Immersed in Verse: Allan Wolf

Title: Immersed in Verse

Author: Allan Wolf

Publisher: Lark Books

Media Format: Book

Genre: Poetry

Selection Source: Text Book p. 156

Reading Audience: Junior High+

Reading Recommendation: 3 ***

Curriculum Connection: Poetry

Summary

Immersed in Verse is an instruction manual. It attempts to take poetry out of a classroom setting and into the real world by showing teens that poetry is all around them waiting to be written. Mostly, the author is trying to show how poetry can be fun.

The book teaches how to read and write poetry. It gives the reader tips on how to understand poetry by defining some poetic techniques they can look out for like metaphors, similes, personification, alliteration, and onomatopoeia. He breaks down a number of poems so the young readers can see those poetic terms in action.

In addition to helping young adults read poems, Wolf also teaches them how to get into writing them. He suggests they write a little every day, and he gives them a lot of training suggestions to help them hone their poetic instincts. Finally, he teaches them how to craft their poem from the pre-poem idea, to the writing, to the revising, to the presentation.

Evaluation

This would be a great book to use in any junior high or high school poetry class, especially one that is going to spend at least a couple of weeks on poetry. It brings poetry to life in a way that most high school literature text books do not. It does a really good job of showing poetry as a lifestyle rather than just something students need to learn to pass a test. I think the primary use of this book would be a classroom environment, but advanced students who are interested in poetry might use it outside of the classroom setting.