Rhyme's Reason: A Guide to English Verse

by John Hollander

In the grand tradition of Alexander Pope, John Hollander offers this explication/enactment of poetic form. There are sonnets about how to write sonnets, haiku about how to write haiku, and so on. The writing is clever, entertaining, and instructive, which will surprise no one familiar with Hollander's work. What's even more impressive, though, is how often these poems--which could so easily start to feel like homework--engage you emotionally. The sestina about sestinas is beautiful, and, excepting Dylan Thomas's "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night," Hollander's villanelle about villanelles is as captivating an example as one will find of the old French fixed form.

Genres: Poetry, Nonfiction, Writing, Reference, Criticism, Literary Criticism, Education

88 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

Reviews

[Abby · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is chock full of great information about poetry. It talks about poetic devices, different forms and styles of poetry, and different sorts of feet, and all sorts of useful and relevant information. The problem is, this book is not organized at all, and the explanations are all given in the forms of the poems themselves, which is very clever but makes it hard to understand. It's hard to know what parts of a specific poem are real rules and which are arbitrary. I found it frustrating when I was looking for something in particular because everything is difficult to find and in seemingly random order.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read _Rhyme's Reason_ as one delights
In proper forms the poet writes.
With this attention getter
(A rondeau would be better)
I recommend this handy guide.

John Hollander, by way of me,
An humble critic, as you can see,
Makes sense of verse terrifically.
Read _Rhyme's Reason_.

My third edition brings my applause!
A good deal of poetic laws.
Find more familiar poetry
In history and society.
Shop wisely - heed the ooh's and ah's.
Read _Rhyme's Reason_.

[Frankie DeGiorgio]

Excellent, clever, and informative little book that will hopefully prepare me well for my John Donne senior seminar.

[Jenifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I discovered this book through a song by the Eagles, “No More Walks in the Wood” — which may seem odd to some. After listening to their album _Long Road Out of Eden_, I was very taken with this particular song. Notes about the song stated that in this song, the Eagles had put to music a poem by John Hollander, “An Old Fashioned Song”.

Looking for more information about Mr. Hollander, I learned (among other things) that he had been Sterling Professor of English at Yale, and Poet Laureate of Connecticut.

An English/American Studies major in college, there was much I felt I still did not know about poetry. I was therefore delighted to discover this little gem. John Hollander offers a useful overview of verse as written in the English language. Happily, he provides examples of each type discussed — many of them written by himself.

Even if poetry is not your ‘thing’, I highly recommend this book for its clarity, ease of reading and, in many cases, its playfulness.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clever little book with lots to like. I particular loved J.D. McClatchy's forward in the fourth edition, chock full of wisdom: "Writing poetry requires a predisposition--a temperament that can define joys and sorrows, that wants to set things in order, that wants to make loss into abundance."

Sort of unfair to judge Hollander's book by McClatchy's writing, though I think they share the same spirit. The book was valuable to me for clearly defining the distinction between verse and poetry, between scheme and trope. I also love his spoof of the contemporary poem:

the strip the lines
make as they run
down the page (the
familiar strip with the
jagged
right-hand edge)

This seems contemptuous, but it's more loving than that. "Major poetry has been built in this form," Hollander says, "even as Tennyson could employ the same rhyming schemes as writers of occasional verse for family parties."

The beginning is probably better than the end. It somehow starts to feel too compendious, even for a book of its size. I get particularly bugged by books on English poetry that spend too much time on quantitative verse, which is completely impracticable in English, as the book acknowledges but then takes the trouble to demonstrate and lay out the history of its English approximations. Can't some things be left out, or skimmed over?

Anyway, the book's gimmick is performing the verse forms it defines, which is really fun. I'm often delighted by the technique and humor of these performances:

Verse called skeltonic
Is not cacophonic;
Jiggly and jumpy,
Loose, somewhat lumpy,
Pleasing or prating,
Graceful or grating,
It's always elating.

[Paula · Rating 4 out of 5]

I decided to reread this now that I've had the chance to write many of the kinds of poems that are portrayed in this book.

