A Poetry Handbook: A Prose Guide to Understanding and Writing Poetry by Mary Oliver
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Publisher site — Ecco

This is an excellent soup-to-nuts primer on poetry writing. While it would be a great tool for someone just beginning their poetic journey — i.e. one who didn’t yet know iambic pentameter from trochaic tetrameter — it also offers some nuggets of wisdom for one who is farther down the road. Mary Oliver had some unique ways of thinking about, or expressing thoughts about, the art.

The book does cover ideas relevant to both modern and traditional poetry. In this regard it has an advantage over, say, Stephen Fry’s The Ode Less Traveled in that Oliver considered both free and metered verse to be poetry.

The author uses the occasional poem or fragment from a variety of poets to make her points but doesn’t get bogged down in examples or analysis of poems.

Among the discussions that seemed better or more insightful than those in other such books were reflections upon the role of imitative exercises as well as exploration of the value of workshops and feedback.

I’d highly recommend this book for poets and serious poetry readers.

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