Poetry Books: Brief Listing

 

Self Expression

1. The Art and Craft of Poetry by Michael J. Bugeja. 1994. Writer's Digest Books. Cincinnati, Ohio. 339 pp. $20. Emphasizes the personal and authentic. How to generate ideas for poems. Simple introductions to voice, line, stanza, meter and rhyme. Genres. Many contemporary examples.

2. The Practice of Poetry: Writing Exercises from Poets who Teach. Edited by Robin Behn and Chase Twichell. 1992. Harper Perennial. New York. 299 pp. $15. Some 90 odd exercises covering: getting started, image and metaphor, structuring, rhythm, crafting, etc.

3. Writing Personal Poetry: Creating Poems from your Life Experiences by Sheila Bender. Writers Digest Books. 1999. Good in parts.

Poetry as Art

1. How to Write Poetry by Nancy Bogan. 1998. Macmillan. New York. 150 pp. $10. Sensible introduction to the elements of traditional poetry in strict and free verse form. Includes detailed analysis of classic poems and a list of small magazines receptive to new work.

2. In the Palm of your Hand: The Poet's Portable Workshop by Steve Kowit. 1995. Tilbury Houses, Publishers. Maine. 274 pp. $15. Another good introduction, treating matters a little more fully. Useful sections on publishing your poems, workshops, and resources available to serious poets.

3. Creating Poetry by John Drury. 1991. Writer's Digest Books. Cincinnati, Ohio. 211 pp. $17. Excellent, non-nonsense guide to all aspects. American orientation but has no axe to grind. Twelve chapters cover preparation, language, metaphors, sound, movement, shaping, pattern, voice, sources of inspiration, influences of other arts, etc. Often wryly amusing.

4. Writing Poems by Robert Wallace and Michelle Boisseau. 1996. Little, Brown and Company. Boston. $32. 410 pp. A popular schoolbook, packed with examples. Instruction is by appreciation of poetry in a wide variety of styles and genres.

5. Please, Lord, Make Me a Famous Poet or at Least Less Fat by Dean Blehert. Words and Pictures East Coast. 1999. Light-hearted but thorough.

6. The Poetry Handbook: A Guide to Reading Poetry for Pleasure and Practical Criticism by John Lennard. O.U.P. 1996. Does exactly what is says on the title.

7. The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms by Mark Stroud and Eavan Boland. W. W. Norton & Co. 2000. Examples from contemporary poets and old favourites.

8. Reading Poetry: An Introduction by Tom Furniss and Michael Bath. Pearson Education Ltd. 1996. Practical and sensible.

Literary Criticism

1. An Introduction to Poetry by X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 1998. Longman. New York. £23. 650 pp. Classic school text, packed with past to present-day examples, plus much useful advice.

2. A History of Modern Poetry by David Perkins. 2 vols: From the 1890s to the High Modernist Mode, and Modernism and After. 1987. Harvard University Press. c 700 pp. and £12.50 each. A deft interweaving of biography, critical appraisal and cultural setting. Solid and generous: covers the major US and British poets of the period.

3. Eight Contemporary Poets by Calvin Bedient. 1974. In-depth appraisal of eight British poets of the 1950-70 period.

4. An Introduction to 50 Modern British Poets by Michael Schmidt. 1979. Fifty sharply-written essays.

Literary Theory

1. Poetry in English: An Introduction by Charles Barber. 1993. Macmillan. London. 220 pp. Generally sound, explaining what other introductions take for granted. Covers poetry of Eliot to Hughes adequately, but not Structuralism, stylistics and later schools of criticism.

2. Poetry Today: A Critical Guide to British Poetry 1960-1984 by Anthony Thwaite. 1996. Addison-Wesley. 196 pp. £15. Short but intelligent survey.

3. Contemporary Poetry and Postmodernism: Dialogue and Estrangement by Ian Gregson. 1997. Macmillan. London. 269 pp. $22. Illustrates the conflict between mainstream and Modernist poetry outside the Establishment. Mostly British contemporary poets.

4. English Poetry Since 1940 by Neil Corcoran. 1993. Longmans. 308 pp. £15.00. Covers some fifty-odd British poets from Eliot to contemporary performers from a somewhat narrow, postmodern, Leftish stance. More themes and theories than illustration. Very useful bibliographies and potted biographies.

Poetry Anthologies

1. The Faber Book of Twentieth Century Verse edited by John Heath-Stubbs and David Wright. 1975. Faber and Faber. 347 pp. £10. Broad survey, with many favourites.

2. New Poets of England and America by Donald Hall, Robert Pack and Louis Simpson. 1957 New American Library. 351 pp. Introduced contemporary poetry to the postwar generation.

3. British Poetry Since 1945 by Edward Lucie-Smith. 1985. Penguin Books. 432 pp. £10. A catholic and generous selection, with helpful notes.

4. Up Late: American Poetry Since 1970 edited by Andrei Codrescu. 1990. Four Walls Eight Windows. 623 pp. $17. More experimental American poetry.

5. New American Poets of the '90s edited by Jack Myers and Roger Weingarten. 2001. Godine. $22. Mainstream American poetry. Being republished.

6. Postmodern American Poetry edited by Paul Hoover. 1994. $25. Experimental contemporary American poetry.

7. Strong Measures: Contemporary American Poetry in Traditional Forms by Philip Dacey and David Jauss. 1986. Harper and Row. 750 pp. $49. Some 150 contemporary poems in traditional forms.

8. Aloud: Voice from the Nuyorican Poets Cafe edited by Miguel Algarin. 1994. Dial. 514 pp. $30. Poetry written for performance.

 

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