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Reddit mentions of The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms

Sentiment score: 9
Reddit mentions: 12

We found 12 Reddit mentions of The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms. Here are the top ones.

The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms
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Found 12 comments on The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms:

u/CarbonatedPizza · 8 pointsr/books

If you're new and really want a good wide sampling, I heartily endorse a well-edited anthology. Not a shitty anthology of the classics, but a good, well-curated, interesting, broad, informative collection of poems. My first was the Vintage Book of Contemporary American Poetry, which, though it's country specific and leaves out some good poets, is pretty terrific for the relatively recent, American stuff. A different route in the anthology department is The Making of A Poem, which covers formal aspects of poetry without treating you like an infant or talking over your head, and then gives a spectacular, chronologically organized range of examples of those forms.


I think the best way to find out what you like is to read a few issues of Poetry magazine, everything they do is on their website, and find out what clicks with you.


I like to read individual collections, so I'll list some of my all time favorites here. Obviously there are a lot more than this list, and I'm offering here the stuff I think is a bit more accessible, even the moderns and Whitman are pretty lucid, even if Pound is a bit dense and Williams is a bit flightly.


Contemporary/Recent:

Maurice Manning - Bucolics and Lawrence Booth's Book of Visions

Robert Hass - Praise

Donald Justice - Departures

Louise Gluck - Averno and The Wild Iris


Further Back:

Ezra Pound - Personae

Willian Carlos Williams - Al Que Quiere! and Sour Grapes

HD - Sea Garden

Walt Whitman - Leaves of Grass


Non-English:

Charles Baudelaire - Fleurs du Mal

Tomas Transtromer - New Collected Poems (tr. Robin Fulton)

u/gwrgwir · 3 pointsr/Poetry

I've always found the Norton collections to be a solid starting point for good poetry.

http://www.amazon.com/Making-Poem-Norton-Anthology-Poetic/dp/0393321789/
http://www.amazon.com/Norton-Anthology-Poetry-4th/dp/0393968200
http://www.amazon.com/Norton-Anthology-Modern-Contemporary-Poetry
http://www.amazon.com/Norton-Introduction-Poetry-Alison-Booth/dp/0393928578/

are all excellent introductions to reading. Very broadly speaking, classical poetry is more focused on rhyme and imagery that many can comprehend (albeit with some effort), while modern poetry is more focused on free verse and word choices, and tends to use imagery that's more self-referential (that's just my experience, though).

In terms of writing, I'd suggest scanning through /r/OCPoetry to see poetry written from a mostly modern, mostly amateur perspective.

What you're saying so far is basically akin to 'I want to know more about the ocean and everything living in it/relating to it. I know what a tuna, a blue whale, a great white shark, and an octopus are, but I don't know where to go to get information about them and learn about them. Can you guys help me find good sources for everything from marine biology to oceanography and everything in between?'

As such, my suggestion for the Norton's. If you find something that you like, you can help narrow your search field a bit, and it'll be a heckuva lot easier to help (in your reading search, that is).

Writing's a whole different ballgame, and I defer to /u/jessicay and/or /u/ActualNameIsLana for (possibly) helping you out a bit more on that topic, as they've far more experience than me.

u/rustinisrad · 3 pointsr/Poetry

I would suggest a first read where you just let the lines kind of wash over you. Don't try to interpret it immediately. Just let the words exist in the space around you and see where the poem elicits emotion from you. Then use that experience to zero in on those places first and try to see how the poet used certain language to evoke those feelings. I would also say it's a good idea to look for certain forms of figurative language and map them out (metaphor, simile, personification, etc). From a general mapping of those sorts of things, you can begin to interpret the form of the poem and try to understand exactly what the writer is trying to say/accomplish.

I suggest this book as a guide as well: https://www.amazon.com/Making-Poem-Norton-Anthology-Poetic/dp/0393321789

u/eunoiatwelfthly · 3 pointsr/IWantToLearn

Read lots of poetry, and not just old stuff.

Read criticisms and histories of poetry.

Read books about writing poetry. Some that I recommend:

In the Palm of Your Hand

Ordinary Genius

A Poetry Handbook

and if you're into Formalist poetry (rhyming) you may also like:

Rules for the Dance

The Making of a Poem

All The Fun's In How You Say A Thing

Write poetry. Keep writing it. Keep changing it. Scrap it. Start over.

Get criticism by posting to a forum. For metered poetry I recommend Able Muse.

u/hdashwood · 2 pointsr/books

The Making of A Poem http://www.amazon.com/The-Making-Poem-Norton-Anthology/dp/0393321789/ref=pd_sim_b_4

And Camille Paglia's Break Blow Burn http://www.amazon.com/Break-Blow-Burn-Camille-Forty-three/dp/0375725393/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1341117050&sr=1-1&keywords=break+blow+burn

Are two great books that can serve as references to really unraveling the structure of poetry. Despite what people might say about "enjoying it on its own", I guarantee there is a world of poetry that one needs to study before it can be fully enjoyed. The most important structure or "lack of structure" in poetry is the use of emphasis and unless one understands how emphasis is being used by a poet, a truly beautiful poem can sound like absolute nonsense to an untrained reader.

u/poetrypedant · 2 pointsr/Poetry

To go with the Norton Anthology, consider picking up The Making of a Poem
You can find a used copy for next to nothing, because it is also used as a textbook.

