Product Description

In this revised second edition of the popular Handbook, 19 teaching poets have written 76 entries on traditional and modern poetic forms. The Handbook succintly defines the forms, summarizes thier histories, quotes good examples, and offers professional tricks of the trade on how to use each form.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #135101 in Books
• Published on: 2000-06-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 248 pages

Review
"A small wonder." -- Poetry Project Newsletter

"A treasure." -- Kliatt

"This colorful and entertaining reference work is what can what can happen when those who practice and preach poetry..." -- Teaching English in the Two-Year College

About the Author
Ron Padgett is Editor-in-Chief of the three-volume World Poets (Scribners). His many books of poetry include New & Selected Poems (Godine) and Great Balls of Fire (Coffee House). He is the translator of Blaise Cendrars's Complete Poems.

Customer Reviews

Wonderful book for writers as well as teachers!
This book is my favorite poetry handbook--and I have several--because it covers so many forms in such an clear, undry (i.e. entertaining) way. It's fun to read. I've taught poetry writing at about 40 elementary schools through the Writers in the Schools programs and children's literature at the University of Iowa. The Handbook gives a passel of forms that can be used with kids of all ages. In the children's lit class, the book was a means of showing the wide variety of forms. The undergrad students in that class, most of whom weren't that familiar with poetry, were dazzled by all the possibilities that the book opened up. As a writer, I enjoy reading about the different forms and examples. You can try writing in one of the forms, or try making up a new form based on forms in the book. Either way, you learn, you enjoy, you think, and you write, thanks to the Handbook.

Simply the Best Poetry Handbook
No adequate superlative exists for this poetry handbook--simply the best on the market. Rarely does a writing handbook work for all age groups, but this solid one does. Even elementary teachers could use some of the poetic forms, such as couplets, haiku, and nonsense poems, for their classes, and, yet, professional writers can dip into this densely rich (yet compact) volume and pull out an appropriate form from the 75+ forms offered.

I have used this handbook for my college creative writing classes since 1998; as writing fads come and go, this poetry handbook endures because it offers a simple, yet interesting, approach to writing poetry: a short history of the form; a brief explanation on how the form works; when appropriate, a sample poem (or verses) showing the form in action; and, in some cases, a diagram for the more complicated forms, such as the sestina and pantoum.

Semester after semester, my students praise this book, and many decide to keep it for their libraries, instead of reselling it to the college bookstore. I keep searching, but I have not been able to find its fiction handbook counterpart. Ron Padgett has done a fine job of compiling the forms, researching their histories, and finding stellar sample poems to show how the forms work. I hope this handbook NEVER goes out of print!

this is a great reference (for all ages)
this is a great book: well written; comprehensive but not encylopedic; engaging and entertaining. it was intended for junior or senior high school students and some of it's suggetions and examples reflect that BUT please don't let that stop you from buying it. it is simultaneously a good introduction to poetic forms (and poetry in general), a quick reference for the more advanced student, and a source of inspiration for practicing poets.