Reading Poetry with College and University Students

A wonderful introduction for those that teach as well as study poetry. Fink thoughtfully guides the reader through poetry-phobia by working through the ostensible emotional complexity and intellectual difficulty of a form with which many readers struggle. In a series of accessible and enjoyable chapters, Fink never oversells the pleasures of poetry and instead foregrounds dynamic techniques for fostering discussion in the seminar setting. Alongside clear reviews of current theoretical interpretive approaches and vibrant definitions of key literary terms, Fink engages an extensive body of poets from Shakespeare and George Herbert, to Amiri Baraka and Audre Lorde, Denise Duhamel and Evie Shockley. Essential reading for all teachers of poetry. * Emma Mason, Professor and Head of English and Comparative Literary Studies, University of Warwick, UK *
With great erudition and a wealth of encyclopedic knowledge, expert teacher, critic, and poet Thomas Fink takes us on an inspired tour of the reasoning behind theories of reading (and resistances to reading) which come up when we engage with poems in the classroom. This extremely useful handbook combines pragmatic examples of how to apply the theories with a refreshing candor about potential obstacles and aporias which we don't often get to hear about in pedagogical narratives. * Trace Peterson, Editor/Publisher, EOAGH, USA. *
In this lucid, sharply focused, authoritative analysis of why so many college and university students come to poetry with 'poetry phobia,' Thomas Fink has created an indispensable guide to overcoming the barriers that stand between students’ understanding, appreciation, and—perhaps ultimately—love of the genre in all its clashing interpretations and various paradoxical and mutable forms. * Mary Mackey, Professor Emerita of English and Writer-in-Residence, California State University, USA and author of The Tigers That Prowl Our Dreams *