How Does a Poem Mean? (Paperback)

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Product Details

• Paperback: 408 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin College Div; 2 edition (September 1975)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395186056
• ISBN-13: 978-0395186053
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #642,379 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing Introduction to Poetic Structure and Meaning, December 23, 2004

By	Michael Wischmeyer (Houston, Texas) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: How Does a Poem Mean? (Hardcover)

John Ciardi's How Does a Poem Mean? is an intriguing, unorthodox, and surprisingly effective introduction to poetry. He argues that the question: "What Does a Poem Mean?" is too often a self-destroying approach that results in paraphrasing and misses the point of poetry. A poem is to be experienced, not simply interpreted. Unlike prose, a poem is primarily a performance.

How does a poem build itself into a form out of images, ideas, and rhythms? How do these elements become the meaning? How are they inseparable from the meaning? John Ciardi's remarkable textbook answers these questions, makes enjoyable reading, and is a five star introduction to poetry.

This text, published by Houghton Mifflin, was adopted by many colleges in the 1960s and 1970s. Inexpensive, used, soft cover copies are still fairly easy to find.

The eight chapters are titled How Does a Poem Mean?, A Burble Through the Tulgey Wood, By Rippling Pools, The Words of Poetry, The Sympathetic Contract, The Image and the Poem, The Poem in Motion, and The Poem in Countermotion.

I encountered many familiar poems as well as others new to me. Among the latter, I list several to illustrate the wide range of Ciardi's selections (and to remind me to return to these poets): The Listeners (Walter De la Mare), Mr. Flood's Party (Edwin Arlington Robinson), The Death of a Hired Hand (Robert Frost), Burning Love Letters (Howard Moss), Snake (D. H. Lawrence), Blue Girls (John Crowe Ransom), Medusa (Louise Bogan), A Subterranean City (Thomas Lovell Beddoes), and What the Sonnet Is (Eugene Lee Hamilton).

Also, I especially enjoyed three closely related poems: Departmental (Frost), Heaven (Rupert Brooke), and A Deep Discussion (Richard Moore).

Like most collections of poetry, How Does a Poem Mean? is best enjoyed if read in a leisurely fashion over several months. The overall time commitment may be substantial, but John Ciardi's fascinating text will reward your efforts. Take your time. Enjoy yourself. Remember, poetry is to be experienced, not simply analyzed. Cheers.

39 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 40 Years of Reference, April 1, 2000

By A Customer

This book was a text book for me as I wandered, wonderingly, into the world of freshman college English Lit. in 1960. It has made th cut on all of the 27 "moves to new digs" that I have made since then. It is now like an old friend--treasured, respected, loved. I am sorry it is out of print because my copy is held together with tape and cannot last too much longer. It is written with such an obvious love for the subject matter (the poem) that one is caught up in that love and swept along with it. Yet, the writing is simple, clear, and constructive. It is an introduction to poetry for an adult of any age. For me, it was, and is--priceless.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Memorable, August 19, 2003

By	Wrenn11 "wrenn11" (West Coast, USA) - See all my reviews

This was a textbook I had in AP English in high school twenty-something years ago, and it is the only high school textbook of which I remember the title-- it was that memorable. A Great book. This textbook both defined and expanded the world of poetry for me, and I hope to again get a copy of it. Until I can find it again somewhere, I will have to be content with with some of the samples of poetry that I can still remember from outstanding book.