The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms

by Mark Strand

The Making of a Poem is among the best how-to-read-poetry titles. Edited by two of our greatest living poets, one Irish and female, the other American and male, it is both an exploration of poetic forms and an anthology. Eavan Boland and Mark Strand each offer an introduction and then give us a series of chapters devoted to particular verse forms--the sonnet, the ballad, the sestina, the villanelle, blank verse, the stanza--as well as a long section devoted to what they somewhat vaguely call shaping forms. This refers to poetic structures established not by a specific rhyme and/or metrical pattern but by content: the elegy, for example, or the pastoral or ode. The book then concludes with a section on open forms. Each chapter is conveniently subdivided, each topic simply defined: a single page gives "The Ballad at a Glance" (or, for that matter, the pantoum) as a quick overview of the form's structure. A page or two on the history of the form follows, along with a brief comment on "the contemporary context." Then a chronological anthology of poems demonstrates the particular form. In the sonnet's case, for instance, we are treated to 23 brilliantly chosen examples--everything from Shakespeare's "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" to Seamus Heaney's "The Haw Lantern" to Mary Jo Salter's playful "Half a Double Sonnet." The section then concludes with another brief analysis of one example. In this spot, the villanelle features Elizabeth Bishop's classic heartbreaker, "One Art," and blank verse gives us far too brief a take on Robert Frost's tantalizing "Directive." Itself worth the price of admission, the poem begins:

Back out of all this now too much for us,
Back in a time made simply by the loss
of detail, burned, dissolved, and broken off
Like graveyard marble sculpture in the weather,
There is a house that is no more than a house
Upon a farm that is no more than a farm
And in a town that is no more than a town.

One can readily see both the advantages and the limitations of such a format: definitions are kept lean, at times approaching the sound bite, and the short sentences and brief paragraphs often seem designed for a readership more accustomed to journalism than to the complexities of Dante (see, for example, the one-page history of the sestina). All of this looks like an attempt to reach an audience of both college students and general readers. While more information might help (brief comments on why certain poems in the anthology are defined as odes, pastorals, or elegies, for example), the bottom line is that The Making of a Poem does an excellent job of taking the inexperienced reader inside the mystery of poetic form. In these terms the volume succeeds, giving us a way into the history of poetry, along with an excellent anthology as a starting point for a deeper exploration of the glories of the genre. --Doug Thorpe

Genres: Poetry, Writing, Nonfiction, Reference, School, Crafts, Anthologies

366 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Mark Strand was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American poet, essayist, and translator. He was appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1990. He was a professor of English at Columbia University and also taught at numerous other colleges and universities.

Strand also wrote children's books and art criticism, helped edit several poetry anthologies and translated Spanish poet Rafael Alberti.

He is survived by a son, a daughter and a sister.

Reviews

[Ulysse · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I knew the answer to
How Can I Make a Poem?
I’d find far better things to do
With my time when I’m home

There is for instance a whole lot
Of cleaning to be done
Vacuuming the places
Where no sunshine ever shone

And there’s that picture leaning there
Against my bedroom wall
Which I’ve been meaning to hang up
Since when was it last Fall?

The toilet too it seems to say
Hey don’t you even care
That water trickles out of me
A whispered evening prayer?

My son needs help with homework
My wife says we should talk
My income taxes are unpaid
My body wants to walk

But I don’t know the answer to
How Can I Make a Poem?
So I neglect everything else
I have to do at home

[Jake · Rating 5 out of 5]

This wonderful book came my way as required reading in a Poetry class in college. Our professor was the best kind of MFA-type instructor, himself a great poet. Through this book, he introduced us to a variety of poetic forms and had us attempt them. The class structure extended out from the book format. It was one of the most rewarding courses I ever took.

As textbooks go, this one’s a gem, certainly one of the best constructed anthologies that the Norton Gods have ever published for us little people. Great examples of each form are provided along with concise, user-friendly explanations. Discover why Dylan Thomas’s “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” is a masterwork of form, not just a scrappy call to flip Death the bird.

