The Complete Idiot's Guide to Writing Poetry

One of the most important things about this book was that it really helped me put a rudder in the water when it comes to poetry. I've always written here and there but my poems always sounded like greeting cards. The exercises and poems in this book have really helped me grow and to feel like I'm finally starting to write poems that sound like they could only come from me.

I have never picked up a more helpful book. This book helps you get started, ensights your thought process, but more than that it offers helpful hints and more references. I found web sites, writting groups, as well as hepful tips that are easy to understand. Every chapter is writen in plan, every day english that anyone would be able to understand.

This book is great for beginners and those with a knowledge poetry alike. I wrote a lot of poetry when I was in college because I had a lot of free time, but once I entered the work force I became blocked and couldn't write with so little time. This book helped me look at writing poetry in a new way that facilitates the process and allows me to finish poems in days rather than weeks. I really recommend this book to anyone that wants to be considered a poet.

On page 261, there is a quote from the poet, Sylvia Plath: "nothing stinks like a pile of unpublished writing." This friendly introduction to writing poetry has everything--forms, writing and revision exercises, workshop and formal classroom advice, and some very humorous and helpful quotations from those who have been through the process. One's writing might still "stink," but this guide gives the novice poet a chance to give thought, coherence, and polish to those random scribblings.I'm a retired public acquisitions librarian who started writing poems in his forties. I could have avoided spending a lot of money and saved a lot of room on my shelves had this book been available sooner. Just a cursory look shows that it accomplishes more in less space than anything else I have on my shelves, and I'm talking well over 30 volumes on how to write poems. The explanations are crystal clear and the advice is right on target.There are some wonderful textbooks such as Mary Kinzie's, "A Poet's Guide to Poetry" and Wallace & Boisseau's, "Writing Poems," but this book is perfect for the person who has no access or wants no access to formal classes or just wants to get his/her feet wet. A competitor to the "Idiot's" series has a look-a-like volume, "Poetry for Dummies," but that volume is more of an all-inclusive reference work with a major portion devoted to the history of and facts about poetry--nevertheless also a good introductory volume.For the aspiring poet with little or no exposure to poetry writing, this has to be the first choice.

This book completely demystifies the process of writing poetry. It shows how to write, what to aim for, gives some real, concrete guidelines for starting, yet doesn't encourage your poetry to be formulaic. The author so enjoys reading and writing poems that she reminds the reader what we love about them too. Title is a misnomer, though: this book is not for "complete idiots" at all; it is for anyone enthusiastic about the craft.