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A Poetry Handbook

4.01 of 5 stars 4.01 · rating details · 1,352 ratings · 147 reviews

With passion, wit, and good common sense, the celebrated poet Mary Oliver tells of the basic ways a poem is built-meter and rhyme, form and diction, sound and sense. Drawing on poems from Robert Frost, Elizabeth Bishop, and others, Oliver imparts an extraordinary amount of information in a remarkably short space. “Stunning” (Los Angeles Times). Index.

Paperback, 144 pages

Published August 15th 1994 by Mariner Books

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May 29, 2013 Erin Stile rated it 4 of 5 stars

Mary Oliver remains beyond doubt one of the richest souls of poetry in contemporary Western culture, a strongly needed antidote to the rapaciousness and heartlessness of our society. I came to this book curious as to how someone so deeply enmeshed in the poetry of life would discuss the art of poetry-writing. (I hate to say "techniques" or "mechanics," words that so demean what fine poets do--although I grant that "art" itself derives from the same root as "artifice.") The prose is as clear and...more Mary Oliver remains beyond doubt one of the richest souls of poetry in contemporary Western culture, a strongly needed antidote to the rapaciousness and heartlessness of our society. I came to this book curious as to how someone so deeply enmeshed in the poetry of life would discuss the art of poetry-writing. (I hate to say "techniques" or "mechanics," words that so demean what fine poets do--although I grant that "art" itself derives from the same root as "artifice.") The prose is as clear and honed as her poetry, but as prose it does not shine like the verse. You could only expect crisp simplicity and limpidity from Oliver. The selections of poems she provides as examples fit clearly with her descriptions of the relevant angles of art she is discussing. My disappointment--and this was not a profound disappointment--was that little, if any, new was revealed about the art of poetry which you cannot find elsewhere. In fact, what was offered was less than can be found elsewhere.

The chapters each feel slight, as if she is distilling too much, but they come off as summaries rather than depth and digging. I feel she is almost holding back, as if she does not want us to know more about appreciating and writing poetry. I realize one aim here is to fulfill some needs of writing workshops, and so the absolute basics are in order. But the book could fulfill those needs for basics while also going into more detail about the greater subtleties of poetry-creation. I do not mean to say the author is deliberately restraining and holding back her secrets. Only that the original aim was perhaps too rudimentary.

Maybe I am expecting too much, and even the greatest poets really have no place to attempt digging into their intuitions and hearts for whatever makes their blood and poetry organs turn out their beauty. Keats gave a few prosaic hints of his own poetic outlook in a single essay. Eliot as a critic certainly offered a lot of material from which can be inferred his own poetics. I am no poet, so I am not begging for secrets to make my own poetry organ go. At worst, I so joy in being in Oliver's spirit that I, like any of her followers, could only wish for more such prose work, along, of course, with the verse she has generously provided. (less)

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Feb 05, 2013 Maria rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Mary Oliver fans

Shelves: poetry

I read this book a few times before.
After the inauguration I read an article asking why poetry matters. I couldn't answer that. At first I thought that it offers a channel of written/spoken textured expression for those of us who love words, but don’t want to write a novel or short story. I reopened this book for the answers as it is my go-to book for poetry-foundation answers.
Unfortunately, this is the first time I disagreed with Ms. Oliver. The poem she holds in high regard, “Stopping by Wood...more

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Jul 03, 2011 Karen rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book is delightful and interesting to read, despite being a type of textbook or "bible" for poetry. I enjoyed Mary Oliver's descriptions and discection of sounds, and how they are used to magnify thoughts and messages within poetry or in any written piece. Her insight into the use of certain letters to convey feelings and/or tone is fascinating, and extremely helpful for the budding writer. Mary Oliver uses the same mechanisms she describes within the book itself, which makes for pleasant r...more

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Feb 02, 2011 Shauna rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: people who want to refresh their knowledge of poetry

Recommended to Shauna by: Emily Jiang

This book does exactly what you'd want an introductory book on writing poetry to do: It briefly (120 pages) reviews the basics of poetry, defines many poetry terms, introduces the reader to some popular meters, and uses real poems for examples.

I had learned much of this information decades ago in high school, but had not realized it until I started reading this book and realized I had come across this info before. I found it an excellent refresher for someone who wants to try their hand at poet...more

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Jan 19, 2011 Enzo rated it 3 of 5 stars

The technical information was a little too basic for me, but it was executed in a refreshingly non-pedantic way. For example, Oliver comes right out and admits that there are no clear-cut rules on how to scan certain lines.

