The Essential Poet's Glossary [Paperback]

"An instant classic that belongs on the bookshelf of every serious poet and literature student."—Washington Post

A Poet’s Glossarywas an extraordinary achievement, a definitive source for poets and poetry lovers alike. Now,The Essential Poet’s Glossarygleans the very best from that extraordinary volume.

Edward Hirsch’s sparkling new work compiles poetic terms spanning centuries and continents, including forms, devices, movements, aesthetics, rhetorical terms, and folklore. Knowing how a poem works is crucial to unlocking its meaning — entries will deepen readers’ relationships with their favorite poems and open greater levels of understanding in each new poem they encounter. Shot through with the enthusiasm, authority, and sheer delight that madeA Poet’s GlossaryandHow to Read a Poemso beloved, thisEssentialedition is the book that all readers, writers, teachers, and students of poetry will return to again and again. 

A Poet’s Glossarywas an extraordinary achievement, a definitive source for poets and poetry lovers alike. Now,The Essential Poet’s Glossarygleans the very best from that extraordinary volume.

EDWARD HIRSCH is a celebrated poet and peerless advocate for poetry. A MacArthur fellow and American Academy of Arts and Letters Award–winner, he has published eight books of poems and four books of prose. He serves as president of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.