The Art of Poetry

The Art of Poetry offers a step-by-step introduction to skills for reading poetry, working progressively from smaller units to larger ones. It introduces the reader to great lyric poets in the English and American tradition, and offers a vision of poetry as dynamic, historical, and culturally engaged. In fourteen chapters, the author explores such fundamental poetic topics as word choice, syntax, imagery, the sonnet, conventions, meter, and rhythm, providing examples of each.