The Poetry Toolkit
For Readers and Writers

"The Poetry Toolkit is a splendid guide for anyone who wants to understand better how poetry works, how to read it more insightfully, and what is involved in writing it.
William Harmon draws on decades of experience both as a professor of literature with a special devotion to teaching poetry and as an accomplished poet who knows the practical side of writing poetry firsthand. From the opening pages onward, he establishes informal, direct, genial contact with his reader, who is equally entertained and instructed.
His wonderfully original Toolkit is a delight to read and the best guide to poetry for writers and readers that I know of."
—Frank J Kearful, University of Bonn, Germany

"In The Poetry Toolkit William Harmon uses a glossary of literary terms as a cruise ship to take the reader on a voyage of wonder, discovery, and recognition around the world of poetry. A poet himself, scholar, teacher, critic, he marshals his seemingly limitless erudition in discussions of refreshing clarity, with a relish for language, wry wit, modesty, a willingness to pause and look again, a willingness to be surprised. He is a peerless tour guide, with anecdotes you will never forget. And you will never think of poetry, or think of writing poetry, in quite the same way again."
—Robert Morgan, Cornell University

William Harmon (Author)

9781405195775, Wiley

Paperback / softback, published 20 February 2012

256 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.3 cm, 0.332 kg

"The Poetry Toolkit: For Readers And Writers by William Harmon, provides students with the essential intellectual and practical tools to read, understand and write poetry." (Writers Forum, 1 April 2011)

The Poetry Toolkit: For Readers and Writers provides students with the essential intellectual and practical tools necessary to read, understand, and write poetry.

• Explains the most important elements of poetry in clear language and an easily accessible manner
• Offers readers both the expertise of an established scholar and the insights of a practicing poet
• Draws on examples from more than 1,500 years of English literature

Preface vii

Subject Areas: Literature: history & criticism [DS]