The Animal Poem

Write up a good, developed paragraph response to each numbered item below:

1. How would you characterize the assigned “animal poems” as a group? Do you see any common themes, concerns, formal strategies? Any interesting differences?
   
2. What specific poems were especially interesting or moving to you, and why?
   
3. What can you learn, as writers, from the specific poems you discussed in #2? I.e., what might they offer to help you become better poets or fiction writers? Consider:
   
   a. lyric, narrative, and meditative strategies
   b. formal issues of point of view, tone, description, and use of personae
   c. general opportunities for insight, creative play, and formal practice
   
4. How can this type of poem help you as a writer?