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The Poetry Handbook
This volume is a lucid and entertaining guide to the poet's craft, and an invaluable introduction to practical criticism for students. Chapters on each element of poetry offer a wide-ranging general account and end by looking at different poems, to build up sustained analytical readings.
The second edition--fully revised, expanded, updated, and supported by a new companion website--confirm The Poetry Handbook as the best guide to poetry available in English.
The second edition--fully revised, expanded, updated, and supported by a new companion website--confirm The Poetry Handbook as the best guide to poetry available in English.
418 pages, Paperback
First published August 22, 1996
About the author
John Lennard
32 books28 followersJohn Lennard (born 1964) read English at New College, Oxford, took an MA at Washington University in St Louis, and a DPhil. back at New College. After teaching for the Open University and the University of London, he was Fellow and Director of Studies in English at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, from 1991-8, and Professor of British and American Literature at the University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica, from 2004-09. He is now an Associate Member and Director of Studies in English at Hughes Hall, Cambridge, and a freelance writer as well as the general editor of Humanities-Ebooks' Genre Fiction Sightlines and Monographs series.
Besides almost all books, he likes cats, cricket, mountains and forests, architecture, punctuation (and its peculiar history), red wine, honky-tonk piano, blues and folk, rugs, knots, jigsaws, crosswords, pottery, Golden Age Dutch fine art, and astronomy.
Besides almost all books, he likes cats, cricket, mountains and forests, architecture, punctuation (and its peculiar history), red wine, honky-tonk piano, blues and folk, rugs, knots, jigsaws, crosswords, pottery, Golden Age Dutch fine art, and astronomy.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
July 16, 2015
This is a primer filled with “technical knowledge” on poetic techniques, A-Z. The author is especially good about poetic rhythms (“prosody”); layout (lineation, which is an aspect of punctuation); whether to capitalize the first word of each line (optional); punctuation (there’s “no such thing as ‘correct’ or ‘incorrect’ punctuation in poetry); diction (using words intensely as opposed to extensively, and activating “the secondary and tertiary senses of words”); syntax (there’s “no correct syntax in English poetry”); the uses of active and passive voices to convey shades of meaning; and, word placement and sentence isolation that produce emphasis.
While “too much analysis spoils pleasure” for some, Lennard says it‘s the opposite for him. Of course, a good part of his professional interest involves poetry (he uses his “OED almost every working day”). A question for the poetry reader is whether it’s worth the time to dig out and decipher hidden structures and meaning or to determine whether a poet is particularly insightful as opposed to, say, writers of fiction or non-fiction. Also, does a poem have to be complicated to be good? Is the Gettysburg address a poem?
While “too much analysis spoils pleasure” for some, Lennard says it‘s the opposite for him. Of course, a good part of his professional interest involves poetry (he uses his “OED almost every working day”). A question for the poetry reader is whether it’s worth the time to dig out and decipher hidden structures and meaning or to determine whether a poet is particularly insightful as opposed to, say, writers of fiction or non-fiction. Also, does a poem have to be complicated to be good? Is the Gettysburg address a poem?
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May 6, 2021This book turned me from a disdainer into a reader of poetry and I am grateful. It's still hard to do, though. Bloom called literature a 'difficult pleasure'. I sometimes can barely follow Lennard's readings, much less equal them.
I'm convinced that poetry, read slowly, carefully, over and over with a fine toothed-comb, is an antidote to the 'internet poisoning' we love to complain about now. The feeds and the screens have been giving me hits of dopamine since I was a wee tyke; what good are they, really? are we happier for them?
There are many very playful passages where Lennard unites form with content, demonstrating alliteration even as he explains it for example, or experimenting with typography in the chapter on layout. I loved those parts. Poetry has clearly rubbed off on Lennard.
I'm convinced that poetry, read slowly, carefully, over and over with a fine toothed-comb, is an antidote to the 'internet poisoning' we love to complain about now. The feeds and the screens have been giving me hits of dopamine since I was a wee tyke; what good are they, really? are we happier for them?
There are many very playful passages where Lennard unites form with content, demonstrating alliteration even as he explains it for example, or experimenting with typography in the chapter on layout. I loved those parts. Poetry has clearly rubbed off on Lennard.
November 15, 2011
The Poetry Handbook is a great book to truly indulge into the learning of poetry. It is a guide that offers help to create your own poetry, having chapters in several basics like meter, diction, rhyme, form, layout and punctuation. Lennard shows examples of each at the end of every chapter to further develop the understanding of everything. This is a great read for anyone interested how poetry works or how to correct the mistakes in your own poetry.
March 11, 2013
This handbook is not something that can be read in one sitting and be done with. It is a very useful guide to create good poetry. The included exercises and glossary make it even more functional. I am glad i bought this book for such a cheap price (1.5 USD!!). This is a book that i will not let go.
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December 19, 2021Read for class. Pretty useful.
November 25, 2020
You feel no stone is left unturned here with every aspect of poetry discussed right down to full stops, commas and even spaces. The author's language is as rich and precise as the poetic concepts he talks about and the whole is very readable though I personally prefer more traditional terminology such as "feminine endings" to "hypermetric feet". I especially liked the use of David Walcott's poem "Nearing Forty" for each chapter where Mr Lennard draws such meaning and deep interpretation from a short poem, which is actually a single sentence. Also very interesting are three student essays on this same poem which yield many different observations. These essays are well written too. The subjective feel of the different metric structures was also extremely helpful. I highly recommend it for both critical and creative study.
August 4, 2021
INCREDIBLY technical language made this difficult to read and comprehend at times, and the continued analysis of one poem did get slightly repetitive. Also, while the final three chapters on History, Biography and Gender were the most interesting, they felt like they belonged in a different book more related to literary theory than practical criticism.
Having said that, the sheer amount of information and detail is very useful and made me realise how little I know about poetry - going to throw the phrase anapæstic tetrameter into general conversation.
Having said that, the sheer amount of information and detail is very useful and made me realise how little I know about poetry - going to throw the phrase anapæstic tetrameter into general conversation.
August 31, 2021
Very useful for the poetry teacher and student. Lennard has an easy way with prose, he pulls you along through some difficult technicalities with his exceptional knowledge and enthusiasm for the subject.
April 5, 2022
A solid exploration of the technical aspects of poetry. If you want to take your technical knowledge of poetry to the next level, this is definitely the book for you.
Learn the technicalities, dear aspiring fellow poet - they free you to emote. They let the flames shine through the smoke.
Learn the technicalities, dear aspiring fellow poet - they free you to emote. They let the flames shine through the smoke.
May 12, 2020
v useful. love u john
October 30, 2022
3.5; definitely helpful
May 25, 2012
not bad for a book on poetry
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews