A Poetry Handbook

With passion, wit, and good common sense, the celebrated poet Mary Oliver tells of the basic ways a poem is built--meter and rhyme, form and diction, sound and sense. Drawing on poems from Robert Frost, Elizabeth Bishop, and others, the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner imparts an extraordinary amount of information in a short space.

This slender guide by Mary Oliver deserves a place on the shelves of any budding poet. In clear, accessible prose, Oliver (winner of both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award for poetry) arms the reader with an understanding of the technical aspects of poetry writing. Her lessons on sound, line (length, meter, breaks), poetic forms (and lack thereof), tone, imagery, and revision are illustrated by a handful of wonderful poems (too bad Oliver was so modest as to not include her own). What could have been a dry account is infused throughout with Oliver's passion for her subject, which she describes as "a kind of possible love affair between something like the heart (that courageous but also shy factory of emotion) and the learned skills of the conscious mind." One comes away from this volume feeling both empowered and daunted. Writing poetry is good, hard work.

Mary Oliver, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, is a lover of language, its sounds and syntax. In her book, "A Poetry Handbook," Oliver shares with the reader her deep feeling for the mechanics of prosody and why they're important, believing that a familiarity with technical skills offers options the poet may choose to use. Sections devoted to sound, line, form, tone, and imagery are presented along with poems Oliver offers as examples. The warm, lighthearted approach makes the information very accessible and a delight to read.

Whether a seasoned poet or yet to discover the poet within, Mary Oliver's A Poetry Handbook is a must for the library of any poet enthusiast. The short volume encompasses a broad overview of the craft--capturing the Pulitzer Prize winner's impressions of the history, style, and purposes of poetry. Oliver artfully twists the essential elements of the trade inserting her wit and peppering other poet's poetry excerpts within the text--namely to capture the reader's attention and provide illustrations of her teaching.

Besides identifying traditional tools and building blocks of poetry, the book examines the interior landscape of the writer, acknowledging the relationship between the mind and heart and the written page. Freely acknowledging, "that poets are born and not made in school," Oliver predicates her work on the understanding that, "Whatever can't be taught, there is a great deal that can, and must, be learned." As a starting point or an opportunity for review, A Poetry Handbook will improve your writing and open your eyes to poetry in the world and within.

Reading Mary Oliver's A Poetry Handbook feels a bit like settling down with the magazine Cook's Illustrated. The magazine is published by people who love growing, preparing and eating food and who love the traditions and history of cooking. An issue might contain articles explaining how the combination of baking soda and baking powder work in pancakes, or the chemical effects of salting eggs before or after scrambling them. Then there are recipes for dishes one might actually imagine cooking -pot roast, or blueberry pie. After reading Cook's Illustrated, I think, "I can do this," and I value more deeply the daily beauty of putting ingredients together in new and old ways.

Mary Oliver loves words like the Cook's Illustrated people love food. She loves the sounds of words, the rhythm of words, the combinations of words in poems. She loves the history of poetry, its forms and patterns. She shares this love with the reader, so that poets and readers of poetry walk away from her book thinking, "I can do this, maybe. Maybe if I work very hard, if I read poets, if I practice and imitate, as she suggests." Whether one writes or not, the reader leaves with a deeper appreciation of the ingredients and structure of poems. In this short volume Oliver explains how various meters work, how the sounds of words contribute to a poem, and how free verse is deeply connected to traditional forms. She lays out a feast, with well-chosen poems to illustrate her lessons and leaves us hungry for more. She could have included a more international menu, perhaps, but this slim volume stimulates the appetite and encourages the reader to put on an apron, choose ingredients with care, and begin to cook.

I found the book both helpful on a technical level and deeply inspiring.

Mary Oliver's passion for poetry as an expression of spirituality was evident.

The ideas were presented in ways that were easy to understand on may levels.

This handbook is an introduction and is good a such. However, it does not cover all aspects of poetry and different types of poetry.