ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author begins by drawing on poetic language theory to discuss how poetry as a verbal art differs from prose. She then shares relevant scholarship on children's poetry writing and how particular environments might support children as poets. Then, from a sociocultural perspective, the author discusses four interrelated concepts and theories that have the possibility to animate the social practice of children writing poetry: the functions of children's writing, children's use of interdiscursive and intertextual practices, language play, and performance. She discusses poetry's macrostructural features, which include the placement of stanzas, the use of the line, and the overall shape of the poem. The author also differentiates these macrostructural features from specifically poetic structures. A common way poetry is performed in elementary school classrooms through Readers Theater lessons, which are lessons engaging children in repeated readings of poetry "scripts".
