Reddit mentions of A Poetry Handbook

I went to one of the best schools in the country for writing and took poetry classes with well-established poets. I've won a few well established poetry awards. I'm not trying to brag, but I'm just trying to show that I'm not pulling the following out of my arse.

You are going to get lots of bad advice. There are lots of really bad poets out there.

I'm not the biggest fan of her poetry, but Mary Oliver's A Poetry Handbook contains pretty much everything a beginner could want to know about how to write poetry. It's easy to read and short as well.

Some pointers off the top of my head:

Be honest. Don't try to be something you're not.

Imitate your favorite poets. This sounds counterintuitive to the first point, but you're trying to learn how to write. You learn what your own personal style is through reading others'. It is absolutely not a bad idea to start writing imitations of your favorites first.

Avoid purple prose. For the love of god. Also avoid excess adverbs. They do the least for you but everyone throws them in.

Less is more. This is probably the most important point of all. Poetry is poetry and not prose. Every word counts in good writing. It counts even more in poetry. If you have a poem made of eight lines, every fucking word counts. Even the and's, the's, and it's. When you edit, make sure every word there is doing something. Cut absolutely everything out that is unnecessary. It will make your poem WORSE to keep the extras in.

I've found that most famous writers, poets or otherwise, describe writing as a two-fold process: creative outpouring, and then editing. When you want to write a piece, first write down everything you want--everything that feels right. Don't edit yourself too much as you do so. Then, put the writing away for a little while. When you get back to it, then edit. When you edit, you should be in the opposite frame of mind from when you were actively coming up with material. Instead of adding everything you can think of, you need to be cutting out everything that doesn't belong. This is very hard to do and I'm still learning how to do it. It takes humility. Editing is just as important if not more so than the initial steps of writing a poem. Most bad writers do not realize this.

If you want more recommendations for poets to read, or articles about how to write, I'd be glad to provide more.

I've yet to see that title, though I'll check it out. Gonna drop these here for posterity, as the're generally regarded as wonderful books on the various forms, mechanics and techniques of writing poetry. The more resources, the better, aye?

The Poet's Companion: A Guide to the Pleasures of Writing Poetry, Kim Addonizio

The Ode Less Travelled: Unlocking the Poet Within, Stephen Fry

A Poetry Hanbook, Mary Oliver

I mean, you really need to be reading anthologies to get a basis of the poetic tradition and then move on to individual books. While individual books of poetry help you get a sense of each writer, getting a taste of many poets throughout many periods is the only way to really become well versed (pun-intended). Also, part of the way to learn how to read poetry more critically is learn how to write poetry, or at least what goes into writing poetry. And my personal advice is to purposefully read poetry that is hard for you to grasp or find interest in, whether that be due to understanding or content (e.g. Yeats and his faeries don’t interest me in the slightest).

Theory/Reading Critically:

• A Poetry Handbook (super basic approach)
  
• How to Read Poetry Like a Professor
  
• Why Poetry?
  
• The Poetry Handbook
  
  American:
  
• Penguin Anthology of 20th Century American
  
• The Oxford Book of American (my personal favorite)
  
• Any of The Best American Poetry collections, to read the most contemporary poems.
  
  Other:
  
• The Norton Anthology
  
• Six Centuries of Great Poetry
  
  Source: Have a Master’s Degree in poetry and currently working on my MFA. My expertise is in 20th & 21st Century American Poetry, particularly post-War/post-45.

I'd suggest starting with poems that are relatively brief, highly readable, and modern -- really get a taste for how poetry can be relevant to your everyday life. There are a ton of good books out there dedicated to poetry of this type, such as Garrison Keillor's Good Poems, with poems like Mary Oliver's Wild Geese:

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about your despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting --
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

Oliver has also written a Poetry Handbook which discusses the technical aspects of poetry like rhythm and form, and illustrates the principles with poems generally considered to be modern classics, if you're looking for something more technical.

