Beauty Poetry.

Llanas, Sheila Griffin.  Beauty Poetry.  Enslow  2014  128p  $31.93  ISBN 978-0-7660-4343-8  ms/hs  series: Pure Poetry  Nonfiction  VG-BNS

In this title, eight famous works of poetry are examined, each known for its exploration of beauty.  They include works by William Shakespeare, Phyllis Wheatley, Edgar Allan Poe, Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Keats, Christina Rossetti, and Ella Wheeler Wilcox.
     

The author presents an analysis of these eight poems by first presenting an overview of each poem and its place in time, and something about the author.  This is followed by a summary of the poem; an explication of it; the style, technique and poetic devices utilized; and finally the thematic relevance of the work.  Further questions can be found at the conclusion of each analysis, making this an ideal companion work for the study of poetry.  Words that might become problematic for readers are defined as footnotes on the appropriate page, such as those found on page 23 and 78.  Sidebars are found throughout each section, each one highlighting a topic relevant to the author and/or the poem, such as “growing up a slave”, page 27, and “fireside poets” on page 107.  Portraits are provided of each poet.  The book concludes with sample answers to further study questions, a glossary, a list of suggestions for further reading (both print and web) and an index.      

The Pure Poetry series explores and analyzes famous poems, making them more accessible to the average reader.  These books would make excellent companions for students studying poetry, especially the poems analyzed in these books.

Poetry                                                --Lynn Fisher

Nature Poetry.

Llanas, Sheila Griffin.  Nature Poetry.  Enslow  2014  128p  $31.93  ISBN 978-0-7660-4244-5  ms/hs  series: Pure Poetry  Nonfiction  E-BNS

This volume, with its variety of poems from some of the most famous poets of all time, is an Enslow “Book of Note” as much for its selections as for its format.  In each chapter the author, Sheila Griffin Llanas, presents an introduction to a specific poet and his/her works, followed by a portrait in picture as well as in text.  In keeping with the nature theme, Llanas presents each poem surrounded by a green border.  The layout is perfect, simple and tastefully designed to present some of the best poems of all time.  Charlotte Turner Smith’s “To the Moon” is followed by Wordsworth’s “Lines Written in Early Spring”, Coleridge’s “Frost at Midnight”, Clare’s “The Mouse’s Nest”, Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s “A Sea-Side Walk”, and other selections by Whitman, Dickinson and Dunbar.  In addition to biographical data, the portrait of the poets and the poems, Llanas offers a complete summary of each poem followed by an explication of its meaning, an examination of its style, technique and poetic devices, and an examination of its theme.  As if that weren’t enough, additional questions appear at the end of each poet’s chapter, and for further study, these questions are valuable, especially in light of the fact that possible answers are provided at the end of the book.  Additional text boxes offer definitions of the sonnet, Gothic literature, and other extras that enhance this already wonderful volume of poetry.   With this book, understanding poetry becomes a pleasurable experience.  

The series Pure Poetry analyzes poetry in these categories: beauty, death, love and nature.  The series offers poems by the world’s greatest poets along with biographical data, portraits, analyses and questions for further study.  

Summary: Poems by Smith, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Dickinson and others are examined thoroughly with respect to their themes, their poetic devices, their structures and their meanings.  Each poet’s life is shared in this valuable book which also examines the common use of nature in each poem.      

Poetry-Study and teaching                       --Martha Squaresky