Customer Reviews

Poetry Handbook: A Dictionary of Terms

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I have to confess that I haven't read this edition of the Poetry Handbook, but I still have the 1962 edition I had to buy in high school -- battered and rebound, but still highly useful. Whereas books like the Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics are wonderful for those already familiar with the subject and looking to deepen their knowledge, Babette Deutsch's dictionary of terms is perfect for those students whose experience of poetry is limited to Hallmark cards and whose understanding of poetics is nil. Having just discovered that the book is still in print and now in its fourth edition, and, better yet, available through Amazon, I will recommend it to all my Freshman Comp II students (and, for that matter, to my literature students) as an approachable and useful starting point for the study of poetry.

This is a text I used as an undergrad and for several years during my apprentice-novice stage as a writer. Selected by my teacher, one of two Iowa Writers Workshop M.FAs, who advanced my skills through formal training in poetry and fiction.

Information is not everything, and especially today when there is so much Information to be freely had. This guide to Poetic terms is for the most part simple and clear. It gives illustrations and examples for many of the most important terms. My problem with it was that I had hoped to be inspired by some of the Poetry, some of the examples. And I found her examples to be not very inspiring at all.
There too is the problem that many of the entries are very skimpy. I also was bothered by her not giving significant weight to Biblical poetry and its importance for English Literature.
Still I learned what 'chiasmus' is , and was reminded again of the difference between a trochee and a anapest and a dactyl. I did too learn that Free Verse has its origin in nineteenth century French poetry and French poetry is syllabic, as words all tend to be equally accented. I learned that Free verse is a poetry of 'cadence' and not of 'syllable' and 'stress'. i.e. This book was useful to me in helping me refresh my knowledge of certain poetic terms and learn new terms and meanings I do not know.
I suspect that any and everyone who takes a real interest in Poetry will be able to learn something from it.

This little book is useful for students and practicing poets. It is arranged alphabetically, and contains listings for everything concerned with poetry in English, but doesn't forget the influence of poems from other cultures on English poetry. Poets quoted to demonstrate or illustrate the item under discussion range from classical to modern, from seventh century Japanese to Navajo. The author cross-references a lot, perhaps a bit much; but in this one little book, you can find the true definition of haiku (not only the line and syllable requirements, but the necessity to "rouse the emotion and suggest a spiritual insight", something often overlooked in definitions of the form; a discussion of "fancy", distinguishing it from fantasy and further distinguishing the latter from phantasy; and a definition of the "Monk's Tale Stanza" within a larger discussion of stanza. (This is where the cross-referencing is actually quite helpful). I lost my copy of this book for a while and was quite distraught. While I wouldn't go so far as to say I couldn't write without it, doing so was like eating a fine meal alone. I missed a dear friend at the table.