Bottom line: this is a reference work of sufficient quality that you shouldn’t wait for an English Professor to make you buy it. If you love exploring poetry on your own, this is a great companion.

[Brendan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The poem selections are mostly good, and the lists of each form's attributes are adequate, but the sections of introductory and critical text in each chapter are nearly useless, and poorly written to a baffling degree.

Confused, sloppy syntax:
"He would die at the age of thirty, executed for no real reason by Henry VIII, except that he advised his sister to become the king's mistress and for some minor offenses."

Broad and unsupported claims, non sequitur:
"Even as a useful, witty, and musical unit, no one could have predicted the extraordinary development in the couplet that happened in the sixteenth century. Suddenly poets began to think, to argue, and to explain in the couplet. This then took the name "the heroic couplet," denoting a high subject matter."

And at times what appears to be word count padding:
"His intention was to produce a strict ten-syllable line and this is what he endeavored to do."

Seriously? In most cases, you'll get more information, better-supported and organized, from Wikipedia.

[Grace Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

spent the past few hours reading this book cause i had nothing else to do today. it’s actually pretty good! it’s fun (not always the most helpful, but fun) when poets write about form

[Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book was very important to me as a teenager bc my cute college-aged writing workshop instructor gave it to me with stars next to the poems he'd thought i like. wonder where he ended up. alex are you out there

also very much contributed to my love for form poetry

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a re-read

Preamble:

My relationship to poetry has always been mired by external judgements. This is to say that the times where my poetry readership was the highest were also times in my life were I was studying writing on a formal and academic level (MFA, etc). So my enjoyment of poetry was always locked into my ability, or inability, to compose it.

As such, my first intimate contacts with poetry as a personal pursuit also always required me to bring something to a workshop. When the feedback I received was less than generous, it greatly slowed my reading.

This collection has done much to shift my perspective on the form.


The Making of a Poem follows an unusual structure. It begins with form poetry, followed then by occasion poetry (odes, pastorals), and finally closing with Open Verse. While discussions on stanza and meter are buried fairly deeply in the text, what it offers in substitute is an inching towards modernity that regresses into the depths of tradition anew at the top of each chapter. By the end, one has tread the path over and over and over again such that the ideal reader has gained not only a personal fluency in a canon, but an understanding of poetic history up until the year 2000.

This in conversation with the more technical text A Poet's Craft by Annie Finch is a complete university semester (or two) worth of information, history, practice, and thought.

I am grateful for the work of the editors and, of course, contributing poets. It felt nourishing to read these without fear of needing to then produce what I have seen.

[Ed · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very well done technical manual on forms and structures of poetry, probably as useful for working poets as for students or critics. Terms are clearly defined, plenty of examples, a good book to have nearby when reading (or, I would imagine, writing) poetry.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent, accessible introduction to poetic forms. Deals more with the historical use of the form than the contemporary, but still a must-have for poets today who are experimenting with inherited forms.

[Emma Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite poem anthology so far besides the ones that I owned in childhood and live in my brain rent free. And after many months I finally finished reading through every section (though sort of back to front).
Time to start reading it again! — since I never said I didn’t want more poems to make their home in my head. That way I can feast on them and make my own poetry better. (I sound like a word-loving cannibal. I should go to sleep.)

[Jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

Any anthology is inherently political; especially when the editor chooses to bulk it out with old, white men writing before the mid-nineteenth century.

The poems selected for this anthology serve their purpose. They show how inherited forms have evolved throughout history and how each poet treats that form differently. However, as I said, the selections could definitely have been more diverse (more women, please!) and I would have greatly appreciated further instalments of contemporary poetry, especially in the more ‘archaic’ forms.

The context for each form is, generally, informative, although there are instances of sloppy prose and attempts to get down with the lingo that just had me snorting with derision:

‘The idea of a poem written so close to a community that it is almost coauthored by it is very far from the concept of that tremendous loner – the modern poet.’

‘Repetition becomes a form of affirmation, a way of establishing fixity. An example might be: ‘Did you really go to the store?’ ‘Yes, I’m telling you I went to the store.’ ‘Well, then, what kind of store was it?’ ‘A furniture store, you dumbass.’ ‘Are you calling me an ass?’ ‘I am because you simply won’t believe I went to the store.’’

