I spent last night and tonight steeped in her words. I stayed awake reading. I had no idea, not until a few moments ago. It feels spooky, in a way. Not in a bad way. But in a way that feels hard to deny, the way when life brushes against you and whispers, listen. Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.
Want to Read saving…. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Other editions. Enlarge cover. Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Details if other :. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. A Poetry Handbook by Mary Oliver. Los Angeles Times From the beloved and acclaimed poet, an ultimate guide to writing and understanding poetry.
With passion and wit, Mary Oliver skillfully imparts expertise from her long, celebrated career as a disguised poet. She walks readers through exactly how a poem is built, from meter and rhyme, to form and diction, to sound and sense, drawing on poems by Robert Frost, Elizabeth Bishop, and others.
Get A Copy. Paperback , pages. More Details Original Title. Other Editions 1. Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about A Poetry Handbook , please sign up. Tina Ted gives extremely practical advice for poets beginning to write.
Mary describes the different poetic devices and talks about paying attention. They …more Ted gives extremely practical advice for poets beginning to write. They complement one another. Where is the quote "Attention without feeling is only a report"? See 2 questions about A Poetry Handbook…. Lists with This Book. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 4. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. Start your review of A Poetry Handbook.
Feb 14, Richelle Wilson rated it it was amazing Recommends it for: every lover of beautiful. Shelves: these-deserve-a-second-read , favorites. I never learned about vowel and consonant sounds in my poetry seminars. So quite frankly, given that the basic formal elements of poetry discussed in this book are vital and that Mary Oliver treats them in a way that is simple, honest, and shimmers like poetry itself, there is absolutely no reason for any reader or writer of poetry to ignore this little handbook.
I understand that it is outdated and impractical to earnestly write something in metrical verse these days, but why not do it as an exercise? Why not learn how those rhythms work so that writers of free verse can be more deliberate in their poetic choices? That is precisely what Mary Oliver calls for.
I identified that! Someone give me a cookie! How does it help us analyze the poem? Oliver gives great insights into how form shapes pacing, tempo, stress, perhaps by extension mood and tone, style, etc. Thank you! I will give her a cookie. I loved her discussion on how free verse came to be the standard poetic form of the twentieth century and into the present day.
I love how she talks about how any poem—including, or even especially, those written in free verse—has to be balanced and measured. How we say is just as important, if not more, than what we say. In other words, the poet needs to be purposeful. And how is that possible without some knowledge of the poetic devices at your disposal and their effect? Creating that expectation at the beginning and fulfilling it by the end is the excitement of our call to write, I think.
We would all do well to listen to what she has to say. That, I think, is the long and short of it. Speech entered the poem. The poem was no longer a lecture, it was time spent with a friend.
And what sweet music. Her example of trees as Druids actually sounds quite lovely to me, and in her hands I think it would be a rather nice image. But I do like that she calls for us to be more thoughtful and candid with our diction and imagery rather than borrowing from old cliches.
If nothing else, go read her section on revision and the Conclusion. Beautiful stuff. She insists on truly living, walking among green things, and noticing as being the key characteristics of a poet, but she also argues for the necessity of hard work, which is something I needed to hear. I read this cover-to-cover in a short period of time and I already want to read it again. Do yourself a favor and enter the dazzling world of poetry in the able hands of Mary Oliver.
You will not regret it. View 1 comment. Nov 05, Connie G rated it really liked it Shelves: non-fiction , poetry. Poet Mary Oliver tells about the craft of poetry in a basic book that would be helpful to both readers and writers of poetry. She writes about the various ingredients that go into a poem--meter, rhyme, sound, imagery, form, and more. Well-written, famous poems are used to illustrate the points she is making. Unfortunately, she does not use any of her own delightful poems as examples.
Even newcomers to poetry will find this book very accessible. I do not write poetry, but I enjoyed her advice to b Poet Mary Oliver tells about the craft of poetry in a basic book that would be helpful to both readers and writers of poetry. I do not write poetry, but I enjoyed her advice to beginner poets.
They should immerse themselves in books, the arts, nature, history, and other areas of interest. A mind that is lively and inquiring, compassionate, curious, angry, full of music, full of feeling, is a mind full of possible poetry. May 05, William Hurst rated it really liked it Shelves: poetry. Mary Oliver is known for her blend of mysticism with Whitman's pastoral fixation. In that vein, this book on the craft of poetry does not disappoint. While other craft books may be more practical such as the ever-popular The Poet's Companion , A Poetry Handbook probes deeper into the indefinable aspects of verse.
Some will tire of this quickly. Why write a book about the unnameable aspects of the art? Oliver's handbook is necessary because while skilled poets may see the strings of talent, beaut Mary Oliver is known for her blend of mysticism with Whitman's pastoral fixation.
Oliver's handbook is necessary because while skilled poets may see the strings of talent, beauty, sound, and art working behind a normal poem, most poets just starting out do not. Oliver's text is meant to sharpen the poetic senses, not through rigorous practical exercises, but by discussing how poetry does what it does, how it grabs and doesn't let go.
