How to tread confidently through the workings of rhyme and meter

08/26/2001

By TOM MAYO

POETRY

End-of-Summer Scenario 1: High school starts this month, and that means the beginning of pop quizzes that ask for examples of spondee in Poe's poetry or a short paragraph on the use of blood imagery in "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner."

Don't just sit there: Fight back! For considerably less than the price of a gallon of sunblock, you can pick up a study aid that is fun, reliable and cool – and there's even a choice: Poetry for Dummies (Hungry Minds, $19.99) by John Timpane with Maureen Watts or poet Nikki Moustaki's The Complete Idiot's Guide to Writing Poetry (Alpha Books, $16.95). These are both user-friendly tomes in the familiar black-and-yellow (Dummies) and orange-and-blue (Complete Idiots) covers whose breezy, irreverent style will get you through that poetry unit and leave a smile on your face.

Of the two, Complete Idiots looks to be the better choice, even if your goal is to appreciate poetry, not write it. Actually, both books include chapters that aim to increase readers' appreciation as well as the likelihood that writers will produce poems that will see the light of day in a journal or book. By focusing more consistently on the writer's perspective, however, Complete Idiots has more to say to the nonpoet reader.

Scenario 2

Go for a book about poetry that respects your intelligence and assumes you are reading poetry because you want to, not because it's on the final exam. You might first consider Mark Strand and Eavan Boland's estimable The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms (Norton, $15.95 paperback). This is an insightful and spirited trip through all the main poetical styles and devices. Each is introduced briefly, then considered historically and finally placed in its contemporary context. Where this book parts company from many other introductory texts is in its copious examples (it is a true anthology, stitched together with a thread of learned commentary) and first-rate discussions of individual poems. It is a perfect blend of instruction and illustration.

Alternatively, you could try Mary Oliver's diminutive but exemplary guides, A Poetry Handbook (Harvest Books, $13 paperback) and Rules for the Dance (Mariner Books, $13 paperback). The former is a quite successful overview of the field, while Rules for the Dance considers metrical verse in greater detail. Or, consider Robert Pinsky's equally concise but slightly more challenging and quirky introduction to poetry, The Sounds of Poetry: A Brief Guide (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $10 paperback). Mr. Pinsky, a saxophonist and former poet laureate, offers an absorbing account of poetry as an aural experience, an impassioned performance meant to be read straight through. Characteristically, Mr. Pinsky pulls it off.

In the end, though, your book club will thank you for the time you spend with Molly Peacock's How to Read a Poem . . . and Start a Poetry Circle (Riverhead Books, $12.95 paperback). In addition to suggestions for organizing a poetry discussion and for choosing poems to start with, she provides her own reading of 13 poems – just the sort of illustrated guide to reading poetry that will enrich your own approach.

Scenario 3

All the books already mentioned are great for a shot in the arm, but if I had to limit myself to a single instructional volume it might have to be Mary Kinzie's A Poet's Guide to Poetry (University of Chicago Press, $16.20 paperback). Its coverage is encyclopedic and its depths of insight and suggestion consistently reward rereading. It is a challenging, advanced text that requires translation into teachable bits, but it will never let you down.

Tom Mayo, an associate professor of law at Southern Methodist University, teaches "Law, Literature & Medicine" at the law school and at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School at Dallas.