Can you guess what poetic form these are referring to??!

(Ballad and sestina, if you’re wondering.)

The case studies are rather airy fairy and overwritten, doing little to illuminate the poem or relate the content to the form. It’s also never a good impression when the first poem you write an essay on has a transcription error: The Convergence of the Twain, page 145, it should be ‘cold currents thrid’, not ‘third’.

Not the most enlightening anthology I’ve read, but it served its purpose.

[Ashleigh Tway · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book for a creative writing poetry class. I can't say that it was entertaining, but it did convey the information of poetic forms in a simple and concise manner which is something lacking in a lot of other academic writing books. Some of the example poems were very beautiful and I probably wouldn't have decided to read them if it wasn't for assigned reading.

All in all, if you want to learn about poetic forms with a brief history and very little poetic analysis, this book is a really great resource.

Disclaimers:
Some of the poems used to demonstrate various poetic forms do implicate sexual encounters or contain swear words. However, there are only a few.

[Rachel Earling-Hopson (Misse Mouse) · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very helpful guide to writing a blank-verse poem, and am Ode, and/or a pastoral poem. This was such a great guide in all my poetry classes and could not sell it back to the school. I use it to this day. Mum, you can borrow it anytime you want to. 💚

[Jordan Magnuson]

A wonderful study of poetic forms through excellent poetry.

[Nicole Bergen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brief, simple overview of forms with many examples of each. A fun exploration.

[Lorraine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really good overview of British and American poetry. I think it does a good job of breaking down the forms and choosing accessible poems. I don't know if Norton is still publishing this text, but I would definitely consider using it in the classroom.

[Persephone Abbott · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't know why I bought this book, by this I mean what did I expect to mentally obtain? I like poetry, I even write poetry or attempt to write poetry. I suppose I thought that I'd learn something about poetry and honestly I looked and looked. (The poems in the book speak eloquently for themselves.) I saw poems I had never before met and I was pleased to make their visiting acquaintance while they were on Norton's Anthology World Tour. But I began to ask myself why I didn't like this book as I swished back and forth through the pages looking for clues. I feel the answer comes down to this: It's all in the box "How to Think About Poetry". For instance the two poems about war back to back it's true wars have a habit of doing this however was it necessary here? Different wars, different voices, different form, style you name it they were not the same only the "topic" united them, and I suppose readers are expected to come up with a paper comparing the two when there is perhaps little to compare and then why bother to compare the two? Ah, here we go, because this is an academic exercise which can throttle words or language hustling them into a labor camp. On the other hand should someone say hey I'll write a paper called "The Comparison of Two Poems on War from an Early 20th Century Pacifist View Point while Meditating in a Herbal Garden in Nantucket" I'd reply, "Hit me with your best shot!" I want out of the box.

[J.E. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has its positives and negatives. It is very nice to have one that goes over all different forms. It also goes through a nice explanation of changes in form over time. The two downsides are that, one, its examples are limited in what parts of the history they show and, two, The description of the different forms is not always as well explained as it could be. It was not hard for me to piece it together, but, for anyone looking at poetry for the first time, certain things could easily be misunderstood or missed altogether.

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven't completely finished this one, but I really like the way it's laid out. A great reference for poetic forms. It has the technical aspects of each form, a history of it, how it is being used in a contemporary context, and examples of the form from its beginning to the present. I like having a good sampling of examples, so you can really get a feel for what the form can express and how. I would really like to own this one.

[John Struloeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful, comprehensive anthology of form poetry. I used it in this semester's Advanced Poetry Writing course, and it's worked very well. The range of examples in each form is very good. Each form (elegy, ballad, sonnet, etc.) has an overview of the formal requirements, a brief history of the form, a brief essay on the form in contemporary poetry, samples poems in chronological order, and a brief case study.

