Grammar of Poetry, DVD

Imitation in Writing

Matt Whitling

Grammar of Poetry is the ideal introductory course for students and teachers discovering the art of poetry. As a “grammar,” it teaches the mechanics of poetry from fundamentals like scansion and rhyme to more advanced concepts like spatial poetry and synecdoche. Using the classical methodology of imitation (advocated by educators like Quintilian and Benjamin Franklin), this video course makes students become active participants as they learn the craft of writing poems. It also offers lots of practical tips and helps, including how to use a rhyming dictionary, how great writers use figures of speech effectively, and even when to break the rules of poetry. Its goal is to show students how to capably interact not just with poems, but with language in any situation.

The thirty lessons in Grammar of Poetry contain instruction on ten powerful tropes, student activities for every chapters, riddles to solve, poetry reading integration, and real-life examples from Shakespeare to traditional tongue twisters. Matt Whitling pulls from years of classroom experience as he works through all of these elements on screen in this DVD course.