Oliver's insights about writing are very sound to me, she specifically emphasizes exercise and imitation as vital for a beginning poet. However, the book could have gone into a little more detail about pretty much anything it mentions. This way, readers come away from the book...more

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Jul 21, 2012 Timothy rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-i-loath

Mary Oliver is one of the more popular contemporary poets in the United States. Many Americans think she is all the beans and writes beautiful verse. Many Americans also believe in angels and think that Thomas Kinkade was a good painter. Why do these things happen? Because the educational system in America is designed to teach people how to get a job at McFuckers Emporium of Fuckery and the country is thus inhabited by great swathes of nincompoops who lack critical thinking skills.

Dr Seuss knew...more

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Feb 18, 2013 Richelle Wilson rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: every lover of beautiful

Shelves: favorites, these-deserve-a-second-read

A Poetry Handbook is something I wish I had read a lot earlier in my career as a student of literature, to say nothing of the tentative ventures I’ve made into writing poetry since I was young. A lot of people say this book is a good reiteration of things they learned in their college classes, but I sincerely think it’s an introduction we all need. I never learned about vowel and consonant sounds in my poetry seminars. Maybe somewhere down the line a professor glossed over the principles of scan...more A Poetry Handbook is something I wish I had read a lot earlier in my career as a student of literature, to say nothing of the tentative ventures I’ve made into writing poetry since I was young. A lot of people say this book is a good reiteration of things they learned in their college classes, but I sincerely think it’s an introduction we all need. I never learned about vowel and consonant sounds in my poetry seminars. Maybe somewhere down the line a professor glossed over the principles of scansion as though we already knew them (most of us don’t). So quite frankly, given that the basic formal elements of poetry discussed in this book are vital and that Mary Oliver treats them in a way that is simple, honest, and shimmers like poetry itself, there is absolutely no reason for any reader or writer of poetry to ignore this little handbook. “It is written to empower the beginning writer who stands between two marvelous and complex things—an experience (or an idea or a feeling), and the urge to tell about it in the best possible conjunction of words.”

And empower she does. One thing I like in particular about this book is Oliver’s emphasis on form. I’ve only taken one creative workshop in my time as a university student so perhaps this assessment of fellow contemporary writers is premature, but I was appalled at how the professor (whom I do admire greatly) and the other students seemed altogether uninterested in developing an awareness of historical form. I understand that it is outdated and impractical to earnestly write something in metrical verse these days, but why not do it as an exercise? Why not learn how those rhythms work so that writers of free verse can be more deliberate in their poetic choices? That is precisely what Mary Oliver calls for. To be honest, I still wasn’t particularly thrilled at the prospect of reading the chapters on metrical lines and forms. Many in English departments who care about scansion seem to do so for its own stilted and limiting purpose: to say “This is iambic pentameter! I identified that! Someone give me a cookie!” Okay, but what does that mean? How does it help us analyze the poem? Oliver gives great insights into how form shapes pacing, tempo, stress, perhaps by extension mood and tone, style, etc. and works to contribute to a poem’s overall impact and meaning. Thank you! I will give her a cookie.

I loved her discussion on how free verse came to be the standard poetic form of the twentieth century and into the present day. In the past, I have heard this shift to free verse characterized as a “break from the past” (kind of like a rejection of the canon), a way of making poetry more democratic, or even as carelessness. While some of those may be true (barring the last option, which I don’t agree with), Mary Oliver points out several other compelling reasons for the advent and growing popularity of free verse: first of all, a growing print culture. “Free verse came into fashion just as the availability of books was becoming widespread, and the practice of reading poems with one’s eyes, and listening to them silently, was taking precedence over the oral tradition” (56). She goes on to describe the importance of the free verse poet’s attention to line breaks and visual presentation: “The pattern on the page, then, became the indicator of pace, and the balance and poise of the poem was inseparable from the way the line breaks kept or failed a necessary feeling of integrity, a holding together of the poem from beginning to end. The regular, metrical line gave assistance to a listener who sought to remember the poem; the more various line breaks of the ‘visual’ poem gave assistance to the mind seeking to ‘hear’ the poem” (56).

I love how she talks about how any poem—including, or even especially, those written in free verse—has to be balanced and measured. “Every poem has as basic measure, and a continual counterpoint of differences playing against that measure. Poems that do not offer such variations quickly become boring” (56). However, as she emphasizes time and time again, “the poem needs to be reliable” (56; I guess that page is jam-packed with quotables). “A poem requires a design—a sense of orderliness. Part of our pleasure in the poem is that it is a well-made thing—it gives pleasure through the authority and sweetness of the language used in the way that it is used” (58, her italics). How we say is just as important, if not more, than what we say. In other words, the poet needs to be purposeful. And how is that possible without some knowledge of the poetic devices at your disposal and their effect?

