Part One. Ladders to the Dark: The Unconsious as Gold Mine Summary and Analysis

This guide to writing poetry is collection of over 90 favorite writing exercises from writing teachers and poets. The book explores a variety of techniques and strategies for writing poetry for students in a class or on their own, or for more experienced writers. It is also a hands-on "how to" manual that will guide beginners and the inexperienced as well as a resource for poets and for teachers of poetry.

Part 1. Ladders to the Dark

The subtitle to this section is "The Unconscious as Gold Mine" and consists of eleven exercises that are designed to help students connect with their own unconsciousness to find images and ideas.

The first exercise, "First Words" by Ann Lauterbach, is not a poetry-writing exercise as...