Best book about writing poetry?

[amca01]

What, in your opinion, is the best book for helping you to write poetry? I am a professional academic, and I've been writing (prose - mainly technical) for many many years. And I also like writing verse, although I don't have much time for it.

There seem to be quite a lot of books out there about how to write poetry, including a Dummies' Guide, a Complete Idiot's Guide etc.

What I'd like is some help in moving from rhyming verse (I can write a technically correct sonnet, for example), to something which has the whiff of genuine poetry in it.

Thanks!
-A.

[Stewed]

I have a pretty good book called The Making of a Poem, by Eavan Boland and Mark Strand. It mostly explains traditional forms, with examples -which are necessary since the form descriptions are less than crystal clear. So they'll give a little mini-history of, say, the Pantoum, then have an old one, and one by John Ashbery.

I was kind of hoping there'd be more suggestions, though; I'd like to know the same thing.

[mal4mac]

This is a bit like saying, "I have a chemistry lab and know how to work the bunsen burners & other equipment efficiently. Now who is going to teach me how to transmute lead into gold?" Of course the great poets *can* transmute lead into gold, but they don't give you a formula for doing it...

[Loganm]

ABC of Reading by Ezra Pound and Understanding Poetry by Cleanth Brooks. Don't take everything Pound says to heart (the reading list comes to mind), but a meditation on his book will teach you about poetry. Understanding Poetry used to be the leading textbook. It's a generous sampling of English Poetry, so if you aren't much read here's a great place to read the necessities, in context of different techniques (Tone, Mood, etc.), also containing a detailed prosody section (making a counterweight to Pound's semi-metaphysical opinions on metrics). Basically, UP will teach you what works and how: it's learning from the greats with the guidance of Cleanth Brooks and Penn Warren. Hit that one first than spend some time with Pound's book. After those two, you'll know more about what poetry is and how to write it than 99% of English grad students or Creative Writing MFAs.

The most important part about learning to write great poetry is of course reading great poetry. If you don't do that you can never hope to improve by purely writing. The above two textbooks are so successful because they are centered on reading the source, not merely discussing it.

[Stewed]

I wish there were a little less cattiness on this forum. A lot less, actually. But Loganm, those sound like excellent suggestions; thanks.

[Alexander III]

In all honesty, I think your best option is to pick a favored poet and read an anthology of his work - and imitate. Imitate several of your favorites from all eras - until you begin to develop a sense of personal style.

[Ecurb]

This is a bit like saying, "I have a chemistry lab and know how to work the bunsen burners & other equipment efficiently. Now who is going to teach me how to transmute lead into gold?" Of course the great poets *can* transmute lead into gold, but they don't give you a formula for doing it...

According to legend, a teenage boy once asked the adult Mozart how he should get started writing a symphony.

"Maybe you should start by composing shorter, simpler pieces," advised Mozart.

"But you were composing symphonies by the time you were 6!" complained the teenager.

"Yes. But I didn't have to ask anyone how to do it."

[Stewed]

So Pound says to collect the best and imitate it, more or less. He also says we need to learn Provencal, French, Latin, Greek and I think Chinese. Some of his book is awesome, some makes me wonder. The Earl of Rochester as an exemplar? Chaucer more worldly than Shakespeare? But a good book!

I think maybe the desire for instruction comes from not having an obviously dominant poetic form, and maybe a lack of practising poets who'd make the superiority of what they're doing obvious. And a total lack of technical instruction in school might also have something to do with it. Mozart didn't exactly grow up in the suburbs like I did, and the new historicism going in English departments doesn't really get you thinking about literature from the inside out. If anyone here has become a brilliant poet while avoiding the how-to books that would add some authority to their advice, but I'm running on the assumption that none of us are brilliant poets, and perhaps not even poets at all. I'm not.

[Alexander III]

So Pound says to collect the best and imitate it, more or less. He also says we need to learn Provencal, French, Latin, Greek and I think Chinese. Some of his book is awesome, some makes me wonder. The Earl of Rochester as an exemplar? Chaucer more worldly than Shakespeare? But a good book!

I think maybe the desire for instruction comes from not having an obviously dominant poetic form, and maybe a lack of practising poets who'd make the superiority of what they're doing obvious. And a total lack of technical instruction in school might also have something to do with it. Mozart didn't exactly grow up in the suburbs like I did, and the new historicism going in English departments doesn't really get you thinking about literature from the inside out. If anyone here has become a brilliant poet while avoiding the how-to books that would add some authority to their advice, but I'm running on the assumption that none of us are brilliant poets, and perhaps not even poets at all. I'm not.