[Joel · Rating 3 out of 5]

It tries too hard to be two things at once. It has a decent collection of some poems but not enough to make it an anthology. It has a short explanation of the poetic forms but not enough to provide any true depth or insight. I like, however, that the author has taken his time to find plenty examples of villanelles, sestinas, and a couple other rare structures.

[Rochelle Jewel Shapiro · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would never swap this book. It's not that you can't find "how-to's" of forms everywhere, but the choices of poems that Mark Strand made to illustrate each form opens the heart and intellect simultaneously. A great inspiration!

[Mozart · Rating 3 out of 5]

I couldn't connect with this book. I really need contemporary examples, or have the author explain to me whats going on. I still value you it as a reference point, but i did not enjoy working through this!

[Marcie · Rating 3 out of 5]

It wasn't too great at telling you how to analyze poetry. However, the collection and range of poems partly makes up for it.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice collection of poetry forms, with examples heavily weighted towards modern poetry.
There is a very small amount of commentary, though I think the collection would have benefited from more.

[Lynda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I will never be a poet and I know it.

[Victoria Foote-Blackman · Rating 2 out of 5]

For a book published by Norton as a Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms, this book is a disappointment, and some of the blame can be placed squarely on the shoulders of the two editors, poets Mark Strand, and Eavan Boland, for whom this was clearly not a labor of love.

The book starts out with promise, with a relatively short but interesting Introductory Statement about the history of poetry, and then two colorful but not very necessary personal statements by the two editors--though that space we eventually come to think would have been better used otherwise.

The organisation that follows is fine on the whole, being separated into four large sections.

The first section, "Verse Forms," gives 8 examples in the following order-- with which one might certainly quibble--of the Villanelle, the Sestina, the Pantoum, the Sonnet, the Ballad, Blank Verse, the Heroic Couplet, and finally the Stanza. In each of these eight categories a number of poems have been selected to illustrate as examples, with no commentary about the poems, except one chosen apparently at random for a vague, concluding commentary. Several poems are written in Middle English, with no explanation or annotations of any kind.

The second section "The Meter," is literally only 3 pages long. (This is not the place where you'll really learn anything more perfunctory than that an iambic pentameter is different from a spondee.) They refer to accentual vs accentual-syllabic meter on page 75, but don't explain these terms until page 160. They pass the buck by providing a short one-page Checklist of 'Further Reading on Meter.' Shocking in a book with this title, presumably intended for college students and the layperson.

Section three, misleadingly called "Shaping Forms," addresses three content or subject matters rather than form, in the following order: The Elegy, the Pastoral, and the Ode. Here there are brief though interesting introductions as well. But then follows another phalanx of poems, mostly with no annotations or comment whatsoever.

Finally, another group of poems gets its own section, called "Open Forms," in which the featured poets, all 20th century, use a variety of verse forms, and subjects in a mostly post-modern free-verse manner. Here one senses the two poet editors took some interest.

A minor but pervasive problem throughout The Making of a Poem is that the editors have mistakenly decided to include virtually no dates, for the poets or their works. But the far greater problem is the niggardly lack of supporting explanation about the poems. This would be fine in a compendium, but for a book purportedly aimed at imparting knowledge to the reader, the skimpiness of shared information is quite astounding, and the overall tone comes off as being both pretentious and willfully unhelpful. (Oh, you don't know Middle English? What don't you understand about Michael Palmer's Sonnet 'Now I see them'?) And one can almost hear the poets dickering with each other and the publisher about not having the time or inclination to do more than take a stab at this project. Ultimately this reflects not so much on the poet editors, but on the publishers, Norton.

Is there anything redeeming about this book? Yes, if you are tenacious and slog through it, you will find some of the great poems that always bear further reading. Finally, Strand and Boland do serve up a feast of powerful poems in their last section, which is where their interests clearly lie.

The index is useful, provides page numbers for poets, titles, and first lines.

In summation, Caveat Emptor.

[Ian Casey · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Making of a Poem is not a book which lends itself to pigeon-holing. It's not a standard anthology, though given its subtitle is 'A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms', it could be seen as a companion to The Norton Anthology of Poetry. Yet there's not much in common between those projects other than sharing some of the same poems. Nor is it intended as an exhaustive textbook, or as a beginner's introduction to poetry.

