Teaching Poetry Writing

Tom C. Hunley is an assistant professor of English at Western Kentucky University and the director of Steel Toe Books (www.steeltoebooks.com). He received degrees from University of Washington (BA), Eastern Washington University (MFA), and Florida State University (Ph.D.). He has published hundreds of poems in literary journals such as TriQuarterly, Poetry East, Rattle, Connecticut Review, Exquisite Corpse, and Cimarron Review. His books of poetry include The Tongue (Wind Publications 2004); Still, There’s a Glimmer (WordTech Editions 2004); and My Life as a Minor Character (Pecan Grove Press 2005).

"Tom Hunley’s Teaching Poetry Writing: A Five-Canon Approach is one of the most inventive and exciting poetry writing handbooks I have ever read. Combining the ancient rhetorical tradition with contemporary literature and technology, Hunley shows us how the teaching of poetry writing can be systematic and imaginative, grounded in the literary past and innovative, pedagogically tough-minded and fun. For its thoroughness, its clear and vigorous prose, its engaging wit, and groundbreaking recommendations, I would recommend this book and the approach it advocates to any teacher of creative writing at any level, undergraduate or graduate.”"

• 1. It Doesn't Work For Me: A Critique of the Workshop Approach to Teaching Poetry Writing and a Suggestion For Revision 2. Rhetorical Theory as a Basis for Poetry Writing Pedagogy 3. Towards an Art of Poetic Invention 4. Some Specifics about the General: Arrangement 5. Elements of Poetic Style 6. Poetry Writing Instruction and the Forgotten Art of Memory 7. Delivery: Bringing the Words into the World 8. Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackboard Page 9. Conclusion