What makes it ingenious is the same thing that, at times, can make it tedious to read. Holllander uses poems that he created to show what the effects of the sounds of meter and rhyme will do to the poems in which they are used. These examples are incredibly helpful to those who are unfamiliar with traditional poetic meters, but I wouldn't say this is a book for the novice poet. On the contrary, the whole point is that small matters within the poems themselves are what can make them successful or not, and I'd wager that such particulars (which, in effect, can alter pacing, mood, and interpretation) are not the first issues that new poets are concerned with.

Hollander also gives examples from other poets at the end of the book (this is in my copy, which is only the second edition; I believe at least two more editions have been released) who have written well-known sestinas, ghazals, rondels, and other forms of formal verse. Since the aim of the book is instructional, it probably should be saved for those who actually want to try writing such poems. Otherwise, free and accessible means of reading about these kinds of poems can be found online for the non-specialist.

[Leif · Rating 4 out of 5]

Putting practice into action, Hollander teaches in verse and across forms. It's not always effective and becomes grating at times, to be honest, but as a reading experience it also has its moments of cleverness and joy. Describing the Malay pantum, precursor to the French pantoum, for instance, Hollander gives us a little gem which, he slyly introduces, "might be entitled 'Catamaran':

Pantuns in the original Malay
Are quatrains of two thoughts, but of one mind.
Athwart my two pontoons I sail away,
While touching neither; land lies far behind.

And, really, if that's not one of the driest little smiles, and cute too, I don't know what is.

All told Hollander's erudition alone makes this worth reading. Props for the obsessive and meticulous poetry, certainly (remembering Lyn Hejinian: "we are not forgetting the patience of the mad, their love of detail," it might take someone as mad as this to be the perfect guide to the meticulous details of verse forms). However, if you're looking for a more explicit guide to poetics you may want to look elsewhere.

[Mark Nenadov · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really unique little book. The author uses verse to teach about various forms of verse. So, instead of writing paragraphs upon paragraphs of explanation about accentual-syllabic verse, quatrains, iambic pentameter, etc, he tends to demonstrate it. He writes about verse in verse.

For example:

"Haiku, with seven
Syllables in between two
Shorter lines of five,"

Another example:

"Cinquains
Have lines of four
Syllable, six, and eight
Ending, as starting, with a line
Of two,"

And another example:

"A true Spenserian stanza wakes up well
With what will seem a quatrain first; in time
The third line rings its 'a' rhyme like a bell
The fourth, it's 'b; resounding like a dime..."

Some of the content of the book is "above my head" in terms of its technical detail about verse. And I'm not sure whether I'll really remember the hardest parts. However, John Hollander has done a fantastic job in making such difficult content digestible. I think anyone who is giving a serious try at studying or writing poetry should read this book

[Richard Jespers · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is a nice, concise version of what I learned about particular rhetorical devices. Hollander does an admirable job of giving examples that also explain a particular patterns.

[Randy Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a deceptively useful book. I thought it would describe lots of the different types of poems and poetic tools but it is even better than that, its examples of different types of poems with the author writing about the type of poem in poetic form.

We learn about villanelles, rondeaus, sestinas and even blues and ballads this way. The appendix should be integrated into the book because it provides so many great examples of other poets writing in these forms, showing even more types and techniques available to the newly excited reader like me.

After reading 'Rhymes Reason' without even trying I now feel better able to read a poem. But that's not the best part because that would be the increasing joy I'm getting ready poetry.

[Matthew Koslowski · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found the main part of this book difficult to follow because of its lack of text features. The discussions of different metrical patterns flowed into each other, signaled only by an italicized word to indicate the transition. I'm so used to books with headings and spacing between sections that I was several transitions in before I noticed the pattern.

The section called "Patterns in Practice" at the back of the book was the most helpful. There, laid out with headings and spacing, were examples from published poems of the concepts expressed in the body of the text. This included page references to the discussion in the body of the main essay should one care to look back.

[Becca Mucheru · Rating 2 out of 5]

While this was informative, I give it completely interesting. After finishing the first half, I became sick of the poetic demonstrations of different styles. Some of the examples took up multiple pages and did not tell us much about the structure of poems opting instead to show us. At times, it might've been more effective to just give brief explanations of poetic structure and us differences from similar styles. I lost interest in the examples very quickly and their frequency made reading this a drag.