Given all of that, it is very helpful that she sets up a few ordering principles for free verse poems, which are “by no means exempted from the necessity of having a design, though one must go about it in rather different ways” (66). She then talks about line, syntax, repetition, stress, enjambment, diction, and perhaps the most important for any poet, “setting up a felt pattern of expectation and meeting that expectation” (66). As my workshop instructor told me, a poem doesn’t have to do everything; it just has to say one thing and say it well. Creating that expectation at the beginning and fulfilling it by the end is the excitement of our call to write, I think. We want to express something we’ve felt or experienced and do it justice; Mary Oliver is master at that. We would all do well to listen to what she has to say.

I was also taken with her discussion of the intimacy of the free-verse form: “Now a line was needed that would sound and feel not like formal speech but like conversation. What was needed was a line which, when read, would feel as spontaneous, as true to the moment, as talk in the street, or talk between friends in one’s own house... That, I think, is the long and short of it. Speech entered the poem. The poem was no longer a lecture, it was time spent with a friend. Its music was the music of conversation” (69-70). And what sweet music. In that same section, just pages later, she gives the most compelling analysis for the significance of William Carlos Williams’s “The Red Wheelbarrow” I’ve ever heard.

I was a little confused by her distaste for what she calls “poetic diction” (87-88), by which I think she actually means excessively lofty, worn-out language from poets in days gone by: emerald carpets, birds in a choir, et al. I’m not sure I totally agree with her on this. Her example of trees as Druids actually sounds quite lovely to me, and in her hands I think it would be a rather nice image. But I do like that she calls for us to be more thoughtful and candid with our diction and imagery rather than borrowing from old cliches. Speaking of cliches, she hates those too (88), and I laughed out loud at her declaration on the following page that “Proper syntax never hurt anyone.” She is playful throughout the text, and I was happy for that.

If nothing else, go read her section on revision and the Conclusion. Beautiful stuff. I admire the balance she creates throughout the entire text between developing or honing formal skills and “that wild, silky part of ourselves without which no poem can live” (8). She insists on truly living, walking among green things, and noticing as being the key characteristics of a poet, but she also argues for the necessity of hard work, which is something I needed to hear.

I read this cover-to-cover in a short period of time and I already want to read it again. It’s that good. It’s that sweet and necessary. Do yourself a favor and enter the dazzling world of poetry in the able hands of Mary Oliver. You will not regret it.(less)

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Apr 22, 2013 Bill rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: writing-how-to

What’s a Metric Foot?

Oliver, M. (1994). A poetry Handbook: A prose guide to understanding and writing poetry. New York: Harcourt Books.

I was looking for a quick, simple guide to understanding the rhythms of poetry, something like “Poetry For Dummies,” and there actually is such a book, but what I found in the bookstore instead is this excellent volume by Pulitzer Prize winner and National Book Award winner, Mary Oliver. It does not aim to be historically comprehensive, only a brief introduction...more

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Apr 11, 2012 Bill Martin rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: poetry

For the Lit. MFA, Mary Oliver's compact handbook may not offer an avalanche of commendable qualities. But for those of us without the luxury of formal training or professional mentoring, those who endeavor to become better readers of poetry as well as novices in the craft, A Poetry Handbook should fit in a welcome spot on our shelves and furnish our minds with a quarry of solid principles, foundation stones to build on.

I read the less-than-150-page text over a weekend. I have the feeling that I...more

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Feb 16, 2008 Jan Duncan-O'Neal rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to Jan by: poets

Shelves: writing

While Oliver knows her stuff and is respected, I don't find passion in this slim handbook as I do in other books in the genre such as Ted Kooser's Poetry Home Repair Manual or Edward Hirsch's How to Read a Poem. The sample poems she includes are not fully explored or mined as I would have hoped.

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Aug 20, 2010 Heather Williams rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: poetry

This book, along with The Rules of the Dance, gets 5 stars for totally bailing me out as a high school English teacher. I've always liked poetry but had no way to talk about it beyond something like "isn't that great?!" So when I suddenly found myself charged with the awesome responsibility of teaching poets like Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman and countless canonical others, I turned to Mary Oliver to help me sort it all out. She gracefully shows how to use words such as meter, rhyme, voice, d...more

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Sep 25, 2012 Karsten rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: sabbatical-reads

Not a ground-breaking book, but a clear, skillful, personable take on, as Oliver puts it, "the part of the poem that is a written document, as opposed to a mystical document, which of course the poem is also."

