Dear James
First of all, if, as you say, you really are a beginner, I recommend a book now long out of print but still available second-hand (try this URL
http://www.addall.com/Used/ ): Robin Skelton’s
The Practice of Poetry (London: Heinemann, 1971). Skelton was a widely published poet, a writer on poetry and a compiler of anthologies. Born and educated in the UK, he taught at Manchester University before moving in 1963 to Canada, where he became Professor of English at the University of Victoria, British Columbia. He died in 1997.
The Practice of Poetry has 184 pages. Its chapter titles are these: “Finding the Word Hoard”, “Arranging the Word Hoard”, “The Basics of Verse”, “The Voices of Poetry”, “The Rhythms of Poetry”, “Approaches to Form”, “Staying in Business", “Strategies and Programmes” and “The Final Commitment”. There is an appendix entitled “The Technology of Verse: A Guide”, with the following sections: “A Guide to Rhymes, “A Guide to Metrical Feet”, “A Guide to Stanza Forms”, “A Guide to Obsessive Forms” and “A Guide to Other Verse Forms”.
As you progress, I would strongly recommend Derek Attridge’s book on metre,
Poetic Rhythm: An Introduction (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1995). This is the most coherent description of the way in which traditional English metres operate, better, for instance, than Steele’s book referred to above, which is overlong and in some respects betrays inconsistencies. It is based on a clear account of the relevant phonetic features of English. Attridge also has useful things to say about non-metrical verse.
Another book for later might be Mary Kinzie’s
A Poet’s Guide to Poetry, though her understanding of traditional metres is in my view not entirely sound.
The most important thing to do, however, is to read as much verse as you can, to read it closely, to begin to ask yourself why it might be that the writers chose to put things in such and such a way, considering, perhaps, other phrasings and patternings that seem plausible but which they rejected – and above all to learn by heart as much verse, metrical and non-metrical, as you can.
Good luck!
Clive Watkins