The Marvelous Magic of Poetry: A Middle-Grade Intro to Reading, Writing, & Loving Poems |
The Marvelous Magic of Poetry: A Middle-Grade Intro to Reading, Writing, & Loving Poems
Your child has expressed a new interest in poetry and is eager to learn more about how it all works. But where do you start? What makes a poem tick? As a beginner, it’s just so easy to get lost in everything that is intimidating and confusing about poems. So how do you continue to nurture and grow this budding love of poetry in a younger reader and writer?
For poetry beginners, ages 8–12
Your young poet will connect to the magic heart beating within every poem by:
Reading poems by classic and contemporary poets, like Lewis Carroll, Sylvia Plath, Mary Oliver, Neil Gaiman, and more.
Uncovering the many hidden secrets and mysterious meanings in the poems we read, as well as how the poet creates these layers through imagery, metaphor, symbol, and allusion.
Discovering that poems are so much more than strict rhyme and meter rules by exploring how poems can break the rules and make new ones.
Writing fun new poems from guided exercises and prompts.
Receiving encouraging and helpful feedback on poems written from these guided prompts.
Learning just how much there is to love about poems and that there is nothing to stop them from writing their own!
$200
Gimmie full course access
$299
Gimmie full course access and 1:1 feedback
Right for your kid if...
Your child enjoys reading or writing but is still waiting for their Hogwarts letter to show up
Sneak a peek
Your young poet will connect to the magic heart beating within every poem by learning week by week
+
Week 1: Nonsense Poetry & Playing with Poetic Language
The real definition of poetry & all that it encompasses.
How poets listen for the music & meaning in every word on the page.
What Lewis Carroll’s “Jabberwocky” and Roald Dahl’s The BFG have in common.
How to write their own adventure poems using monsters and nonsense words.
How to make sense out of (and have fun with) nonsense poems.
+
Week 2: Retelling Fairy Tales & Myths as Poems
How narrative poems use storytelling elements from their favorite fairy tales & myths.
How poets like Louise Bogan & Neil Gaiman make old stories feel new again.
How to uncover deeper layers of meaning in poems that feel mysterious when we first read them.
How symbols & different points of view can unlock the reader’s imagination.
How symbols & different points of view can unlock the reader’s imagination.
+
Week 3: Telling True Stories in Poems
How poets like Randall Jarrell, Mary Oliver, & Susan Mitchell describe real-life experiences in magical ways.
How imagery & metaphor can transform the world we already know into one full of wonders.
How tapping into the five senses can bring our descriptions to life.
How even magical & fantastical descriptions reveal layers of the truth.
How to use these ideas & lessons to write their own poems that tell stories with true facts.
+
Week 4: Persona Poetry & the Power of Voice
How reading & writing persona poems is like acting in a play.
How poets like Sylvia Plath, Sandra Beasley, & Donika Kelly use masks or personas to reveal hidden pieces of themselves.
How personification & voice can turn an inanimate object into a living, breathing thing.
How to use these ideas & lessons to write their own persona poems from the point-of-view of a favorite toy or object.
+
When does it start?
This course is offered in spring, summer, and fall.
Spring 2023 Course begins: April 12, 2023 | Registration ends: April 10, 2023
Fall 2023 Course begins: October 11, 2023 | Registration ends: October 9, 2023
Summer 2023 Course begins: July 12, 2023 | Registration ends: July 10, 2023