The Book of Forms: A Handbook of Poetics

If you are an English teacher in high school or college, or if you have any interest in writing poetry, you should not be without this book or one of its earlier editions. There is simply nowhere else on earth to find the wealth of information that is here. No other book on poetic form even tries to cover as much information as Turco does. Some reviewers have complained that the book is hard to find information in, but I have had my edition for many years and have not found that to be the case. One reviewer complained about the quality of the original poems Turco uses to illustrate unusual forms (and did not pick up on the fact that Wesli Court is an anagram of Lewis Turco, so there are even more poems by Turco than it first appears), but keep in mind that those poems are there to illustrate the form, not to compete with Dryden or Swinburne. And they are VERY helpful--I would much rather have them there than not. An absolutely indispensible book.

While I prefer my first edition solely because of the layout, this second edition has several advantages. Where the first edition had short chapters on metrics, sonics and tropes, the second edition has more than doubled the material included and divided it into four levels - typographic, sonic, sensory and ideational.Then comes the glory of this book - the book of forms with a form finder and wonderfully clear definitions of the form. The language of origin of the form, the basis of its metrical scheme (syllablic, accentual etc), a description of the metric and rhyme schemes and a very clear notation illustrating the scheme are given. Variants are cross-referenced or included. This material is basically the same as in the first edition. However, this book includes sample poems based on the structure as well as references in the text (unlike the appended bibliography of the first edition) of other poems in the form.Anyone who is serious about poetry - either as a reader or a writer - should consider Turco's Book of Forms as an essential resource.

I've been thinking of buying a handbook of poetry for some time and decided that before I laid out any money I would survey the field at the public library. Having spent at least 10 to 12 hours in the past 3 months I conclude that this is the book to own. It's clearly and concisely written, it gives examples to illustrate the various forms and techniques (and references to further examples) and it is comprehensive. The only drawbacks are that it lacks a bibliography section where you can get a complete citation to the books and journals referred to in the text, and it lacks a comprehensive index.

I am an intermediate writer who has just begun the study of poetry in its various forms. This book was highly recommended to me by my mentor, who is a grad student in creative writing and a published poet who has won numerous awards for his poems. He said that it would answer all of my questions as to the many forms of poetry; and after receiving my own copy of this amazing book I can attest to the truth of that statement. I have not come across a more thorough book on poetic forms yet. I am thrilled to have my own copy now to learn from and enjoy!

The New book of forms is an excellent reference for poets. Not only does this book include hundreds of forms of poetry from many different cultures; it also give a lot of information on meter, rhyme, and voice. If you like writing poetry you'll love this book.