An impassioned call for a return to reading poetry and an incisive argument for poetry’s accessibility to all readers, by critically acclaimed poet Matthew Zapruder

In Why Poetry, award-winning poet Matthew Zapruder takes on what it is that poetry—and poetry alone—can do. Zapruder argues that the way we have been taught to read poetry is the very thing that prevents us from enjoying it. In lively, lilting prose, he shows

...

Concrete Poetry explains that the form began with ancient Greek poets. Also discused is composition mechanics and reader reactions and provide numerous examples for the reader.

"No art has been denounced as often as poetry. It's even bemoaned by poets: "I, too, dislike it," wrote Marianne Moore. "Many more people agree they hate poetry," Ben Lerner writes, "than can agree what poetry is. I, too, dislike it and have largely organized my life around it and do not experience that as a contradiction because poetry and the hatred of poetry are inextricable in ways it is my purpose to explore."In this inventive and lucid essay,...

"Mary Oliver would probably never admit to anything so grandiose as an effort to connect the conscious mind and the heart (that's what she says poetry can do), but that is exactly what she accomplishes in this stunning little handbook."—Los Angeles Times

From the beloved, legendary poet, the ultimate guide to writing and understanding poetry.

With passion and wit, Mary Oliver skillfully imparts

...

The Facts On File Companion to American Poetry" is a new and indispensable encyclopedic guide to American poetry with more than 1,200 entries, ranging in length from 500 to 1,500 words. Intended for high school and college students, this invaluable resource explores the various writers, works, themes, and movements of this intriguing literary genre.Volume 1 contains entirely new material, including new entries on poems, and extensive, new coverage...

A masterful work by a master poet, this brilliant summation of poetry and human nature will speak to all readers who long to place poetry in their lives.
How to Read a Poem is an unprecedented exploration of poetry and feeling. In language at once acute and emotional, National Book Critics Circle award-winning distinguished poet and critic Edward Hirsch describes why poetry matters and how we can open up our imaginations so that its message can...

On this episode of Camera Three, Robert Lowell and Stanley Kunitz discuss their influences, growing up in New England, and writing poetry. The poets also recite seminal works from their respective collections: Middle Age, Father and Son, Memories of West Street and Lepke, and A War Against the Trees.