[Robert Swagman]

Richard Wakefield suggested, on a different thread, that we compile a bibliography of books, and I thought we might start a thread on guides and handbooks. The following I keep by the computer:

1. 'A Poetry Handbook' Mary Oliver

2. The Art and Craft of Poetry' Michael J Bugeja

Goes into more depth than Oliver's book. A good text to follow Oliver's

3. 'A Poets Guide to Poetry' Mary Kinzie

Much more detailed and thought provoking. It's slow going - I'm about a third of the way through - and it's going to take numerous re-reads to get everything out of it.

4. 'The Poetry Dictionary' John Drury

Just that - a comprehensive dictionary of terms and phrases

5. 'The Book of Forms' Lewis Turco

A comprehensive listing of metrical forms. The only one I haven't found in it is the ovillejo, unless it's listed under another name.

6. 'A Dictionary of Homophones' Leslie Presson

Thought it might be helpful for light verse and wordplay

7. 'Oxford American Thesaurus of Current English' Oxford University Press

8. 'World Poetry' Norton & Co. - Clifton Fadiman General Editor

Nice breakdown of works by era and geographical location. 1200 pgs of poetry.

Anybody else want to add to the list?




[This message has been edited by Robert Swagman (edited October 30, 2002).]

[oliver murray]

From the point of view of generating ideas, finding themes, etc, I would strongly recommend these books.

Poetry Writing -Theme and Variations
By David Starkey.
50 published poems, with analysis and examples of student poems on the same themes, and exercises.

In The Palm Of Your Hand - the Poet's Portable Workshop
By Steve Kowit.
Deals with music and metaphor, experiment and tradition, perennial themes etc.

The Practice of Poetry - Writing Exercises From Poets Who Teach.
By Robin Behn & Chase Twichell
Dozens of exercises, ways of getting started or generating an idea, each one by a different poet/teacher and using widely differing approaches.



[This message has been edited by oliver murray (edited October 31, 2002).]

[Richard Wakefield]

Here are several that I use frequently:

The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics (slow going, but authoritative and comprehensive)

Historical Dictionary of American Slang, Random House (a wonderful source of color, and funny)

The Origins of English Words, by Joseph Shipley (instructive and entertaining, providing, for example, the unsuspected etymological link between "orgy" and "surgeon")

A Handbook to Literature, by C. Hugh Holman (much quicker than Princeton)

The Oxford Companion to English Literature / The Oxford Companion to American Literature (handy for reminding yourself of works and writers you've nearly forgotten or don't want to admit to never having read)

[Bruce McBirney]

Two other suggestions--

All the Fun's in How You Say a Thing by Timothy Steele. (A comprehensive and interesting guide to meter by one of the most accomplished living metrical poets. Or skip the guide, and simply read his poetry collections Sapphics Against Anger and The Color Wheel.)

The Poet's Companion by Kim Addonizio and Dorianne Laux. (A fun beginning poetry guide, more geared to free verse, by two award-winning poets. Or again, skip the guide, and read Addonizio's free verse collection Tell Me. For my money, Tell Me, with its intense, stripped-bare honesty and its dramatic craft, has more memorable poems--including "Glass," "At Moss Beach," "Prayer," "For Desire" and "Theodicy"--than any other book of free verse. Eliot and Jeffers waded gallantly into depression, too. But they pretty much got mired and then nobly gritted their teeth as they sank. Kim bursts out the other side, still very much alive!)

[Clive Watkins]

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

[RCL]

For the sheer fun of it, I'd add John Hollander's Rhyme's Reason: A Guide to English Verse and, on the line and its sounds, Robert Pinsky's, The Sounds of Poetry. For a superb collection of poems and discussions of technical terms, Sam Gwynn's Poetry, in the Longman Pocket Anthology series.

Cheers,

------------------
Ralph

[Robert Swagman]

Another one to add to the list.

The Ghost of Meter - Culture and Prosody in American Free Verse

Annie Finch
University of Michigan Press

[Michael Cantor]

I'm surprised that nobody mentioned a thesaurus or a rhyming dictionary.

I have a contemporary Webster's New World Rhyming Dictionary which I use regularly, but my real secret weapon is a dog-eared copy of Walker's Rhyming Dictionary, which was printed in England in, I think, the twenties or thirties (it is undated) and I purchased second hand at the old Strand in Manahattan in the fifties. It describes itself as a Dictionary..."..in which the whole language is arranged according to its terminations". Basically it is a backwards dictionary (I don't think these exist any more) in which words are in reverse alphabetical order, and while it is a pain-in-the-ass to use - you have to think of all the possible word endings that could fit your rhyme on your own - the volume of words it contains dwarfs any other rhyming dictionary I have seen, and it is a great source of ideas.

Similarly, I have a number of contemporary thesaurii(?) but the one that turns me on is a fifty-plus year old Roget's - again from the Strand - that is held together with scotch tape.

Michael Cantor



[This message has been edited by Michael Cantor (edited December 18, 2002).]

[Robert J. Clawson]

To Mary Oliver's "Handbook," add her "Rules for theDance," 1998.

John Frederick Nims' "Western Wind, an Introduction to Poetry," Third Edition, 1992 is a standard. I t includes an anthology of exemplary poems that runs over 200 pages.

"The Making of a Poem" (a Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms) by Mark Strand and Eavan Boland is good for the study of received forms...plenty of examples.

The title of Paul Fussell's MAJOR prosody slips my mind (my copy's out), but it's, perhaps, the most demanding prosody I've read. About a dozen poets over the past 500 years pass achieve his standards.

Bob

[Richard Wakefield]

Bob:
Fussell's book is "Poetic Meter and Poetic Form," I believe.
I also use C. Hugh Holman's "A Handbook of Literary Terms" quite a bit, and it has helpful references to more exhaustive sources.
As this list of suggestions grows, I think it's a good idea to say again that reading ABOUT poetry must always be secondary -- important, but secondary. Reading poetry itself is primary, and reading it for pleasure, reading it aloud, listening to other people read it. That's a big advantage of the anthologies.
RPW