Stephanie Van Horn

Oregon Writing Project

Book Report

Wendt, Ingrid. Starting with Little Things: A Guide to Writing Poetry in the Classroom.

Salem: Oregon Arts Foundation, 1983.

I have heard great things about Ingrid Wendt for many years, and this book supports all the praise. There are two settings in which I will use material from this book.

First, in my literature classes. I regularly teach the Introduction to Literature sequence and each year fly with increasing confidence through the first two terms, fiction,

and drama, all the while wondering what new persuasions I can use to give an enjoyment of poetry to my students. Slowly I'm building a small repertoire of poems that touch and instruct them and activities that leave them excited. Wendt's book made me feel as if I doubled my repertoire.

The opening two chapters which deal primarily with figurative language select poems which are both accessible and sophisticated, no easy task. In fact all of the poems selected, especially since they are from Oregon writers, will become readings for my classes. Later in the book, Wendt uses a wonderful Kim Stafford poem "The Bears" that reminded me of how I forget Kim's fine poetry in my high praise for his essays (50). She then goes on to say what I've been trying to find clear language for, the explanation of sound's role in poetry (in all writing). "Perhaps the language of poetry could be compared to soundtracks in movies: we don't always take note, at the time, of the music we hear; but most films would be lacking without it (65). That's a comparison my students will understand.

Then Wendt adds to her lucid explanations exercises that made me reach for my journal. The clarity and conciseness of what she presents is an invitation. I compare her to the fine work of Barbara Drake, Mary Oliver, and Ursula LeGuin in her understanding of the nuts and bolts of poetry, but Wendt deals briefly enough that the reader can fill the remaining space with his or her own writing. I did, and I think I can get my students to do so. They are given poetry exercises in my literature classes as gifts, rarely as requirements, but as extra credit, substitute assignments, and group activities, anything to take back the intimidation left over from high school classes in which efforts were graded even though the student was not choosing to be a "creative writer." I try to let them fall into "creative writing" by accident, and Wendt's work will let me do that. As an example, she has exercises on the development of assonance, consonance and alliteration that will let them experience through interesting and easy writing prompts how those elements arrive in a poem, rather than attempting to follow me as I point out the elements, a method which leaves my less capable readers frustrated.

The second setting has to do with my own interest in writing poetry. I will use her exercises for myself, as I found myself doing. But they are also exercises which will make me feel able to do what I've been asked to do several time recently, lead workshops, and possibly take a creative writing section in our department. This repetoire is one I would feel very comfortable adapting, and I'm grateful for that boost.