Teaching Poetry Now

An inspiring, one-of-a-kind collection of innovative, inclusive approaches to teaching poetry in today’s college classrooms.

As any poetry teacher knows, the best ideas about poems are built with students. In Teaching Poetry Now, this seemingly simple premise yields an unprecedented trove of practical strategies for enlivening college-level poetry instruction and making it more inclusive. In thirty-one short, provocative essays, contributors draw on their diverse classroom experiences and research to share innovative approaches to teaching the study and writing of poetry. Helpful discussion of curricula, learning theories, activities, assignments, assessments, and digital tools make this groundbreaking volume an invaluable resource for faculty who teach poetry across language and literature fields—from creative writing to literary studies to rhetoric and composition to cultural studies and beyond. Challenging the dicta, norms, and implicit biases that have dominated poetry pedagogy for decades, Teaching Poetry Now jump-starts a long overdue discussion of the theories, methods, and stakes of teaching poetry today.

Author Biography

Caroline Gelmi is Associate Professor of English and Communication at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth. Lizzy LeRud is Assistant Teaching Professor in the Robert D. Clark Honors College at the University of Oregon.