Synopses & Reviews
Long before she fell in love with Tuscany, Frances Mayes fell in love with poetry. The author of five poetry collections, she was also a professor of creative writing at San Francisco State University. In this accessible field guide, Mayes invites readers to share her lifelong passion. Beginning with basic terminology and techniques, The Discovery of Poetry reveals how focusing on each aspect of a poem can help you better understand, appreciate, and enjoy the whole reading and writing experience. In addition to creative composition ideas, lyrical and lively discussions are followed by a thoughtful selection of poems. With its distinguished
anthology of work from Shakespeare to Jamaica Kincaid, this is an insightful, invaluable guide to what Mayes calls "the natural pleasures of language-a happiness we were born to have."
Frances Mayes is the author of the bestselling Under the Tuscan Sun, Bella Tuscany, and In Tuscany, which have been translated into twenty languages. She has written five books of poetry including, most recently, Ex Voto. Formerly the chair of the Creative Writing Department at San Francisco State University, she divides her time northern California and Cortona, Italy.
Review
PRAISE FOR UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN AND BELLA TUSCANY
Mayes displays a gift for conveying everyday life through her writing. . . . [She] presents a simpler, less frantic version of how to live one's life."
-USA Today
Frances Mayes is, before all else, a wonderful writer."-Chicago Tribune
Somehow, this is a narrative at once joyful and full of common sense,
a balance that few other writers have struck so perfectly. It's as intimate as
a lover's whisper, honest and true, and vividly captures a sense of place."
-San Francisco Chronicle
Synopsis
The bestselling author of Under the Tuscan Sun brings poetry
out of the classroom and into the homes of everyday readers.
Before she fell in love with Tuscany, Frances Mayes fell in love with verse. After publishing five books of poetry and teaching creative writing for more than twenty-five years, Mayes is no stranger to the subject. In The Discovery of Poetry, an accessible "field guide" to reading and writing poetry, she shares her passion with readers. Beginning with basic terminology and techniques, from texture and sound to rhyme and repetition, Mayes shows how focusing on one aspect of a poem can help you to better understand, appreciate, and enjoy the reading and writing experience. In addition to many creative and helpful composition ideas, following each lyrical and lively discussion is a thoughtful selection of poems. With its wonderful anthology from Shakespeare to Jamaica Kinkaid, The Discovery of Poetry is an insightful, invaluable guide to what Mayes calls "the natural pleasures of language-a happiness we were born to have."
About the Author
Frances Mayes is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Under the Tuscan Sun, Bella Tuscany, and In Tuscany, as well as five books of poetry, most recently Ex Voto. Until last year, she taught at San Francisco State University, where she was Chair of the Creative Writing Department. Mayes has published poems in the Atlantic Monthly, the Iowa Review, Ploughshares, Mother Jones, the New England Review, the Mississippi Review, and more. She divides her time between San Francisco and Cortona, Italy.
Table of Contents
Contents
Invitation
1. Sources and Approaches
The Origin of a Poem
The Art of Reading
Poems
2. Words: Texture and Sound
Texture of Language
Choosing Words
The Muscle of Language
Sound Patterns
The Surprise of Language
The Kinship of Words
Poems
3. Images: The Perceptual Field
Three Image Poems
Images and Perception
Literal Images
Poems
Figurative Images
Symbols
Poems
4. The Speaker: The Eye of the Poem
The Invented "I"
The Personal "I" Speaker
The Public Voice
The Invisible Speaker
Poems
5. Rhyme and Repetition
Rhyme
Poems
Repetition
Poems
6. Meter: The Measured Flow
What Is Meter?
Scansion
Iambic Pentameter
More Key Meters
Two Other Metrical Options
Rhythm and Meaning
Poems
7. Free Verse
The Genesis of Free Verse
The Free Verse Craft of the Line
Voice
Free Verse, the Tradition and Beyond
Poems
8. Traditional and Open Forms
Looking at Forms
Traditional Forms
Poems
Open Forms
Prose Poems
Open Forms Poems
9. Subject and Style
Types of Poems
Style
Poems on Four Subjects
Poems
10. Interpretation:
The Wide Response
What Is Meaning?
Gaps and Holes
Power Sources
Critical Discriminations
Poems
11. A Poet's Handbook
Invoking Your Muse
Beginning with a White Page
Suggestions for Writing and Revising
Exercises
Your Poems out the Door
Index of Titles
Index of Authors and Titles
Index of Terms and Topics