Part Five. Laws of the Wild: Structure, Shapeliness, and Organizing Principles Summary and Analysis

One of the most difficult obstacles for students is to overcome their prejudices about what poetry and a poem should be. They might adopt a mannered tone or archaic speech patterns, try to rhyme everything, or write long descriptions of people sitting around thinking. Part Five has fourteen poetry writing exercises which will help solve this dilemma. Some can be used in a group but are not group dependent. This section places emphasis on giving poems some structure and shape.

"Block, Pillar, Slab, and Beam" by Deborah Digges instructs the writer to write a poem about building or making something and/or taking the same construction apart. Writers can choose a small object or a large one and need to use...