundation’s definition of canon specifically includes three men from a long time ago.

Canon

A list of authors or works considered to be central to the identity of a given literary tradition or culture. This secular use of the word is derived from its original meaning as a listing of all authorized books in the Bible. William Shakespeare, John Milton, and William Blake are frequently found on lists of canonical literature in English. (“Glossary of Poetic Terms”).

There are three English (there’s not even a Scot or Welshman on the list) white men, who lived a long time ago included in this definition.

Don’t get me wrong, their works are beautiful and remain relevant. There is immense pleasure to be had in reading work of the past, but so often the work of new poets goes unrecognized in the high school English classroom. The poetry community is more diverse these days with more voices saying something about our times and our experiences, so shouldn’t they also be included in the curriculum?

Discovering Living Poets

I decided this would be the focus for this year’s poetry unit based on the hashtags #livingpoet and #teachlivingpoets on Twitter. Through following those hashtags, I’ve discovered some new poets whose work I really enjoy. For your research, Twitter is one place to start. Other places to look are literary journals like the Boston Review and poetry festivals, including Dodge Poetry Festival and their list of this past year’s lineup of performers.

While we’re continuing presentations in class of the Multiple “I” projects, we will take a one-day break for Ms. Luhtala to come in and work with us to help us get started at finding contemporary poets and reading some of their work. You will start with some suggestions from her before going off and discovering your own.

The Details

For this project, there will be two components:

A reading portfolio comprised of five (5) poems by your contemporary poem. To demonstrate your reading of these poems, you will explicate all five, but choose two (2) for written analyses. Your written analysis of the poem should address the following prompt:

Analyze how the poet uses poetic form, structure, and/or sound and literary devices to develop the subject and theme of the work.

The second portion is a pitch to Ms. Luhtala and/or Ms. Sheehan of why or why not this poet’s work should be purchased for the library based on your understanding of poetry. The pitch is a short presentation that you will compose that includes some biographical information, the poem that you believe best supports your case, and a brief analysis of that poem.

Ms. Luhtala have set up an account for us on titlewave.com and a “Living Poets” wishlist where you will add your titles.

Password: APPoetry2019