The Poetry Handbook

by John Lennard

Book Overview

This volume is a lucid and entertaining guide to the poet's craft, and an invaluable introduction to practical criticism for students. Chapters on each element of poetry offer a wide-ranging general account and end by looking at different poems, to build up sustained analytical readings.

The second edition--fully revised, expanded, updated, and supported by a new companion website--confirm The Poetry Handbook as the best guide to poetry available...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0199265380
• ISBN13: 9780199265381
• Release Date: March 2006
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Length: 448 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.5" x 7.6"

Customer Reviews

An extraordinary book

I am a teacher of English literature at the UNAM, in Mexico City. I have been working with Lennard's book for two or three years and it is amazing the way my students have reacted to it. They have learned a lot and are so enthusiastic about poetry now that I can only thank Mr. Lennard for his book. I recommend it strongly if you are interested in poetry.

An innovative approach to teaching poetry

Many books have been written about poetry and how to read it, but this one I have found to be particularly well conceived. It is written for British students who wish to sit for exams, and caters to their needs, but anyone, including seasoned poetry readers, will find it instructive. Lennard breaks the book down into chapters devoted to meter, form, layout, punctuation, lineation, rhyme, diction, syntax, history, biography, and gender. Each chapter covers various poems by various authors, but they all end with a detailed reading of one poem, 'Nearing Forty' by Nobel Prize Laureate Derek Walcott. This is a fascinating approach and quite successful, because the understanding that one gains of this poem from these eleven readings, each with a different emphasis, is quite exhaustive. The benefits do not apply only to this one poem, however, because one now has a model of close reading that can be applied to any poem, anywhere. This is an excellent book for use both in the classroom and by oneself.