National Poetry Month Recommendation: Two From Ed

Ed in Textbooks offers these suggestions:

The Prosody Handbook by Robert Beum and Karl Shapiro

"This is the book that changed how I read poetry. It is a clear, lively, and intelligent discussion of poetic technique and how technique affects the reader. Good to see it back in print."

Here's the opening to chapter 5, "The Line," that gives a little introductory information on...the mighty, marvelous LINE!

"Prose moves in units of sentences and paragraphs, poetry in LINES and line groups called STANZAS or sections. In prose, a sentence moves unbrokenly from margin ro margin down the page; no typographical break appears until the end of a paragraph. Poetry, on the other hand, shows regular breaks within its sentences. The first sentence of Paradise Lost is broken into sixteen lines, of ten syllables each. A singel line of verse that forms a complete sentence is rare."


A Book of Luminous Things: An International Anthology of Poetry by Czeslaw Milosz

"I love anthologies when I'm not sure what I want to read, or when I read, or when I need to branch out to find new voices. Milosz, a Nobel Laureate, drew together poems from many times and places in this collection, His comments on the poems were a pleasure to read, and gave me new insights into works I was already familiar with."

There's too much in this book to pull out a single favorite. Instead, I'll link to a site where you can listen to Milosz reading his work.

Thanks for the recommendation, Ed!