What is poetry? How to read and write poems? How to appreciate poetry? Michael Rosen, celebrated children’s poet, answers these questions and takes readers, children particularly, onto their poetic path through his book “What is Poetry? : The Essential Guide to Reading & Writing Poems”.

The author has devoted in length to explain what poetry is, but in an indirect way. By asking “What can poetry do?” and “What can you do with a poem?”, Rosen illustrates with some chosen pieces of poems to explain what poetry is. Walking through the poems with readers in simple language, he exemplifies the skills and techniques of poetry writing. He guides readers to appreciate and enjoy reading and writing poems. What is the best way to get familiar and understand poems? A tip for sharing is that, read the poems aloud! Each reading is a new experience and will give you different sensations derived from the poetic sounds. Well, doesn’t this sound poetic already? After all, poems are written for reading aloud right from the start.

Poems start from the little things in daily life. I am very impressed with one of the sharing by the author. One day, he was in a lift and at the second floor of the building. The lift announcer said the lift was going up, but Rosen knew that there was no floor higher than the second floor in the building. Others might find this strange, or even creepy. However, as a poet, Rosen got the inspiration and imagined there was a secret place up above the second floor which the lift would go through and take the passengers to another fantastic world. This was the poetic inspiration of his poem named “The Lift”. As Rosen says in the book, “Our lives are made up of thousands of small moments and we can, if we want to, make stories around any one of them.” With more observation and awareness of the little things around us, and with a bit of imagination, all of us can be poetic and write like a poet.

This book is suitable for everyone, especially for those who have no idea what poetry is but want to learn to appreciate the world of poetry. This book will guide you through the skills and techniques of reading and writing poems. Let’s have a try and create our own poetic world!