Book description
Drawing on his extensive experience of poetry workshops and
courses, Peter Sansom shows you not how to write but how to write
better, how to write authentically, how to say genuinely what you
genuinely mean to say. This practical guide is illustrated with many
examples. Peter Sansom covers such areas as submitting to magazines;
the small presses; analysing poems; writing techniques and
procedures;
and drafting. He includes brief resumes and
discussions of literary history and literary fashions, the spirit of
the age, and the creative process itself. Above all, his book helps
you learn discrimination in your reading and writing -- so that you
can decide for yourself how you want your work to develop, whether
that magazine was right in returning it or if they simply don't know
their poetic arse from their elbow.
"Writing Poems" includes sections on:
• Metre,
rhyme, half-rhyme and free verse.
• Fixed forms and how to use
them.
• Workshops and writing groups.
• Writing games and
exercises.
• A detailed, annotated reading list.
• Where to
go from here.
• Glossary of technical terms.
"Writing Poems" has become an essential handbook for
many poets and teachers: invaluable to writers just starting out,
helpful to poets who need a nuts-and-bolts handbook, a godsend to
anyone running poetry courses and workshops, and an inspiration to all
readers and writers who want a book which re-examines the writing of poems.