Keillor also does the The Writer's Almanac on NPR, and you can go to the Writer's Almanac site for a (usually) good poem each day. Other good starting points include Billy Collin's Poetry 180 and Hirsch's How to Read a Poem and Fall in Love with Poetry.

I'm also a fan of Catherine Bowman, who's a bit obscure (she's the Poetry... um... person for NPR's All Things Considered) and so I'm going to post one of her poems (Broke Song) because I'll probably never have another chance to do so as smoothly as I am clearly working it into this post.

You move through the world broken. Navigating
by the stars encoded on your hearts axis. July
grasses. Rain. How the world breaks us.
Midnight scatters across what’s left
from an evening prayer. The broken
song of the warbler at dawn
on the last day of winter. You move
through the world gathered
together in a pulse. Running your fingers
up and down what is odd and so familiar.
How dazzling the fit. To be remade
by the glue of your oaths and kisses.

Edit: Also, Robert Bly.

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.

[A Poetry Handbook by Mary Oliver] (http://www.amazon.com/A-Poetry-Handbook-Mary-Oliver/dp/0156724006/ref=pd_sim_b_4?ie=UTF8&refRID=1KW7NXQKV7AS70CM419V)

I'm not a big fan of Mary Oliver's work but this book is growing on me. There are things I agree with like studying poetry more than writing poetry, and hearing the words of a poem being important.

But I don't agree with the whole "poets are born but need training" idea. I do think anyone could be a good poet with enough willpower and practice. At least that's what I'm hoping for in my case.

no problem! let me know what you think of these poems! (I also recommend A Poetry Handbook by Mary Oliver- https://www.amazon.com/Poetry-Handbook-Mary-Oliver/dp/0156724006. Some great advice for the aspiring poet.)

The best poetry (the arts, really) resource on the web, courtesy of Dan Schneider - no, not of Nickelodeon infamy, another one. Here's the link, and just dive in. Got some very strong perspectives regarding poetry and the arts, that many find off-putting, but he's invaluable, to my estimation.

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If you find a poem that you like, but can't immediately access intellectually, see if you can find an entry of it on Shmoop. I love Plath and Stevens and Crane, but couldn't tackle them full on as a poetry novice. Shmoop (and others) helped me gain some insight on some of their poems. Stevens's "The Idea of Order at Key West" is a doozy, but Shmoop's analysis helped clarify some difficult passages.

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And like everyone else has said, keep reading - anything and everything by anyone. The more you passionately pursue the subject, the more you'll find things beginning to make sense. Also, an excellent book for poetry lovers who want to delve into the craft: Mary Oliver's A Poetry Handbook.

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Hope this helps!

If you believe your words are gospel, then just accept the feedback and move on with your life. If you want to start down the road of legitimately writing poetry that someone who actually reads poetry can appreciate, it's time to get to fucking work.

Of course, you think your "words" are special, but they aren't. This is the same thing every beginner churns out. It's cliché abstraction and it's not worth sharing with anyone. You can call it "poetry" and say it's your "art" and that poetry can't be "defined" -- whatever.

But anyone who actually reads poetry will recognize your "words" immediately for what they are and turn the page.

Read some poetry, man. Read some books about writing poetry and the tools poets use to craft their poems. If you need recommendations, I can give you some, but you'll have to do some fucking work. You might have missed the memo, but writing poetry is hard work.

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Edit: Here some recommendations to get you started.

• A Poetry Handbook by Mary Oliver
  
• The Poetry Home Repair Manual by Ted Kooser
  
• In the Palm of Your Hand by Steve Kowit
  
• The Poet's Companion by Kim Addonizio and Dorianne Laux
  
  And if you insist on trying to use end rhymes:
  
  
• Rules for the Dance by Mary Oliver
  
  And please, please pick up a good book of poems from multiple authors so you can get some exposure, such as the Norton Anthology of Poetry or the compilation Good Poems by Garrison Keillor. One of my favorites is A Book of Luminous Things by Czeslaw Milosz.