[S. A. Wyatt]

I agree that Mary Oliver's book would be good for beginners. I would also recommend adding Paul Fussel's Poetic Meter and Poetic Form to a reading list. That's the book I started with, and I thought it was very straightforward and used many examples from the canon to illustrate meter. I also think Fussel does a great job of explaining how meter and substitutions convey meaning.

Oh, and I would highly recommend having a budding poet commit some favorite poems to memory. Start with a sonnet and then move on to something longer. I think I learned more about form that way than any other. Gets it down in your bones.

Regards,

Sean

[Ann Drysdale]

As to "poetry handbooks", I treasure the one by Babette Deutsch. Her simple explanations and clear illustrations have been invaluable to me over the years, both as teacher and practitioner. I once mislaid my copy and bought another immediately, so now I have two, one to stay and one to travel.

I also have the Princeton Dictionary of Poetry and Poetics, but I can't remember when I last opened it.

There's soon to be a new kid on the block, from Palgrave Macmillan: The Portable Poetry Workshop, edited by Nigel McLoughlin (Professor of Creativity and Poetics at the University of Gloucestershire, UK).

Due out on the 2nd of September.
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