Dear Jerry
I have mentioned Derek Attridge’s Poetic Rhythm: An Introduction (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1995) several times before. In my view it is the best exposition by far of how English metres work.
The other resource any poet with a serious and long-term commitment to writing needs (or at least needs ready access to) is the Oxford English Dictionary. The full edition is, of course, available on a searchable CD.
Clive Watkins
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