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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A solid text for readers and writers, May 20 2002
"A Poetry Handbook," by Mary Oliver, is a nonfiction prose text about the art of writing poetry. In the book Oliver, herself an excellent poet, gives a clear and painless introduction to some structural aspects of poetry. She defines many technical terms: alliteration, onomatopoeia, alexandrine, caesura, quatrain, persona, etc. She also discusses various poetic forms: sonnet, free verse, etc. Other topics addressed include imagery and diction. Throughout the book, Oliver illustrates her points with poetry by some of the greatest practitioners of the craft: Robert Frost, Walt Whitman, William Carlos Williams, Elizabeth Bishop, etc.The book is aimed at both readers and writers of poetry. For the latter, Oliver reflects on such practical issues as revision and participation in poetry workshops. The book reflects Oliver's own philosophy of poetry. She stresses that poetry is a craft that requires work and discipline, and encourages the reader to think of poets as constituting a "tribe" that transcends all geographic and cultural boundaries. The book is not without flaws. I found it quite Eurocentric; she never discusses the haiku, a Japanese verse form that has been embraced by many in the English-speaking world. Other non-Western forms are similarly neglected. Some of her opinionated pronouncements also seem open to debate. She notes that a poem "gives pleasure through the authority and sweetness of the language," but I think some poems are effective conduits of rage or outrage and make use of unpleasant language to shake up the reader. Regarding the revision process, she notes that sometimes "it is simply best to throw a poem away" -- but, I ask, who is to make that decision? Something a poet might want to discard may in fact be a great poem in another's eyes. Also, although she gives many good examples of good poems, it might have been interesting if she had included some bad ones to illustrate her points further. Despite its flaws, however, I think that "A Poetry Handbook" would be a solid text for both individual reading and classroom use. And I think that some of Oliver's questionable statements could trigger productive discussion! Ultimately, I appreciate Oliver's declaration that poetry "is a life-cherishing force [...] as necessary as bread in the pockets of the hungry." Recommended as companion texts: Audre Lorde's essay "Poetry Is Not a Luxury," from her collection "Sister Outsider," and Pablo Neruda's prose collection "Passions and Impressions."
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