Oliver handles the usual handbook topics--sound, figures of speech, lines, and so on--and her voice is distinctive, bracing but never strident, like a favorite teacher's...

She is wry and opinionated: A successful writing class is one "where no one feels that 'writer's block' is a high-prior...more

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Dec 30, 2011 Kit rated it 5 of 5 stars

Mary Oliver is arguably one of the most widely honored poets in the United States and has won many awards for her writing. In her classic guide to understanding and writing poetry, A Poetry Handbook, Oliver discusses literary devises such as sound, diction, tone, voice, etc. She also gives many forms of poetry such as the sonnet, couplet, and tercet, and eventually gives great tips on the revision process and information on writing workshops.

This book I feel is an important foundation for anyone...more

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Jan 12, 2012 Joe rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: poetry, research-misc

There are parts of this book I do find useful, and other parts I do not. I agreed with much of what was said about different styles, and the use of poetry. At times I would agree, at others disagree, with her views of how to write. I might even do both at once (particularly in the section on revision). And I disagreed with most of the sections that dealt with learning to write (except for a few things about a workshop and solitude). I would have rated it as 2 instead of 3 stars, because I was lo...more

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May 16, 2011 William Hurst rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: poetry

Mary Oliver is known for her blend of mysticism with Whitman's pastoral fixation. In that vein, this book on the craft of poetry does not disappoint. While other craft books may be more practical (such as the ever-popular The Poet's Companion), A Poetry Handbook probes deeper into the indefinable aspects of verse.

Some will tire of this quickly. Why write a book about the unnameable aspects of the art? Oliver's handbook is necessary because while skilled poets may see the strings of talent, beaut...more

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Dec 08, 2008 Powells.com rated it 5 of 5 stars

I bought A Poetry Handbook when I entered my first poetry-writing class as an undergrad. My professor was a notorious curmudgeon who didn't spare anyone's feelings and expected each progressive class in the term "to separate the sheep from the goats." I was determined not to be a sheep (or a goat?): I was going to be prepared! This book is amazingly detailed for a basic introduction and extremely useful for reading, writing, and talking about many different kinds of poems. A Poetry Handbook not...more

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Jul 15, 2010 Sarah rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: poetry

Of course I'm a fan of everything Mary Oliver writes, so she is an excellent writer not only of but also on poetry. Her explanation on why Whitman is but one (oft-cited) example of free verse but is certainly not the last word in this dynamic form is itself a point worth heeding and one worth the the effort of the time it would take you to read this brief little volume. This example in particular showcases her lucidity and exemplary teaching style, which is shown again and again throughout.
Read...more

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Nov 20, 2008 Jessica rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: poetry

I used this the first two semesters that I taught my Creative Writing class at Old Westbury, but the students didn't connect to it the way I'd hoped. I use Ted Kooser's Poetry Home Repair Manuel now instead. It's more student-friendly.

But I'd still recommend this for the older, more advanced beginning writer. Being a fan of Oliver's poetry doesn't automatically make this book a good read. From what I recall, she doesn't use a lot of her own stuff to illustrate writing techniques here.

So, not t...more

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Sep 08, 2011 Sarah Cypher rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction, poetry

I've said elsewhere that I was frightened of poetry. After having finished writing two novels, I was ready to go back to the basics: language and imagery. I could not have stumbled upon a better book to get my head out of the windy tomes of long-form fiction, and learn that poetry is friendly. While the book treats the craft at a beginner's level that was sometimes skim-inducing, I found it pleasurable to relearn all the old lessons in the light of a new form.

The book is slender, elegant, and h...more

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Feb 19, 2013 Colleen Wainwright rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: how-to, nonfiction, poetry

Concise and useful, which is really everything a handbook should be. And it's really engaging in parts: the section on imagery is especially good, and in context, reading Elizabeth Bishop's "The Fish" brought me to tears, which is just what a good poem one is prepared to read well and properly should do.

But the sections on meter and line and sound had me drifting off. I get that it's foundational stuff, drier than metaphor, and a little hard to make lively on the page: my duty as reader-student...more

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Oct 31, 2008 Elaine Nelson rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: poetry, writing, non-fiction, own

I think there are lessons in life that I'm ready to absorb now that I couldn't 10 or 15 years ago. One of them is the role of craft & structure -- the formalities & technicalities -- in poetry. I've owned this book for quite a while, but this read is the first time that it resonated in a useful way.