The Earl of Rochester is a very fine example - his Satyre Against Mankind is one of the finest poems in the english language. He is sadly underated, because he prefered the ridicoulous to the sublime - a fate most comic writers share.

[Delta40]

I'm not sure about books that can teach you to write poetry but I would recommend The Oxford Seven Centuries of Poetry in English.

[Stewed]

I think my taste must just differ a lot from Pound's. His examples didn't do it for me. There's no question he was qualified to write such a book.

[Loganm]

I think my taste must just differ a lot from Pound's. His examples didn't do it for me. There's no question he was qualified to write such a book.

Let Pound sink in for a while. Pound appeals because he pretends to have many answers, but really has very little. Pound accepts this. He acknowledges it. As the student, it is more beneficial to think about the question and come to your own conclusions then submit to Pound's answer to it. His little book is best used to spark a series of meditations.

[Stewed]

Good point. He reminded me of an idea I'd had before, that I should amass a pile of what I like the most and start to study it for form. I'm kind of susceptible to educational anxiety; I don't consider myself well educated, but still know it's possible in theory to learn a lot more. So I can get pretty wound up when someone tells me to learn Provencal, because I never entirely dismiss ideas like that, despite a pretty weak attention span and plenty else on my plate. Still, an entertaining book. That bit about pictograms briefly made me want to learn Chinese. (I'm a monoglot, and terrible at language learning.)

I got the other out too, but haven't really looked in it yet.

[Loganm]

I'm incredibly jealous of your library if you were able to find both books. You might want to try Pound's selected essays as well, what he has to say about literature is interesting, not entirely right, but very stimulating for one interested in poetics.

Also, a free online resource that's good for a monoglot to familiarize himself with the prosody of other languages is http://www.trobar.org/prosody/

[Stewed]

I must be spoiled; I was mad at them for having only one copy of the Golden Bough. Thanks for the link.

[cafolini]

According to legend, a teenage boy once asked the adult Mozart how he should get started writing a symphony.

"Maybe you should start by composing shorter, simpler pieces," advised Mozart.

"But you were composing symphonies by the time you were 6!" complained the teenager.

"Yes. But I didn't have to ask anyone how to do it."

The man who played the guitar for the first time didn't go to school.

[Stewed]

...............

[StephenDaedalus]

Try with Eliot's poetry criticism and Keats letters.

[Stewed]

Good idea.

[donaldbracy]

I'm using Keynotes 2012.... It's brillaint! It has all poetry notes and your Shakespeare play and Comparative. Really good value for money.

[firefangled]

Bearing in mind that one book will not answer all your questions, I would suggest Mary Oliver's A Poetry Handbook. I've read many of the available books and some are just too technical for someone writing at my level.

I do acknowledge that to write good poetry you need to learn the tools and the material. Building a house is always an apt metaphor for making poetry. You have to know what you can do with wood, stone, brick etc. You also have to know what tools to use with each and for what reason. In making poetry (on purpose) it is essential to understand grammar, the alphabet (which letters make which sounds - alone and separately), syntax, and how to use line and space.

I don't think many poets start out knowing how to instinctively put all this together. If you do try to write with all the techniques running through your head, it will stiffle you. That is why it is important to write, write, write, and then edit, edit, edit. It takes years for a carpenter to know how to use a square to build a staircase with just the right step height, and just the right length. But an experienced carpenter can mark off a 2" x 12" piece of lumber for a stair carraige in about 10 minutes with ease.

A book will only get you started. Then it's practice, practice, practice, like anything else. I just happen to like how Mary Oliver's book speaks to me personally. Hope this helps. I know how frustrating it is sometimes.

[cafolini]

Bearing in mind that one book will not answer all your questions, I would suggest Mary Oliver's A Poetry Handbook. I've read many of the available books and some are just too technical for someone writing at my level.

I do acknowledge that to write good poetry you need to learn the tools and the material. Building a house is always an apt metaphor for making poetry. You have to know what you can do with wood, stone, brick etc. You also have to know what tools to use with each and for what reason. In making poetry (on purpose) it is essential to understand grammar, the alphabet (which letters make which sounds - alone and separately), syntax, and how to use line and space.

I don't think many poets start out knowing how to instinctively put all this together. If you do try to write with all the techniques running through your head, it will stiffle you. That is why it is important to write, write, write, and then edit, edit, edit. It takes years for a carpenter to know how to use a square to build a staircase with just the right step height, and just the right length. But an experienced carpenter can mark off a 2" x 12" piece of lumber for a stair carraige in about 10 minutes with ease.

A book will only get you started. Then it's practice, practice, practice, like anything else. I just happen to like how Mary Oliver's book speaks to me personally. Hope this helps. I know how frustrating it is sometimes.

Good, useful thoughts.