Multi-Hosted Week: The Poetry of Dr. Seuss

[poetree_admin]

alee_grrl

This week we are celebrating and exploring the poetry of Dr. Seuss. The son of German immigrants and brewmasters, Theodor Seuss Geisel was born in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1904. He developed a love of rhyme as a child, and credited his mother, Henrietta Seuss Geisel, with instilling this love. She had chanted little rhymes to soothe her children to sleep. He started using Seuss, the middle name he shared with his mother, as a pseudonym while attending Dartmouth College. After he graduated from Dartmouth, he briefly attended Oxford University, where he met his first wife, Helen Palmer. After returning from a tour of Europe, he pursued a career as a cartoonist.

Much of his early career was spent doing advertisements for Standard Oil Company. But as World War II approached, Seuss began doing political cartoons for PM, a liberal magazine. He also joined Frank Capra's Signal Corps, where he helped making training films. This is where he learned the art of animation. During this time he was commissioned by Viking Press to illustrate a selection of children's sayings, and while the book wasn't a huge success his illustrations were met with critical acclaim. This would lead to his first children's book, To Think that I Saw It on Mulberry Street. He went on to write and illustrate 44 children's books before his death in 1991, and his works have continued to inspire children and adults. For more on his fascinating life, please see: "Dr. Seuss" Biography, and the Dr. Seuss wikipedia article.

This week we are going to be exploring and celebrating Seuss's poetry in a variety of ways, including a tongue twister-challenge, a new Climbing the Poet's Tree writing challenge, and some in depth exploration of individual poems. There are still open spots if you are interested in participating!

( This week's schedule )

Last edited 12/4/13 by jjhunter

Climbing the Poet's Tree Challenge #33: Write a poem in the style of Dr. Seuss

[poetree_admin]

jjhunter

Dr. Seuss is as well known for his illustrations as for the poems that accompanied them. As an artist, his strong lines and bold colors have a playful, evocative effect of personality practically bursting off the page and hauling the poet (and readers!) along for the ride.

For our challenge this week, artist Tod Wills (also known as djinni) has created an illustration of an original character very much in the spirit of Dr. Seuss.

Your challenge, should you chose to accept it, is to write your own original poem of any length about this mysterious blue critter and his long-necked companion in the style of Dr. Seuss, and comment on this post with the details between now and this Saturday, June 1st, 1:00PM 7:00PM EST. Our judge this round is alee_grrl; the prize is Tod's original watercolor illustration of the art above, which the admins will mail to the winner or a recipient of the winner's choice. Note that anyone is welcome to enter and eligible to win regardless of their affiliation (or lack thereof) with the POETREE community aside from the admins themselves.

( Larger version of the art prompt available behind the cut )

To help people get started, let's begin by brainstorming what makes a poem a "Dr. Seuss"-style poem. How would you describe his poetry to someone who has never read one of his books? What type of words or rhythm 'sounds' like Dr. Seuss?

Last edited 6/1/13 by jjhunter