North Attleborough
High School 
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Pathfinder:
Poetry

POETRY
 PATHFINDER  

“Poetry is to prose as dancing is to walking.”

Robert Wain in a BBC radiobroadcast,

13 Jan 1976  

How can I find poems on a theme?

    Browse through the poetry anthologies at 808.81, 811’s(American poetry)
  and 821 (English poetry) in our stacks. 

1.     The title of a book often suggests the contents.  For example, Truth & Lies an anthology collected by Patrice Vecchione clearly has a theme.

2.     If the title doesn’t help, look at the titles of the poems in the table of contents.  City Lights Pocket Poems Anthology collected by Lawerence  Ferlinghetti mentions “Spanish poems of love and exile” as well as “ poems of humor and protest” in the Contents.

3.     Collect a few books of poetry that look interesting.   Read a few poems that catch your eye, and select poems or a particular poet that you like.

    Search the NAHS online card catalog by typing in “poetry” and doing a keyword search.  Once you get the results, do a power search and add another term such as love or friendship. Be aware, however, that this will not bring up all poems on a given theme.  It is just another search technique.

Using these suggestions will get you started at finding poems on a theme.  Don’t limit yourself to one strategy.  Remember to write down the name of the book and the page numbers of the poems to save yourself time and aggravation later in the project. 

How do I know if the poems I’ve chosen are quality poems?

  Check the author’s name in some of the critical poetry books in reference 
(REF808.81, 809.1,810).  If the poet is included, that’s a good sign.

  Does the poem deal with some of the themes you’ve discussed in your English classes?

  Is the language sophisticated?

  Visit this website on critical reading designed by professor Lye of Brock University for more suggestions at Http://www.brocku.ca/english/jlye/criticalreading.html

   Updated on February 27, 2006