Bison Books The Poetry Home Repair Manual: Practical Advice for Beginning Poets

I'm loving this how-to write poetry book. He has given me some good, practical advice I haven't gotten from other poetry books.

It is an entertaining, educating little book relating to poetry without twisting the arm of the reader. You can’t go wrong buying this enjoyable, down-to-earth unraveling of poetic techniques without being pedantic about it. 5-star, no doubt.

大学で使ってます

Neither this book nor any other will turn the reader into a poet, but it is a useful manual for someone who has started to try that form of writing. It has twelve chapters, the first nine of which deal with approaches and techniques, not in any prescriptive sense - there is no recipe - but there is plenty of food for thought. Having pointed out that you are unlikely to make a living from poetry, Kooser looks at approaches to the reader, communicaton of ideas, various poetic forms, rythm, feelings and restraint, use of memory and various pitfalls. He quotes interesting examples for discussion, occasionally of the sentimental American rural style which doesn't appeal to me, but there were interesting poems unknown to me which I noted.Later chapters of the book are about specific forms - use of nouns, verbs, line endings, tense, metaphor and simile and selection of appropriate words. Finally there is advice about letting work mature (relax and wait), joining groups of writers and a little advice on publishing. References and notes are given at the end for the sources usedThe book has 157 pages and doesn't give all the answers - how could any ? - but should initiate thought to continue in the individual reader's experience. In that context I give it 5 stars.

The Poetry Home Repair Manual: Practical Advice for Beginning PoetsRecommandé pour les poètes experimentés autant que pour les débutants. Ecrit en style simple et attirant, le livre est plein d'astuces, d'exemplaires, un atout valable come oeuvre de référence ou pour le plaisir de lecture.