Creativity and Constraint: Developing as a Writer of Poetry

Abstract

The concept of progression within the poetry writing of children is a relatively new one within the field of research on writing (Dymoke, 2001, 2003; Wilson, 2005a). By far, the most common literature on poetry writing by young people in the UK context is the practitioner-related ‘handbook’ (Wilson, 2005b: 20). Since the work of Hourd (1949), a tradition of this type of literature has arisen, which has been dominated by a mixture of poet-practitioners or inspired experts: Hughes (1967); Corbett and Moses (1986); Dunn et al. (1987); Brownjohn (1980, 1982, 1990, collected in 1994); Pirrie (1987, 1993, 1994); Rosen (1989, 1998); those collected in Barrs and Rosen (1997); Sedgwick (1997); Carter (1998a and b); and Yates (1999). As the word ‘handbook’ suggests, these books are practical in their approach, with an emphasis on imparting ideas for teaching poetry writing, which are then interpreted and adapted accordingly. Many of these also contain, however, a good deal of rhetorical material, in which the author touches on elements of the theory, which underpins his or her own distinctive approach to teaching poetry writing. Of these, the best known in the UK are Hughes (1967), Brownjohn (1994), Pirrie (1994) and Rosen (1998). This is also true of a significant literature on the merits of poetry practice, in terms of both reading and writing: Benton (1978); Wilner (1979); Stibbs (1981); Fox and Merrick (1981); Jackson (1986); Walter (1986, 1990 and (1993); Lockwood (1993); Taylor (1994); Clements (1994); Carter, 1996, 1997, and 1998a, b and c); and Rudd (1997). In describing this literature as rhetorical, one is drawing attention to the fact that research on poetry writing by children remains scant. Claims for poetry’s importance within the curriculum, what Andrews (1991:128) summarizes as the ‘jewel in the crown of the verbal arts’, are largely based on opinion formed from practice rather than empirical studies. Some of the handbook literature, for

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