I never Told Anybody: Teaching Poetry Writing to Old People

by Kenneth Koch

This classic guide by the trail-blazer of teaching poetry offers ideas and techniques that are useful at all age levels, as well as wonderful poems by his students.

Genres: Poetry, Nonfiction

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

Kenneth Koch is most often recognized as one of the four most prominent poets of the 1950s-1960s poetic movement "the New York School of Poetry" along with Frank O'Hara, John Ashbery and James Schuyler. The New York School adopted the avant-garde movement in a style often called the "new" avant-garde, drawing on Abstract Expressionism, French surrealism and stream-of-consciousness writing in the attempt to create a fresh genre free from cliché. In his anthology The New York Poets, Mark Ford writes, "In their reaction against the serious, ironic, ostentatiously well-made lyric that dominated the post-war poetry scene, they turned to the work of an eclectic range of literary iconoclasts, eccentrics and experimenters."

Fiercely anti-academic and anti-establishment, Koch's attitude and aesthetic were dubbed by John Ashbery his "missionary zeal." Ford calls him "the New York School poet most ready to engage in polemic with the poetic establishment, and the one most determined to promote the work of himself and his friends to a wider audience." Koch died of leukemia at age 77, leaving a legacy of numerous anthologies of both short and long poems, avant-garde plays and short stories, in addition to nonfiction works dealing with aesthetics and teaching poetry to children and senior citizens.

Reviews

[Laura Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recently took on teaching poetry writing to residents at a nursing home. Realizing my experience in regular classrooms would need to be enhanced, I was happy to find Kenneth Koch’s book. My reaction went from merely happy to inspired and delighted: Koch shares prompt and dialogue ideas, models his open-ended discussion approach with his students, and reflects how students embrace freedom and improve memory with exploration of language. He also shares student work, revealing how their language and imagery grows from lesson to lesson. An excellent resource.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is very sweet and occasionally powerful. I got it just to read the students' poems, but Koch's prose contributions turned out to have some insights and inspirations about teaching writing. I love the idea of transforming any life through poetry, especially those who feel trapped or hopeless, like these people sometimes did. I'll read anything Koch does, and now I'm excited to get my hands (someday) on his book about teaching poetry writing to children.

[David Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

The idea of teaching writing to old folks in an old folks home is sweet, but it turns out this may be more of an academic document than it first appears to be. I'd reach for it just as soon as I'd reach for Edgar Lee Masters or William Carlos Williams. And get the colloquial straight from the source.

[Jimmy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first chapter about his experiences in the nursing home teaching poetry is worth the price of admission alone. It's funny how it reminded me of high school students who sometimes feel the same way.

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I must reread this one now that I'm one of the old people!