u/wordshop101 · 2 pointsr/Poetry

Eavon Boland and Mark Strand's anthology 'The Making of a Poem' may be the perfect resource for you. The editors arranged the collection according to poetic form with each chapter containing brief histories, descriptions, and exemplar works to illustrate the many ways in which they can behave. Blank verse, sonnet, villanelle, sestina--it's a trove of wonderful models to work from, a truly invaluable resource for someone writing their first (or thousandth) poem. Link below: https://www.amazon.com/Making-Poem-Norton-Anthology-Poetic/dp/0393321789

u/Mitch1musPrime · 2 pointsr/Poetry

I believe form is critical at times. As a HS English teacher with a creative writing background, I see lots of my colleagues doing the awesome work of including poetry writing into their curriculum, but they focus so strongly on free verse and spoken word that the students do not honestly understand the genre tools they are trying to wield.

Form provides structure and context for the writer and the reader. Repetitious forms (villanelles seem to be especially popular in contemporary form poetry) call a readers attention to those repeated lines and phrases. Of course, in keeping with our creatively libertarian times, contemporary writers (and my students I teach form to), are given authority to break some of the rules so long as the structure still remains largely in tact.

Ultimately, I agree with those who have said that it really depends on what you are trying to write. I have tried to jam some poems into forms that didn’t work for the content.

I highly recommend this book: https://www.amazon.com/Making-Poem-Norton-Anthology-Poetic/dp/0393321789/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?keywords=mark+poetry+form&qid=1564951877&s=gateway&sr=8-2

It was a required text for a college course I took, I use it with my students now, and even gave my copy to an especially talented young writer in my classroom to keep (I need to use this link to order my new copy!).

Form matters. Free verse is good, too. It has its place. But form matters.

u/nuclearjello · 1 pointr/literature

The Making of a Poem, by Mark Strand and Eavan Boland.

An excellent anthology that outlines many of the major poetic forms, as well as providing examples and classics in those forms. Explains the forms and then lets you read some of the best expression of those forms. Widely taught in many major university poetry classes.

u/Luke_Orlando · 1 pointr/Poetry

My favorite poetry book that I take everywhere is The Making of a Poem. It's a Norton Anthology and it's amazing. Honestly recommend reading it cover to cover if you want a foundation in traditional forms.

It's currently 15 bucks on Amazon!

u/K0suki · 1 pointr/Poetry

The Making of a Poem: The Norton anthology of Poetic Forms is an invaluable read.

Otherwise, read poetry; writers read several times more than they write.

The Poetry Foundation website is a great place to start.

u/Kyrekoon · 1 pointr/Poetry

Here are some books I've read that I guess you could call "craft" books. I'm not speaking against craft books. They can be helpful, but again I would remind you that the best teacher is poetry itself. Craft books have to be taken for what they are, which is often that poet's own perspective on poetry that may conflict fundamentally with your own. But, there are some things that are helpful, and I know some of them may seem kind of "basic" but trust me they are helpful. You should never think you have poetry figured out. Once you feel that way I think you've already lost.

Anyway here are some books I've read, not always through classes but some are.
A Broken Thing: Poets on the Line- Edited by Emily Rosko & Anton Vander Zee. This is a collection of short essays by poets on the poetic line. Look at it as a way of collecting ideas about what lines can do, because many of these essays will contradict each other. It's not because one is wrong, it's because the line can do a lot of things. https://www.amazon.com/Broken-Thing-Poets-Line/dp/1609380541/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1524596709&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=a+broken+thing+preston+the+line

The Making of a Poem by Mark Strand and Eavan Boland is a great book if you want to study forms more closely. It is an anthology of poetic forms, so it gives you the basic "rules" of the form, and then a ton of old and modern examples of the form. A good way to do a close study of specific forms. https://www.amazon.com/Making-Poem-Norton-Anthology-Poetic/dp/0393321789/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1524596728&sr=1-1&keywords=making+of+a+poem

Sound:
Two come to mind. One is The Sounds of Poetry: a Brief Guide by Robert Pinsky. This is one that will feel somewhat basic because Pinsky frames it for beginners, but I promise it is helpful to review. He really understands sound better than most. https://www.amazon.com/Sounds-Poetry-Brief-Guide/dp/0374526176/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1524596743&sr=1-1&keywords=sounds+of+poetry

Two, if you want to understand meter better, which every poet should, this is the best book on meter: Poetic Meter and Poetic Form by Paul Fussell. It's out of print but you can probably find a copy at a local library, or at a university library. You may have to pay for access to it, but it's cheaper than a $100 for a used copy.

Finally, Singing School by Robert Pinsky. Again, going to feel a bit basic. The whole book's purpose is to teach you to write and read poetry by doing imitations. Do not devalue the importance of imitating better poets than yourself. Every poet, even Keats, started by doing imitations. This book is a good guide to starting a practice of imitating. Imitations actually help you discover yourself as a writer better because you realize where you can and can't sound like another poet. Those are good things because often those can't's are what you find to be the things that make you unique. It also just really hones some basic skills every poet should have.
https://www.amazon.com/Singing-School-Learning-Studying-Masters/dp/0393348970/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1524596763&sr=1-1&keywords=singing+school

Hope this helps! Best advice I can give you is read actual poetry and write every single day.