Book Reviews
Grossman, Florence. Listening to the Bells: Learning to Read
Poetry by Writing Poetry. Heinemann, 1991.
There is poetry in all of us. Our feeling, our memories,
and our dreams can be expressed in poetic form. This, in a
simple statement, is the premise that Florence Grossman uses in
her text for poetry writing. Directed towards children in the
approximate age range of ten to fourteen, the book is an
important attempt to reach children at a time when they begin to
lose their enthusiasm for this literary form.
Grossman's method is the same in all ten chapters of the
book. She presents a general topic and the possibilities that
the topic suggests. She then shows what a professional poet has
done with the topic and follows it with examples from student
poets, and after that, more poems by established poets.
The strength of the book is in the subjects it presents.
For the student who thinks poetry is all about love, flowers, and
butterflies, the book can open enticing possibilities for
writing. Grossman's poetic examples deal with fear, with
transformations, and even with concrete things such as rooms. In
a short section at the end of the book, she offers some teaching
suggestions.
Although the book includes a wonderful array of possible
topics for poetry, it has one serious defect: It does not provide
guidance for growth in the poetic process. Students are
encouraged to write free verse compositions on their own
experiences in the first chapter, and each chapter continues the
process, with only the subject matter becoming more complex. One
would expect to see the text also making the student more aware
of the complexities of language and the sharpness of images, not
to mention the possibilities of poetic forms.
Despite its limitations, Listening to the Bells
should not be easily dismissed by the junior high language arts
teacher. The book offers a hands-on, unintimidating approach to
both reading and writing poetry. It may not foster a great deal
of growth in the career of the young poet, but it may give the
average student more understanding and appreciation of what
poetry is all about.
Mary H. McNulty
Francis Marion University
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