[John Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most people don't read much poetry, and very few take the time to understand and appreciate poetic forms. That no doubt is true even for serious readers such as most Goodreads users. This short book provides a good introduction to the subject, written mostly in the poetic forms being described, thereby providing ready-made examples, and with further examples at the end. It's too short to cover the subject exhaustively, but is a worthwhile introduction.

[Sue]

Enormously entertaining – an extended essay on the various elements of poetry, all illustrated in a "meta" way. For example, to describe various classical rhythm patterns (iambic pentameter, &c.) the author writes about them in that rhythm. When he gets to verse forms, same idea – for example, he writes a villanelle about villanelles. And so on. He also bring in numerous examples of this kind of thing from classical poets.

[Swell Versed · Rating 4 out of 5]

I understand why this book is considered to be classic teaching tool on this subject. John Hollander does not only cover a lot of ground in terms of poetic technique and form. He also managed to cover these details through written verses (rather than prose explanations), which showcase his exceptional skill as a poet and as a teacher. I did not find it to be an easy read, but it is definitely a worthwhile one.

[Facundo Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A run-on sentence —enjambment— going through the wide array of poetic forms and resources picked up by the English language, this book is at once a manual, and encyclopedia and an entertaining history of literature. The appendix contains additional examples of self-describing forms and there's another section at the end with more poems and verses.

[Jared Bennett · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this book won't give a technical, theoretical, and exhaustive look at the formal aspects of English verse, Hollander do a good job of showing you by example the flavors of verse forms a poet can choose from. He then leaves it up to you to dive deeper into the forms that interest you most

[Timothy Lumsdaine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very educational and remarkably entertaining. Hollander is actually quite a gifted poet, though in much more of a technical way, like the plays of Shakespeare, than anything else. I guess you can’t ask for everything

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s my own fault because I have a terrible difficulty reading inset verse and that’s what all the examples are here.

But also, from these examples you’d think the only female poets on earth were Dickinson and Mary Sidney

[Tony Barrera · Rating 3 out of 5]

A strange, but still useful showcase of various poetic forms and techniques.

[Connor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Charmingly, explains verse forms using verse form.

[Alessandro · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you don't like this little book you must be a really really sad person.
I know, sometimes it may be a little strange, too meta, but the way Hollander writes is so engaging - and rich of humour, don't forget that - that it will surely and wholly catch your attention. Rhyme's Reason is one of the very few books I have read with great attention, and every time I had to go back and check structure/language/metrics/etc. I was always entertained.
It's a fun book which happens to be a strong source of insight, and if that's not enough for ye...you're a really really sad person.

[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding. Brings knowledge with a light touch. Many examples of common (and less so) verse forms.

[mwr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bah! Now if someone asks me what my favorite book of verse is, I don't know if I should say Pegasus Descending or this.

[Stefanos Spyridon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ingenious writing. Confusing at times.

[Caden Elliott]

Quite a good text to have on hand for reference, well written and accessible as well as a ton of examples for proper familiarization with different poetic forms.

[Ashley Stangl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun, and I like that it takes a playful stance toward poetry, but illustrating every concept through over-clever verses isn't all that helpful

[Lillzebub · Rating 4 out of 5]

Altogether helpful, informative, and a treat to flip through. Holland teaches form in form, which at times lacks some clarity, but generally is both sufficient and entertaining. Very portable.

[Rory]

Holidays are for picking up the assigned reading you never got around to 13 years ago, right? Anyway this is pretty clever I guess.

[Luke · Rating 3 out of 5]

It works. It is a reference book for poetry, it is, as John Hollander explicitly states, a manual. It contains within it the examples and the poetry to go with it - whether that be patterns in practice which demonstrates it with poems from the greats, or the actual book itself, which explains the terms.

However, if you are a beginner, honestly, this'll help but it's not the whole deal. It expects you to know the basics. If you don't, you won't know a thing. Another thing that particularly bothered me - ironically, I suppose - is his use of poetry to explain the terms. It is all well and good explaining it and then doing the poem. But Hollander decides to use poems to describe multiple things in one go. I prefer to learn not through direct example but by seeing theory and then seeing application. This skips theory and goes straight to application. But ultimately, it works. Do I know more than what I did? Yes. Am I better for it? Sort of, yes. Will it help me in reading poetry? That remains to be seen. But if I use it as a reference book, then yes, it will. Reading it cover to cover won't help. There's a lot to digest.

In short, it works.