How to Write a Poem [Paperback]

An innovative introduction to writing poetry designed for students of creative writing and budding poets alike.

• Challenges the reader’s sense of what is possible in a poem.
  
• Traces the history and highlights the potential of poetry.
  
• Focuses on the fundamental principles of poetic construction, such as: Who is speaking? Who are they speaking to? Why does their speaking take this form?
  
• Considers both experimental and mainstream approaches to contemporary poetry.
  
• Consists of fourteen chapters, making it suitable for use over one semester.
  
• Encourages readers to experiment with their poetry.

Acknowledgements.

Introduction.

1. The Question of Address.

2. Viewpoint.

3. The Question of Voices.

4. The Question of Scale.

5. Uses of Repetition.

6. Image.

7. Short Lines.

8. Long Lines.

9. Diction.

10. Uses of Syntax.

11. Tone.

12. Traditional Forms: Ode.

13. Traditional Forms: Epistle.

14. The Question of Background.

15. Conclusion: The Question of Variety.

Index

John Redmond's How to Write a Poem contains no false notes. He does not patronise his reader with easy examples or workshop games, but lights on his subject with elegant pragmatism and humility. His overall argument arises from a very personal yet wholly professional sense of poetry as an art form in practice, and his examples are informed by deep reading and writerly intuition. I consider the book a small masterpiece of clarity, econoló‡