John Redmond • How to Write a Poem

John Redmond • How to Write a Poem

Through a series of chapters designed as useful provocations, Redmond steers readers away from the 'default contemporary poem', urging fresh ways of thinking, insisting on 'the promise and opportunity of the blank page'. Traditional chapter topics like the sestina and the sonnet are abandoned in favour of more inspiring themes like variety, scale and background.

The book drwas on a wide array of examples, from sixth-century Ireland to contemporary Poland, and diverse cultural analogies from baseball to film. Rather than thinking of poems and having meanings, the book suggest that we should think of them of being like plays, or computer games, as experiences designed for the reader’s benefit.

• Challenges the reader's sense of what is possible in a poem.
• Traces the history and highlights the potential of poetry.
• Focuses on the fundamental principles of poetic construction, such as: Who is speaking? Who are they speaking to? Why does their speaking take this form?
• Considers both experimental and mainstream approaches to contemporary poetry.
• Consists of fourteen chapters, making it suitable for use over one semester.
• Encourages readers to experiment with their poetry.

Wiley-Blackwell, How to Study Literature, Paperback, english, 168 pages