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3.97 AVERAGE
3.97 AVERAGE
informative
medium-paced
"So, next time someone tells you a limerick you can inform them that it is verse made up of three lines of amphibrachic trimeter with two internal lines of catalectic amphibrachic dimeter. You would be punched very hard in the face for pointing this out, but you could do it."
Honestly, acquiring a copy of this book has been a rather long journey for me. The only one they had in my university's library disappeared in September 2020, and, though I kept checking and hoping otherwise, it was not returned by the time I graduated.
Thankfully, the local library had a copy, but it only took a few pages for me to realize that, in order to fully fulfill the purpose of this book, I should have just bought a used one I could write in in the first place.
Thus, I will be perfectly honest and admit that I didn't complete any of the exercises or attempt any of the forms Fry explores on my own, but now that I know the potential this book has, I would love to go back and do a proper reread some day.
Because this book was honestly such a blast and super insightful — I thought I knew a lot about poetry, but it really opened my eyes to the careful process involved in writing it, much more than my English literature degree ever did. Fry approaches it all with the wicked sense of humor that has solidified him as a national treasure, keeping the entire learning process light, conversational, and fun.
Even if you're not necessarily interested in writing poetry, but you want to learn more about the form, this is a wonderful book to pick up, one that will give you a new appreciation for the English language and the skilled poets who have made it their life's work to manipulate it.
Great book, well written, in Mr. Fry's intellectual but kind style, and with lots of very sound advice in it for anyone trying to understand or create poetry. Thank you for increasing my pleasure of poems, and encouraging me to dabble if only so that I can appreciate the work of others more. I recommend this to anyone and it makes a great reference book on the forms and details of poetry.
This is a good intro. It's accessible and pretty clear most of the time. The author is a mixed bag. (It took such a long time to read because I was working through it with other people, which definitely made the exercises more like fun than homework.)
Enough already! The first few chapters about iambs were interesting, and a good review. But as he got deeper into the different exceptions and exceptions to the rules I realized that I don't need to know quite so much about the ode.
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
If I had read this brilliant, encyclopedic, unbelieveably funny and readable compendium of poetry and poetic form BEFORE I'd written Hey There, Stink Bug! I could have saved myself many hours of confusing, conflicting and sometimes dreary research! And so, I did the book backwards, so to speak: the exercises first, and then the reading.
Perfect Introduction to the Art
Best introduction to prosody I've found. Fry introduces technical concepts of form, rhyme and meter in an accessible and paced fashion that allows the neophyte to acquire the information more thoroughly than other prosodic manuals. I'd recommend it to any beginner.
Best introduction to prosody I've found. Fry introduces technical concepts of form, rhyme and meter in an accessible and paced fashion that allows the neophyte to acquire the information more thoroughly than other prosodic manuals. I'd recommend it to any beginner.