Synopses & Reviews
Two beloved and esteemed poets have collaborated on this intimate and useful anthology illuminating the history, practice, and wonder of our most elusive art. Intended for all those who love poetry, including teachers, readers, writers, and students, will be especially valued by those who feel that an understanding of form--sonnet, ballad, villanelle, sestina, etc.--would enhance their appreciation of poetry, but are daunted by the terms, the names, and the histories of various poetic forms. This anthology draws the reader in, by example and explanation, to the excitement and entertainment of these forms. It explains their origins, traces their development, and shows examples from the past and present. In a feature called "The form at a glance" the reader can try his or her own hand writing a particular form. Included are essays by each of the editors describing their own personal journeys toward a form for their poetic voice. Above all, this anthology shows that poetic form is a continuing adventure. Contemporary poets can be seen here trying out the same forms that poets used hundreds of years ago, but in the new circumstances of a complicated modern world. In this way poetic form is illustrated not as a series of rules, but as a passionate conversation in which every reader of poetry can become involved. "A marvelous new anthology."--
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" " Francine Prose
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" " Elle
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" " Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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" " J.D. McClatchy
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"A generous and exquisitely selective anthology of poetry forms that may make you decide to give up E-mail and start writing sestinas and villanelles." Francine Prose
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"A marvelous new anthology... intended for readers daunted by terminology and complex poetic forms." Elle
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"This is the book writers and readers, teachers and students, have been dreaming of--canny, generous, and practical, Boland and Strand are ideal guides through the golden labyrinth of poetry at its most ingenious and commanding. A marvelous collection!" Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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"Much more poetry than commentary appears, making the book both a splendid classroom text and, since the selections are top-drawer poems by first-rate poets, a book any poetry lover or would-be poetry lover may learn from and love." J.D. McClatchy
Synopsis
"Concise, learned, revisionary... should enrich the passionate conversation about poetic forms for years to come."-- Edward Hirsch, author of
Synopsis
Two of our foremost poets provide here a lucid, straightforward primer that "looks squarely at some of the headaches and mysteries of poetic form": a book for readers who have always felt that an understanding of form (sonnet, ballad, villanelle, sestina, among others) would enhance their appreciation of poetry. Tracing "the exuberant history of forms," they devote one chapter to each form, offering explanation, close reading, and a rich selection of examplars that amply demonstrate the power and possibility of that form.
About the Author
Eavan Boland's most recent book is New Collected Poems. She directs the creative writing program at Stanford University and splits her time between Stanford, California, and Dublin, Ireland.Mark Strandwon the Pulitzer Prize for Blizzard of Oneand was Poet Laureate of the United States. He teaches on the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago.