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Poems, Poets, Poetry: An Introduction and Anthology
Written by a preeminent critic and legendary teacher, this text and anthology presents the incisive, practical methods of reading and writing that Helen Vendler has used for decades to demystify poetry for her students and introduce them to its artistry and pleasures.
656 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1996
47 people are currently reading
620 people want to read
About the author
Helen Vendler
71 books86 followersHelen Vendler is the A. Kingsley Porter University Professor at Harvard University, where she received her PhD in English and American Literature in 1960. Before joining the Harvard faculty, Vendler taught at Cornell, Swarthmore, Haverford, Smith, and Boston University.
Vendler has written books on Yeats, Herbert, Keats, Stevens, Shakespeare, Whitman, and Heaney, and, most recently, Our Secret Discipline: Yeats and Lyric Form (2007), Last Looks, Last Books: Stevens, Plath, Lowell, Bishop, Merrill (2010); Dickinson: Selected Poems and Commentaries’ (2010); and The Ocean, the Bird, and the Scholar: Essays on Poets and Poetry (2015). She also reviews contemporary poetry for the New Republic, London Review of Books, and other journals. She has held fellowships from, among others, the John S. Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, Woodrow Wilson Center, and National Endowment for the Humanities, and is a member of the American Philosophical Society, American Academy of Arts and Letters, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Swedish Academy of Arts and Sciences, and Modern Language Association, of which she was president in 1980.
Vendler has written books on Yeats, Herbert, Keats, Stevens, Shakespeare, Whitman, and Heaney, and, most recently, Our Secret Discipline: Yeats and Lyric Form (2007), Last Looks, Last Books: Stevens, Plath, Lowell, Bishop, Merrill (2010); Dickinson: Selected Poems and Commentaries’ (2010); and The Ocean, the Bird, and the Scholar: Essays on Poets and Poetry (2015). She also reviews contemporary poetry for the New Republic, London Review of Books, and other journals. She has held fellowships from, among others, the John S. Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, Woodrow Wilson Center, and National Endowment for the Humanities, and is a member of the American Philosophical Society, American Academy of Arts and Letters, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Swedish Academy of Arts and Sciences, and Modern Language Association, of which she was president in 1980.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews
November 16, 2017
Vendler’s introduction is intended for novices; but her sagacious and analytic approach manages to achieve accessibility without forfeiting depth. Each chapter explains a particular way of looking at a poem—whether as an arranged life, or as an exploration of language, and so on. And then, after you're armed with a toolbox of interpretive techniques, Vendler pits you against a truly marvelous selection of poems.
For anyone who is literary-minded, but whose knowledge of poetry is lacking, this introduction will be indispensable.
For anyone who is literary-minded, but whose knowledge of poetry is lacking, this introduction will be indispensable.
January 12, 2013
“Reality is a cliche from which we escape by metaphor.” It didn't take me long while reading Helen Vendler's introduction to poetry to remember this quote from Wallace Stevens, as so much of the best poetry deals with the flouting of conventions and the subverting of cliches. Perhaps the formulaic thinking of greeting cards is necessary at times, but what seems to me even more necessary and fascinating are the new metaphors created and explored by poetry. (There's no way any baby-related greeting cards could top William Blake's "Infant Sorrow.") Poetry can deny the quotidian activities and occurrences of life that seem to cycle through interminably while at the same time, provide an escape through a multitude of options that is limited only by the poet's imagination.
As Vendler makes clear, these options don't necessarily involve overthrowing traditional aspects of living. They could also include variations of literary themes or formats or choosing to characterize a moment of life differently. Since art is an arrangement of life, poets have an unlimited range as to how they piece together and present that moment they have pulled from its temporal progress. They can stick to one tone or image or present the progression of a series of tones or images. They can use a well-worn rhythmic pattern ironically or slightly altered to fit a different topic. They can vary verb tenses, agencies, or grammatical structures. They can select a wide array of spacial or temporal arrangements for the setting.
And, Vendler does a great job breaking down all of these intricacies that poets have available. She not only explains them one at a time, but she circles back to hit on similar techniques several times throughout the book using different poems. This may sound repetitive, but she explains the technique differently each time; so, if it didn't quite make sense the first time (or even if it did), then it makes a little more sense the next time. She instills in readers the most important questions they should be asking and makes it clear that they should be asking every question they can come up with, including why certain things are excluded.
The book covers a broad range of topics outside of what I've already mentioned as well. It explains how poems arise from either private events (birthdays, deaths) or public events (war, ceremonies). It apprises readers how the narrator can be partially based on the poet or entirely fictionalized and how much of that narrator's past can be shown in limited amounts of space. It shows how well poetry can be tied to social movements or ethnic characteristics or confront moral dilemmas. On top of all this, it contains an impressive anthology of poetry that will leave plenty to read and analyze for a long time to come.
As Vendler makes clear, these options don't necessarily involve overthrowing traditional aspects of living. They could also include variations of literary themes or formats or choosing to characterize a moment of life differently. Since art is an arrangement of life, poets have an unlimited range as to how they piece together and present that moment they have pulled from its temporal progress. They can stick to one tone or image or present the progression of a series of tones or images. They can use a well-worn rhythmic pattern ironically or slightly altered to fit a different topic. They can vary verb tenses, agencies, or grammatical structures. They can select a wide array of spacial or temporal arrangements for the setting.
And, Vendler does a great job breaking down all of these intricacies that poets have available. She not only explains them one at a time, but she circles back to hit on similar techniques several times throughout the book using different poems. This may sound repetitive, but she explains the technique differently each time; so, if it didn't quite make sense the first time (or even if it did), then it makes a little more sense the next time. She instills in readers the most important questions they should be asking and makes it clear that they should be asking every question they can come up with, including why certain things are excluded.
The book covers a broad range of topics outside of what I've already mentioned as well. It explains how poems arise from either private events (birthdays, deaths) or public events (war, ceremonies). It apprises readers how the narrator can be partially based on the poet or entirely fictionalized and how much of that narrator's past can be shown in limited amounts of space. It shows how well poetry can be tied to social movements or ethnic characteristics or confront moral dilemmas. On top of all this, it contains an impressive anthology of poetry that will leave plenty to read and analyze for a long time to come.
February 25, 2020
Helen Vendler is a longtime literary critic, writer, and professor of poetry. This very voluminous book is part of the introductory to poetry class she teaches at Harvard. It is an excellent and straightforward and wide-casting look at poetry. The book solely concentrates on the poems themselves. You don’t need to know the background or historical period of a particular poet. All you need is the poem on the page accompanied by Professor Vendler illuminating narratives on the poem. A book for someone starting out with poetry, but very much helpful for those familiar with poetry but wishing to take a deeper look and have a clearer understanding of what poems do.
October 26, 2007
This is, by far, the best textbook on the subject that I've seen. And it's not just for undergrads; I still haven't fully absorbed all her insights. But the book still gets only four stars, because Vendler doesn't say much about the intuitive and emotional aspect of poetry. Granted, that might be hard to speak of in a textbook, but it's still necessary to try. Poetry isn't just about words; there is something else present, and without that something else there is no poetry.
November 6, 2010
i feel that this textbook is a guide on how to completely and totally destroy and annihilate of a work of poetry. it turns the analysis of poetry into a science and takes interpretation way too far, thus unravelling everything to poem originally stood for and making it into some sort of mathematical equation. i'm temporarily scarred--it will take me a little bit to like poetry again. >:[
on the other hand, it has a good anthology in the back so that's how it got it's second star.
on the other hand, it has a good anthology in the back so that's how it got it's second star.
March 29, 2009
A very good introduction to poetry. Gives readers the basic tools and frame of reference needed to begin understanding and developing their own interpretations of poetry in general. I read this in a class as a college freshman, and it was through that class that I truly developed my appreciation for poetry--and this book was definitely part of the process.
August 25, 2008
This is an intelligent and detailed look at how to understand and talk about poetry, with lots of solid suggestions for making poetry less formidable. I came to new insights about familiar poems and feel better prepared to talk about poetry with my students. Highly recommended for teachers.
March 27, 2010
Assigned for an Intro to Writing Poetry course in college. We didn't use it much, and I haven't felt compelled to go back to it since.
November 3, 2015
Using this for my ENLT class this semester. And more intro to poetry classes.
May 16, 2012
Just can't stand the rules that go along with poetry, and this anthology is chalk full of rules. Arhjgdhfgjsdf.
March 27, 2025
Puisi-puisi yang disertakan dalam buku ini asli dari bahasa Inggris sebab tidak mudah menerjemahkan yang dari bahasa asing. Seakan-akan penerjemahan puisi itu sakral sebab pilihan kata sangat penting, dan kalau sudah lewat penerjemah, mungkin tidak setepat yang dikehendaki atau dimaksudkan oleh pengarangnya. Puisi-puisi itu pun mencakup rentang yang panjang, mulai dari sebelum abad pertengahan yang nama pengarangnya sudah tidak lagi diketahui dan ejaannya lain dari yang sekarang, hingga karya pengarang kiwari yang masih hidup.