For that, Oliver should be commended. Apr 05, Bill Martin rated it really liked it Shelves: poetry. For the Lit. MFA, Mary Oliver's compact handbook may not offer an avalanche of commendable qualities. But for those of us without the luxury of formal training or professional mentoring, those who endeavor to become better readers of poetry as well as novices in the craft, A Poetry Handbook should fit in a welcome spot on our shelves and furnish our minds with a quarry of solid principles, foundation stones to build on.
I read the less-thanpage text over a weekend. I have the feeling that I For the Lit. I have the feeling that I will go back again and again to mine it's riches. Oliver has that rare quality of giving plainspoken advice to beginners--encouraging mediocre poets to work hard to be better--while providing polished gems of wisdom for more accomplished pens. For example, her chapter on imagery is woefully brief and barely introductory of such seminal devices as metaphor and personification, yet she manages to say everything she wants in a line comparing figurative language to the pimeval forest floor, "the very mud and leaves of the world.
Without this mud and leaves--and fish and rises and honeybees-- the poem would be as dull as a mumble. I recommend it for intro teachers, students, general readers and poets, especially if you are self-taught. I picked up the other Oliver handbook, Rules of the Dance, as a companion, and am reading it more slowly. Aug 27, Mindy rated it really liked it. The best little book on poetry I've come across.
Oliver is a master of beautiful, unshowy simplicity. This book covers the basics of poetry, including sound, diction, tone, meter, rhyme, and imagery, and it explains in clear terms why each component is important, and says at least a thing or two about how to do it "right" well?
Oliver incorporates good examples and useful quotations. The book is true pleasure: wise, measured, clear. Oct 26, Carol Bakker rated it liked it Shelves: , poetry , writing , art. I liked this, I did. Nevertheless, this was a helpful overview of essential elements to good poetry. Perhaps because nothing seemed new, it didn't strike me as a "must read.
When she talks about revision, she admits that her poems have roughly drafts. Well, now. The crowning jewel of a quote came at the end. These are her closing words. I'v I liked this, I did. I've made some line breaks for easier reading. There is nourishment in books, other art, history, philophies—in holiness and mirth.
It is in honest hands-on labor also; I don't mean to indicate a preference for the scholarly life. And it is in the green world—among people, and animals, and trees for that matter, if one genuinely cares about trees. Poetry is a life-cherishing force. And it requires a vision—a faith, to use an old-fashioned term. Yes, indeed. For poems are not words, after all, but fires for the cold, ropes let down to the lost, something as necessary as bread in the pockets of the hungry.
Jan 17, Jamie rated it it was amazing Shelves: on-story , library-finds , poetry-and-art , non-fiction , queerly-beloved. Shelves: writing. The sample poems she includes are not fully explored or mined as I would have hoped. Jul 07, Carrie rated it really liked it Shelves: books-i-own. I want to take a long walk through a misty forest discussing writing with Mary. May 29, Erin Stile rated it really liked it. Mary Oliver remains beyond doubt one of the richest souls of poetry in contemporary Western culture, a strongly needed antidote to the rapaciousness and heartlessness of our society.
I came to this book curious as to how someone so deeply enmeshed in the poetry of life would discuss the art of poetry-writing. I hate to say "techniques" or "mechanics," words that so demean what fine poets do--although I grant that "art" itself derives from the same root as "artifice.
You could only expect crisp simplicity and limpidity from Oliver. The selections of poems she provides as examples fit clearly with her descriptions of the relevant angles of art she is discussing. My disappointment--and this was not a profound disappointment--was that little, if any, new was revealed about the art of poetry which you cannot find elsewhere.
In fact, what was offered was less than can be found elsewhere. The chapters each feel slight, as if she is distilling too much, but they come off as summaries rather than depth and digging. I feel she is almost holding back, as if she does not want us to know more about appreciating and writing poetry. I realize one aim here is to fulfill some needs of writing workshops, and so the absolute basics are in order.
But the book could fulfill those needs for basics while also going into more detail about the greater subtleties of poetry-creation.
I do not mean to say the author is deliberately restraining and holding back her secrets. Only that the original aim was perhaps too rudimentary.
Maybe I am expecting too much, and even the greatest poets really have no place to attempt digging into their intuitions and hearts for whatever makes their blood and poetry organs turn out their beauty.
Keats gave a few prosaic hints of his own poetic outlook in a single essay. Eliot as a critic certainly offered a lot of material from which can be inferred his own poetics. I am no poet, so I am not begging for secrets to make my own poetry organ go. At worst, I so joy in being in Oliver's spirit that I, like any of her followers, could only wish for more such prose work, along, of course, with the verse she has generously provided.
Jan 20, dathomira added it. Apr 17, Megan Miller rated it really liked it. This is a really wonderful book. She succinctly pulls together an overview of poetry as a whole, and as parts. I will be returning to this, and probably including it in educating my kids someday. A great insight into what it takes to write great poetry. Wish I had read this when in school I might have understood poetry more instead of just memorising it.
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