A Poetry Handbook (Paperback)

~ (Author) "MANY OF MY STUDENTS would spend almost all of their time writing and very little of it reading the poems of other poets, if they..." (more)
Key Phrases: metrical verse, syllabic verse, iambic foot, Robert Frost, Snowy Evening, James Wright (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This slender guide by Mary Oliver deserves a place on the shelves of any budding poet. In clear, accessible prose, Oliver (winner of both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award for poetry) arms the reader with an understanding of the technical aspects of poetry writing. Her lessons on sound, line (length, meter, breaks), poetic forms (and lack thereof), tone, imagery, and revision are illustrated by a handful of wonderful poems (too bad Oliver was so modest as to not include her own). What could have been a dry account is infused throughout with Oliver's passion for her subject, which she describes as "a kind of possible love affair between something like the heart (that courageous but also shy factory of emotion) and the learned skills of the conscious mind." One comes away from this volume feeling both empowered and daunted. Writing poetry is good, hard work.

From Publishers Weekly

National Book Award winner Oliver ( New and Selected Poems ) delivers with uncommon concision and good sense that paradoxical thing: a prose guide to writing poetry. Her discussion may be of equal interest to poetry readers and beginning or experienced writers. She's neither a romantic nor a mechanic, but someone who has observed poems and their writing closely and who writes with unassuming authority about the work she and others do, interspersing history and analysis with exemplary poems (the poets include James Wright, William Carlos Williams, Elizabeth Bishop, Marianne Moore and Walt Whitman). Divided into short chapters on sound, the line, imagery, tone, received forms and free verse, the book also considers the need for revision (an Oliver poem typically passes through 40 or 50 drafts before it is done) and the pros and cons of writing workshops. And though her prose is wisely spare, a reader also falls gladly on signs of a poet: "Who knows anyway what it is, that wild, silky part of ourselves without which no poem can live?" or "Poems begin in experience, but poems are not in fact experience . . . they exist in order to be poems."
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Harvest Books; 1 edition (August 15, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0156724006
• ISBN-13: 978-0156724005
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #14,702 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #3 in	Books > Literature & Fiction > Authors, A-Z > ( O ) > Oliver, Mary
  #3 in	Books > Literature & Fiction > Poetry > Writing
  #5 in	Books > Literature & Fiction > Poetry > Criticism

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

85 of 98 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A solid text for readers and writers, May 20, 2002

By	Michael J. Mazza (Pittsburgh, PA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

"A Poetry Handbook," by Mary Oliver, is a nonfiction prose text about the art of writing poetry. In the book Oliver, herself an excellent poet, gives a clear and painless introduction to some structural aspects of poetry. She defines many technical terms: alliteration, onomatopoeia, alexandrine, caesura, quatrain, persona, etc. She also discusses various poetic forms: sonnet, free verse, etc. Other topics addressed include imagery and diction. Throughout the book, Oliver illustrates her points with poetry by some of the greatest practitioners of the craft: Robert Frost, Walt Whitman, William Carlos Williams, Elizabeth Bishop, etc.

The book is aimed at both readers and writers of poetry. For the latter, Oliver reflects on such practical issues as revision and participation in poetry workshops. The book reflects Oliver's own philosophy of poetry. She stresses that poetry is a craft that requires work and discipline, and encourages the reader to think of poets as constituting a "tribe" that transcends all geographic and cultural boundaries.

The book is not without flaws. I found it quite Eurocentric; she never discusses the haiku, a Japanese verse form that has been embraced by many in the English-speaking world. Other non-Western forms are similarly neglected.

Some of her opinionated pronouncements also seem open to debate. She notes that a poem "gives pleasure through the authority and sweetness of the language," but I think some poems are effective conduits of rage or outrage and make use of unpleasant language to shake up the reader. Regarding the revision process, she notes that sometimes "it is simply best to throw a poem away" -- but, I ask, who is to make that decision? Something a poet might want to discard may in fact be a great poem in another's eyes.

Also, although she gives many good examples of good poems, it might have been interesting if she had included some bad ones to illustrate her points further.

Despite its flaws, however, I think that "A Poetry Handbook" would be a solid text for both individual reading and classroom use. And I think that some of Oliver's questionable statements could trigger productive discussion! Ultimately, I appreciate Oliver's declaration that poetry "is a life-cherishing force [...] as necessary as bread in the pockets of the hungry." Recommended as companion texts: Audre Lorde's essay "Poetry Is Not a Luxury," from her collection "Sister Outsider," and Pablo Neruda's prose collection "Passions and Impressions."

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars an inspiring guide to writing poetry, December 31, 1997

By	[e-mail] (Montpelier, Vermont) - See all my reviews

Mary Oliver's poetry itself can do some teaching on its own, but we can be grateful she's chosen to articulate the writing process so richly in this book. The book will almost certainly will wring some writing out of you; it will also inspire you to examine your work habits and technique. Oliver's intelligence shines through, and will make you a better reader of poetry. Small note on the previous review: Mary Oliver does, indeed, teach, at Bennington College currently. If you can't enroll there, this book is your next best choice.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The "Elements of Style" for poetry, September 2, 1999

By A Customer

The book is a concise, brilliant guide for anyone interested in writing poetry or in understanding it better.