Carver: A Life in Poems

Carver: A Life in Poems
By: Marilyn Nelson
Front Street 2001
Poetry selection

Carver: A Life in Poems follows the life of the infamous George Washington Carver from the time he was a young boy all the way up to his death. Each poem that was set throughout the book told the story of his triumphs and hardships. Carver was an extremely intelligent and inspired man which is what lead him to his great success with the peanut industry and also as a professor at Tuskgee University. Regardless of his race he was actually respected by many people for his innovations and his love of education. He touched many people around him and was extremely grateful to his parents support.

I was a bit weary of a biography book in poem format but I actually quite liked it. I had learned a lot about Carver that I had never known, like him being a science professor. We usually only think of Carver as the peanut guy but he was so much more than that. He was a real inspiration to so many people, and even my self now because he was so inspired him self to become something better. Even though he was an African American and had to deal with prejudice, I feel like it was not as much by the people who knew him because he was extremely intelligent and they did not take him for granted. With the style of the book I was slightly confused at first because I was not able to follow the poems very well. However, it did help a lot when there were footnotes and pictures so you could get an idea of what the gist of them poem was about. This would be a great book for an older classroom that could keep up with the vernacular and vocabulary to show them that biographies can be fun to read but still teach you so much.