Not that this book is overly formal, but it touches on scansion, which I've always had trouble with, and some of the other traditional aspects of poetry. It used to be that the stress symbols...more

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Sep 17, 2010 Brandon rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is the poetry writer's bible. Not only is the content absolutely comprehensive and presented in a simple and beautifully organized manner, but it's written by a true poet. And it shows in her writing. This is a book on poetry written poetically. If you want to learn to write poetry or improve your poetry, pick up this book first, then read others if you feel you need to. But you'll find you keep going back to this one. I sometimes pick this book up just to read something beautiful, to be in...more

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Sep 20, 2011 Joshua Rivera rated it 5 of 5 stars

Do you love to read poetry but struggle to write your own? This book is your answer. I had to read this for a class and I am glad I did because Mary Oliver does a very good job teaching everything you need to know about poetry. She covers everything- from the sound and diction of a word, length and rhythm, the form (whether free verse or not), and imagery. She even discusses tools to help you when revising your work. Everything about poetry is in this book, definitely a must have for poets.

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Aug 27, 2009 Mindy rated it 4 of 5 stars

The best little book on poetry I've come across. Oliver is a master of beautiful, unshowy simplicity. This book covers the basics of poetry, including sound, diction, tone, meter, rhyme, and imagery, and it explains in clear terms why each component is important, and says at least a thing or two about how to do it "right" (well?) and "wrong" (poorly?). Oliver incorporates good examples and useful quotations. The book is true pleasure: wise, measured, clear.

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Aug 11, 2009 Mmars rated it 5 of 5 stars

An essential and short guide for beginning readers and writers of poetry. Although subtitled "a prose guide to understanding and writing poetry" it seems to be more suited to beginning writers. There are much more interesting and thorough guides to understanding and appreciating poetry. But Oliver clearly describes and defines terminology, forms, etc. I'll be going back to this again and again.

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Jan 16, 2013 Jesse rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: poetry

An excellent resource on poetry writing. Mary Oliver understands the importance of both free verse and meter and rhyme schemes. Meter and rhyme do not guarantee good poetry. And free verse is not free. A very thoughtful and balanced approach to both. "Poems are not words, after all, but fires for the cold, ropes let down to the lost, something as necessary as bread in the pockets of the hungry."

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Dec 11, 2012 Liz Gray rated it 5 of 5 stars

A gem of a book for anyone who enjoys reading and writing poetry. Oliver talks about the basic ways a poem is built and the intangibles that result in a successful poem and includes many examples. Not surprisingly, it's a poetic book about craft, "for poems are not words, after all, but fires for the cold, ropes let down to the lost, something as necessary as bread in the pockets of the hungry."

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Dec 14, 2012 Sporkalicious rated it 4 of 5 stars

I used to write poetry when I was little because I wanted to eventually write my own music. I've been getting back into writing again and am hoping eventually to write my own songs.

This is mostly just something that I do for me, I'm not expecting to go anywhere with it. But it's something I feel like I could do now if I started working on it.

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May 14, 2013 Celeste Rousselot rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: my-written-reviews

Mary Oliver's succinct handbook is definitely a keeper. As a beginner I acquired a significant poetic vocabulary through her definitions of slant verse, assonance, etc. Also I met several poets by reading their poems and Oliver's discussions of their styles, forms and use of imagery. By identifying appropriate and inappropriate language in her chapter on Diction, Tone and Voice, Oliver turned me in a new direction. Likewise I valued her discussion of "Turning the Line," in the chapter The Line a...more

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Dec 01, 2011 Laura rated it 4 of 5 stars

An excellent book about the mechanics of poetry - rhyme patterns, meters, stress, word choice, rhythms, and the like. I love poetry and thanks to this book I've learned that I most frequently write in iambic tetrameter with true rhymes. =)

The only chapters that I didn't like were about the modern forms of poetry, but these can be by-passed.

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“Mary Oliver. In a region that has produced most of the nation's poet laureates, it is risky to single out one fragile 71-year-old bard of Provincetown. But Mary Oliver, who won the Pulitzer Prize in poetry in 1983, is my choice for her joyous, accessible, intimate observati...more

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“The poet must not only write the poem but must scrutinize the world intensely, or anyway that part of the world he or she has taken for subject. If the poem is thin, it is likely so not because the poet does not know enough words, but because he or she has not stood long enough among the flowers--has not seen them in any fresh, exciting, and valid way.” — 14 people liked it

“The language of the poem is the language of particulars.” — 2 people liked it

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