The niche the book fills is to provide a broad overview of forms of poetry from the Renaissance to the late 20th century, from highly specific forms such as the sestina and villanelle, through to more nebulous concepts such as eulogies and even a section on stanzas (which is more involved than one may expect).

The selection is about what one would expect from American editors, with a wide selection of American poets, a decent attempt to be representative of British and Irish poets (though still leaning heavily toward the big names more so than with the Americans), and the occasional ring-in from elsewhere such as Australia.

All sections feature a concise but informative introduction. A number of sections at their end also feature a brief 'close up' of one of the featured poems and some relevant biographical information on the poet.

There is also a brief glossary of terms. More useful, perhaps, is the lengthy section of short biographies of each of the many poets featured, usually with a handful of suggestions for readings of their work, and of criticism and biography.

For a particular kind of reader who already has a sound grasp and appreciation of the English language and an acquaintance with poetry but an ignorance of the technical aspects of poetics, this is a helpful book to expand their knowledge and point them in the direction of further learning.

[Joseph Hirsch · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very well-organized introduction to the various forms of poetry, as well as a solid overview of the history and development of poetry throughout the world. The book has no strong ideological bias, but does a good job of presenting conflicting schools of thought when it comes to where and how artists differ on what they believe to be good or bad poetry. For some people rhyming is passe, a vestige of another century. For others, nothing is quite as easy or fruitless as free verse (sometimes confused with blank verse).

You can tell much thought went into the selection not only of which poets to include, but which of their shorter poems would serve as the best representation of their work to a new audience. From Chaucer to Ginsberg to Angelou, samples of work and accompanying bios achieve a breezy quality without being glib. This is the kind of book that anyone interested in poetry can enjoy and appreciate, and come back to after reading, whether you're just a precocious high-school student or a Nobel Laureate.

I thoroughly enjoyed it and have no complaints. And since I'm a churlish, contentious chap by disposition that means someone went the extra mile while creating this book. Highest recommendation.

[Wes Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful anthology, well organized (by the various poetic structures) and supplemented by commentaries on the writing and reading of poems. This is a great resource for anyone interested in writing poetry.

It is also, for me, a reminder that I am still (and, I suppose, forever will be) out of rhythm with poetry today. The first poem in this anthology, one included in the prefatory essay, was, I thought at first, given to us as an example of a failed or amateur poem, but--surprise, surprise--it turned out to be an example of a model poem, the one that changed the editor's life, made him want to become a poet, etc.

This sort of thing happens to me every time I venture into the world of poets. It's just a hunch I have, and so quite probably a false hunch and a misguided notion: but it seems to me that poetry has become something that is only written for other poets. And, simply put, that's not what I want. Give me instead the bold ballad, written for the Everyman: the solid verse I will recite in my mind if ever I have to charge the field with a bayonet, or rebuild the farm after a storm, or press on living after a great grief. I'm with Longfellow: Read to me "from some humbler poet / Whose songs gushed from his heart."

[Paula Horstman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A five-star because it's a compilation of some of the most well-known poems from the past few centuries. Great exposure for new poets. All in all, a slim book since it is not the book's aim to take its reader in-depth into each type of poem. Instead, it defines the major genres within poetry and includes about a half dozen or so selected works per category.
There is the Pastoral, the Villanelle, the Sestina, the Ballad, the Ode, the Elegy, the Open Form, among a few others. There is a concise, to-the-point explanation for how each form came to fruition: what the cultural influences and political conditions were at the time of each form's birth.

It is fascinating to learn how each one came to rise, and how it was or continues to be reshaped over time. Hence, the Open Form- which seems to subvert all preceding genres and unabashedly takes elements from each one. Contemporary poets are free to mix and match, creating their own kind of genre, sitting on top the shoulders of giants before them, who contributed to the bedrock and foundational layers of poem as a form of art. Not that contemporary poetry nullifies the need for originality, but that it possesses an advantage that other periods and genres throughout poetic history did not have.

A joy to read.