Scan barcode
snakeling's review against another edition
1.0
It was altogether too dense and too confusing for "a very short introduction". It was also 98% centered on English language poetry, which to be fair, the author warned us about in his introduction, but I think it would have been better to just make it an introduction to English-language poetry and ignore the tiny tidbits of Chinese and Ancient Greek.
lisasroughdrafts's review against another edition
1.0
I listened to this on audio and I just couldn’t connect wi the author’s voice and it was hard to comprehend as a result
jennykeery's review against another edition
3.0
Not sure this is as much of an introduction to poetry as it is a runaway train tour through every poet and poetic concept in the traditional Western canon. It's an interesting, useful book (especially for English lit. uni students) but if this was my first experience of poetry analysis I'd have run a mile after 3 pages.
annaki_laila's review against another edition
2.0
Bits of interest here and there, but on the whole sadly boring.
danielsell's review against another edition
3.0
I eagerly opened Bernard O'Donoghue's book Poetry: A Very Short Introduction for the first time looking for an interesting and fruitful survey of the art of poetry. After finishing it, I was, well, kind of disappointed with this book. This isn't a fault of the book or necessary an issue with the writing style. In fact, while I thought the jump in difficulty from chapter two to chapter three was a bit much, O'Donoghue's writing style is clear and concise throughout the book. The problem is actually with the topic itself. Poetry is, to put it succinctly, an incredibly ambiguous art form, in regards to definition, form, and purpose. This left O'Donoghue precariously qualifying every debate on every aspect of poetry. I think he did a good job of doing that, yet this ambiguity leaves you wanting more answers. I guess the only thing left to do is to dive into the vast world of poetry itself. In that regard, this book did a good job.
Ultimately, what most I got out of this book is that if someone asks you, "what is poetry?" you should respond, "yes".
Ultimately, what most I got out of this book is that if someone asks you, "what is poetry?" you should respond, "yes".
shewantsthediction's review against another edition
This isn't really an introduction to poetry, but rather an introduction to lofty academic debates surrounding poetry. Such as: is poetry for purely for aesthetic pleasure, or for something more, like to teach a moral? What, if any, responsibilities do poets have? Apparently these are big debates amongst poets and in the world of classical poetry, but a whole book on this is not quite what I was looking for.
Unfortunately, it was hard to follow, and repetitive as well. I kept waiting for it to get more interesting and move along, but it just didn't.
Unfortunately, it was hard to follow, and repetitive as well. I kept waiting for it to get more interesting and move along, but it just didn't.
More...