Any good helpful books?

[SisterBear]

Well Hello!

Um... I was just wondering if anyone knew of any good helpful books I got get my hands on? I am relatively new at really getting in to my writing, and I could definetly use some help! So any books on poetry that you think might be useful to me to get started would be great! As I have wrote many poems... and now that I've read many poems I can see that they (my poems) need a bit of work! Thanks a bunch!

-SisterBear

[Rachel Lindley]

I would recommend the following:

The Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry - Richard Ellman, Robert O'Clair - editors (ISBN 0393956369)

The Sounds of Poetry - Robert Pinsky, author (ISBN 0374526176)

Sound and Sense - Laurence Perrine, author (ISBN 0155073966)

The Poet's Companion - Dorianne Laux and Kim Addonizio, authors (ISBN 0393316548)

The Poetry Handbook - Mary Olivier, author (ISBN 0156724006)

Rhyme's Reason: A Guide to English Verse - John Hollander, author (ISBN 0300088329)


That should keep you occupied. Heh.

Rachel

[This message has been edited by TheBroad (edited 03-05-2001).]

[SisterBear]

Rachael-

Thank you so much for recommending those books to me! I actully went to my local library to get Robert Pinsky's "the sounds of poetry" but um I could not find it...Im sure I'll find it though! Any other tips you could give me as a beginnig writter would be terrific! Thanks again!

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Life is tough, deal with it!

One of my favorite poems!... The Night Has a Thousand Eyes by Francis William Bourdillon

[Rachel Lindley]

Originally posted by SisterBear:

Any other tips you could give me as a beginnig writter would be terrific!

**Tip #1 - work on your spelling.
**Tip #2 - read more poetry.
**Tip #3 - read the posts in this forum on clichés, abstractions, punctuation, focus of images, and "What is Poetry?"
**Tip #4 - reread them.
**Tip #5 - write something every day.
**Tip #6 - read even more poetry.

Rachel

[Howard Miller]

Here are a few more, although Rachel has mentioned the very best of them already--Perrine's Sound and Sense, the best introduction to reading (and thus to writing) poetry I've come across in over 30 years of teaching college-level poetry.

If you're interesting in formalist poetry (meter and rhyme), the following two are indispensable (along with the Hollander Rachel mentioned):

Lewis Turco, The New Book of Forms

Timothy Steele, All the Fun's in How You Say a Thing

Several others that are pretty good in a variety of ways:

Edward Hirsch, How to Read a Poem and Fall in Love with Poetry

Molly Peacock, How to Read a Poem and Start a Poetry Circle

Mary Kinzie, A Poet's Guide to Poetry
(Perhaps a bit more daunting than most and maybe somewhat overintellectualized at times)

Robert Wallace and Michelle Boisseau, Writing Poems, 4th Ed.

Steve Kowit, In the Palm of Your Hand: The Poet's Portable workshop

Happy reading and writing!


Howard

[MSPav]

Here's another one: 'Creating Poetry', by John Drury. It covers an extremely broad area and is well written to boot.

[clive]

Teach Yourself Writing Poetry Matthew Sweeney and John Hartley Williams. "Teach Yourself" is available in the States, isn't it? This book is written by two esteemed British poets (I don't particularly like tr work, but that's beside the point, they know how to write). Good, concise and clear advice.

Clive

[Erika S]

I will vouch for the availability of the "Teach Yourself" series in the US and for the quality of the book. An excellent work.

-Erika

[Ralph T]

Sister,
The Broad has some good advice!

When I am in your situation, I seldom go to the library because thay seldom have what I want. Libraries are limited for some reason. I go to the local Border's and browse through their shelves. They will always have the latest publications and do not care if you sit around and read their books and even take notes.

They will also order any publication for you and you do not have to buy it after you get it if you don't like it.




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If you want to learn to sing, then sing.
If you want to learn to dance, then dance.
If you want to learn to write, then write.

[Wordsworth Whelp]

Do you guys have any experiences with Western Wind? It is a book written for the understanding of the elements of poetry and has many poems in it, many which are used as specific teaching tools. It is used at many campuses and I really enjoy it...

[Andrea345]

I didn't even realize I owned this. It's another dictionary of poetic terms. However after it was pointed out that I was abusing the reader with a "wee-bit" (heh) of repetition I went desperately seeking a compilation of types of repetition.

The Longman Dictionary of Terms by Jack Myers and Michael Simms has three appendices at the back. The 3rd appendix is its bibliography, but the 1st two are great for trying to understand, for example, how many types of cliche there are:
aphorism
apothegm
archaism
caricature


or (under Appendix 2)a list of the Figures of Repetition:
alliteration
anadiplosis
anaphora
antanaclasis (lots o "a s" there)

and so on.

The publication of my book was 1989 by Longman (NewYork, London)

I apologize to my reader that I found this only after the repetetive abuse was committed. (I love being a newbie)


[This message has been edited by Andrea345 (edited 04-29-2001).]

[formicary]

It has nothing to do with poetry, but one of my favorite books on writing is John Gardner's The Art of Fiction. I read it in college, and it was a distinct learning experience. My college work is divided into two sections: Things I wrote before reading this book, and things I wrote after. The things I wrote after are infinetly better. The book snapped me out of a phase of immature juvenelia, to one of a mature, learning adult.
Even if you do wish to concentrate solely on poetry, this book will be helpful in understanding the full power of langauge.