by Ruth A. Johnston (Author)
"What is poetry? Poetry is art made with words. The rest of this book is about what that means."
Speak Like Rain goes through the artistic tools of poetry: sound elements of language, and images. It covers all of the basics (meter, rhyme, sonnets, metaphor...) while asking of each element, "what does this contribute to the art? Why would a word artist choose to do it this way?" The text includes over 100 full poems, including the full text of "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," and at the same time presents some basic poetry history to show how each artistic trend came about.
Speak Like Rain is laid out as a student text/workbook, but it is also enjoyable for general readers who are out of school and want not only a quick review but added insight. It is suitable for high school and motivated/gifted middle school study, representing a one-semester English elective in a homeschool program. A full answer key makes it suitable for self-teaching.
Digital version (pdf file suitable for tablet computer display) is available at ellenjmchenry.com. Kindle ebook is not available because the workbook layout is not suitable for flowing text.