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audioandereadergrrly's review against another edition
3.0
I am a poet; poetry changed my heart a long time ago. I picked up this book to learn something new and to revisit the beginner’s perspective of poetry. I found beautiful metaphors, but I also found little details that when brought together, dampened the reading experience.
Toward the beginning is the line “Though zoos are nothing to advocate for...” which is an unnecessary opinion of the author. Good zoos provide homes for displaced, hurt, or otherwise endangered animals, while also being a place for education. This opinion should have been left out of a book on poetry.
The treatment of poets’ names is also something I want to address. First, William Shakespeare’s name is shortened to “Billy Shakes”. A few pages later, the victims of the “Night of the Murdered Poets” are only listed as “four Jewish poets.” This erases the poets from their own narrative; their names were Peretz Markish, David Hofstein, Itzik Feffer, and Leib Kvitko. I found both instances to be disrespectful to their respective poets.
As other reviews have mentioned, this book describes writer’s block as “an excuse to be lazy” which is very judgmental.
The last thing I wanted to bring up was the section on “after poems.” While after poems are a great tool for beginners to find their voice, it can easily blur the line between innocent writing prompt and blatant plagiarism, as seen on Poetry Twitter in late 2018. This book mentions after poems, but doesn’t get into more than the basic definition. I think the book could have benefitted from diving a little deeper into how an after poem can either help or harm.
Overall, there were many beautiful quotes to be found in this book and I think this could be a good place to start for people who are interested in learning more about poetry.
Toward the beginning is the line “Though zoos are nothing to advocate for...” which is an unnecessary opinion of the author. Good zoos provide homes for displaced, hurt, or otherwise endangered animals, while also being a place for education. This opinion should have been left out of a book on poetry.
The treatment of poets’ names is also something I want to address. First, William Shakespeare’s name is shortened to “Billy Shakes”. A few pages later, the victims of the “Night of the Murdered Poets” are only listed as “four Jewish poets.” This erases the poets from their own narrative; their names were Peretz Markish, David Hofstein, Itzik Feffer, and Leib Kvitko. I found both instances to be disrespectful to their respective poets.
As other reviews have mentioned, this book describes writer’s block as “an excuse to be lazy” which is very judgmental.
The last thing I wanted to bring up was the section on “after poems.” While after poems are a great tool for beginners to find their voice, it can easily blur the line between innocent writing prompt and blatant plagiarism, as seen on Poetry Twitter in late 2018. This book mentions after poems, but doesn’t get into more than the basic definition. I think the book could have benefitted from diving a little deeper into how an after poem can either help or harm.
Overall, there were many beautiful quotes to be found in this book and I think this could be a good place to start for people who are interested in learning more about poetry.
nemo_readss's review against another edition
funny
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
4.0
elisecabbage's review against another edition
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
4.5
reba_reads_books's review against another edition
5.0
I was expecting an interesting take on poetry in this lil' 45 min. long read. Instead I got an AMAZING, TRANSFORMATIVE book that I now definitely need to own the hardback of...the entire series, because yes it is a series. I've already started the second book on art, and it's just as great. But anyways, this book...It's for every reader. I mean that from the bottom of my heart. If you hate poetry, this book is still for you. It will open your eyes if you only give it a chance.
mahi_tiwari's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
5.0
trekbicycles's review against another edition
3.0
A fun read that affirmed most of my general feelings post my poetry course this spring :)