A Kick in the Head: An Everyday Guide to Poetic Forms

by Paul B. Janeczko (Compiler), Chris Raschka (Illustrator)

Overview

"Readers will have the good fortune to experience poetry as art, game, joke, list, song, story, statement, question, memory. A primer like no other." — School Library Journal (starred review)

In this splendid and playful volume — second of a trilogy — an acclaimed creative team presents examples of twenty-nine poetic forms, demonstrating not only the (sometimes bendable) rules of poetry, but also the spirit that brings these forms to life. Featuring poems from the likes of Eleanor Farjeon (aubade), X. J. Kennedy (elegy), Ogden Nash (couplet), Liz Rosenberg (pantoum), and William Shakespeare, the sonnet king himself, A Kick in the Head perfectly illustrates Robert Frost’s maxim that poetry without rules is like a tennis match without a net.
Back matter includes notes on poetic forms.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780763641320
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	03/10/2009
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	64
Sales rank:	364,651
Product dimensions:	9.80(w) x 9.82(h) x 0.21(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

 

Editorial Reviews

Readers will have the good fortune to experience poetry as art, game, joke, list, song, story, statement, question, memory. A primer like no other.
—School Library Journal (starred review)

This is the introduction that will ignite enthusiasm. The airy spaces between the words and images will invite readers to find their own responses to the poems and encourage their interest in the underlying rules, which, Janeczko says, 'make poetry-like sports-more fun.'
—Booklist (starred review)

The title poem proclaims that 'poetry jumpstarts . . . imagination'; this book shows how that's done.
—The Horn Book (starred review)

Janeczko's disciplined but accessible examples, plus Raschka's spirited Asian-inspired images, add oomph to this joyful poetry lesson, sure to be welcomed by teachers and aspiring poets everywhere.
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

A beautiful, beautifully clear celebration of the discipline of poetry—and the possibilities offered by that discipline—this offering will find use both in the hands of eager poets and on the reference shelf.
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Featured/recommended
—Parenting Press e-zine

From the Publisher

Janeczko and Raschka, on the heels of A Poke in the I, explain and sometimes bend the rules of 29 poetic forms, taking their title from a concrete poem of a stick figure punting a ball (poetry jumpstarts my imagination.... poetry gives me a kick in the head). By way of introduction, Janeczko asks, Why 17 syllables in a haiku?, then points out the pleasurable rigors of poetic exercise: Can you do a good job within these limits? The pages demonstrate compact forms like the couplet, tercet and quatrain, and proceed to the more complex roundel, triolet, villanelle (basically five tercets followed by a quatrain) and pantoum (a set of quatrains where, in the final stanza, lines 2 and 4 repeat lines 3 and 1 of the opening stanza. Whew!). Janeczko emphasizes play, and gives definitions in unintimidating, perhaps too tiny gray print; his approachable examples range from an Edward Lear limerick and Shakespeare's 12th sonnet to an Ode to Pablo's Tennis Shoes by Gary Soto and a comic epitaph by J. Patrick Lewis. Raschka marks each form with a witty icon: stacked rows of tulips (haiku, tanka), a bouncing ball (limerick), an urn (ode), a guitar (ballad). His multimedia collages feature fibrous, fuzzy-edged origami paper on a clean white ground; his sensuous brushwork alludes to Zen calligraphy, while his poppy reds, jade greens and brilliant yellows recall kimono designs or Matisse's tropical palette. Janeczko's disciplined but accessible examples, plus Raschka's spirited Asian-inspired images, add oomph to this joyful poetry lesson, sure to be welcomed by teachers and aspiring poets everywhere. Ages 8-11. (Apr.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Gr 3-9-Following on the heels of their delightful introduction to concrete poetry, A Poke in the I (Candlewick, 2001), Janeczko and Raschka now join forces to explore poetic forms. An introduction presents an easy-to-swallow rationale for the many rules to follow, likening the restrictions to those found in sports: in both cases, rules challenge the players to excel in spite of limits. The repertoire then unfolds to showcase 29 forms, one to two poems per spread, building from a couplet, tercet, and quatrain to the less familiar and more complex persona poem, ballad, and pantoum. The selections are accessible without being simplistic; they span an emotional range from the tongue-in-cheek humor of J. Patrick Lewis's "Epitaph for Pinocchio" to Rebecca Kai Dotlich's moving "Whispers to the [Vietnam] Wall." Each page is a tour de force of design, the pace and placement of art and text perfectly synchronized. Raschka's characters and abstractions emerge from torn layers of fuzzy rice paper, intricately patterned Japanese designs, and solids, decorated and defined by quirky ink-and-watercolor lines. The expansive white background provides continuity and contrast to the colorful parade. The name of each form resides in the upper corner of the page, accompanied by a wry visual. A definition (in an unobtrusive smaller font) borders the bottom; more detail on each form is provided in endnotes. Readers will have the good fortune to experience poetry as art, game, joke, list, song, story, statement, question, memory. A primer like no other.-Wendy Lukehart, Washington DC Public Library Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

"Why, you may ask, does a poem have rules?" asks Janeczko in his introduction; "The answer is: rules make the writing of a poem more challenging, more exciting." He proceeds to present 29 different poetic types, from the mundane couplet and the deceptively easy haiku to the villanelle, epitaph and pantoum. Each poem, collected from both writers for children and the Old Masters (Lear and Shakespeare), is accompanied by a short explanation (longer explanations appear in the backmatter) and a characteristically playful watercolor, ink, and collage illustration from Raschka (who also keys icons to each poem type). Gary Soto's "Ode to Pablo's Tennis Shoes" is elegantly flanked by two beat-up sneakers elevated on ornate pedestals; Joan Bransfield Graham's "Is There a Villain in Your Villanelle?" appears with furtive, trench-coated figures sneaking on and off the page. A beautiful, beautifully clear celebration of the discipline of poetry-and the possibilities offered by that discipline-this offering will find use both in the hands of eager poets and on the reference shelf. (Picture book/poetry. 8+)

Kirkus Reviews