Sebenarnya buku tebal (hampir 600 halaman) ini memberikan sangat banyak petunjuk untuk memahami puisi. Tapi, mungkin karena dasarnya saya masih kurang meminati, maka konsentrasi tercurah hanya di awal dan selebihnya asal membaca saja tanpa berusaha mencerna lagi (^_^);
Beberapa petunjuk itu ada yang kurang lebih persis dengan yang disampaikan dalam buku Bimbingan Apresiasi Puisi S. Effendi. Di antaranya yaitu soal memahami arti setiap kata dalam puisi, baik yang denotatif maupun konotatif. Dalam buku ini, contohnya dalam puisi Louise Glück, "The School Children", ada kata "apple" dan "ammunition", dan mengaitkan kedua kata itu menurut konteksnya dapat mengembangkan pemaknaan.
Lebih dari itu, pergelutan dengan puisi sesungguhnya menyangkut penguasaan bahasa. Di samping perbendaharaan kata, tata bahasa dapat menjadi petunjuk untuk menangkap makna. Contohnya dalam puisi Robert Hayden, "Those Winter Sundays", di buku ini ditelaah bentuk-bentuk tense yang digunakan untuk menunjukkan cinta dan pengorbanan seorang ayah.
Selain vocabulary dan grammar, wawasan tambahan juga diperlukan. Contohnya dalam puisi E. E. Cummings, "in Just-", terdapat referensi ke dewa Yunani berkaki kambing; kalau tidak tahu mitologi Yunani, tidak akan terpikir mengaitkan ke sana untuk memahami maksud puisi.
Petunjuk lain yang juga ada di buku S. Effendi adalah pembagian puisi menjadi puisi abstrak dan puisi konkret (atau indrawi). Di buku ini ada pula pembagian menurut ranah yang dicakup puisi, yaitu privat life dan public life. Private life adalah mengenai persoalan pribadi (atau istilah yang ada di karangan Pak Ajip Rosidi: "psikologi perseorangan") sedangkan public life isu yang lebih luas.
Tapi, kalau di buku S. Effendi diajarkan untuk memparafrasakan puisi, buku ini justru mengatakan "is necessary, but less useful in poetry than in prose" (pg. 178/577). Sepertinya ini karena memparafrasakan setiap puisi itu tentu tidak praktis. Toh banyak juga puisi yang mudah ditangkap tanpa harus diparafrasakan. Barangkali parafrasa berguna hanya pada awal belajar membaca puisi, terutama yang memang rumit, dan bersama-sama oleh guru di kelas.
Buku ini sampai mencakup soal bebunyian dalam puisi. Soal ini lebih banyak diterangkan di buku Teori dan Apresiasi Puisi Herman J. Waluyo. Saat membaca buku yang belakangan itu pun saya sudah kebingungan (^_^); Paling-paling, adakalanya saya menemukan puisi yang enak dibaca walaupun hanya dalam hati, menyerupai rap.
Kesimpulannya, puisi masih menjadi ranah yang kurang saya minati. Mau itu buku yang seluruh isinya puisi tok, ataupun yang disertai penjelasan, sama-sama belum tentu mudah dimengerti, jangankan disukai. Saya masih menganggap puisi sebagaimana cerita atau sketsa, potret dari suatu momen.
Bagaimanapun, ini masih awal dari perjalanan membiasakan diri dengan puisi, selama saya masih hendak menggauli kata-kata. Sebab, ternyata pemahaman puisi masih bagian dari penguasaan bahasa. Tandanya menguasai adalah adanya kemampuan untuk mengenali permainan, bahkan turut memainkan, dan itu satu hal yang bikin entahkah membaca atau menulis jadi kegiatan mengasyikkan.
Puisi pilihan:
"The Plain Sense of Things" - Wallace Stevens
"Heritage" -Countee Cullen
"Otherwise" - Jane Kenyon
"This Be the Verse" - Philip Larkin
Sebenarnya buku tebal (hampir 600 halaman) ini memberikan sangat banyak petunjuk untuk memahami puisi. Tapi, mungkin karena dasarnya saya masih kurang meminati, maka konsentrasi tercurah hanya di awal dan selebihnya asal membaca saja tanpa berusaha mencerna lagi (^_^);
Beberapa petunjuk itu ada yang kurang lebih persis dengan yang disampaikan dalam buku Bimbingan Apresiasi Puisi S. Effendi. Di antaranya yaitu soal memahami arti setiap kata dalam puisi, baik yang denotatif maupun konotatif. Dalam buku ini, contohnya dalam puisi Louise Glück, "The School Children", ada kata "apple" dan "ammunition", dan mengaitkan kedua kata itu menurut konteksnya dapat mengembangkan pemaknaan.
Lebih dari itu, pergelutan dengan puisi sesungguhnya menyangkut penguasaan bahasa. Di samping perbendaharaan kata, tata bahasa dapat menjadi petunjuk untuk menangkap makna. Contohnya dalam puisi Robert Hayden, "Those Winter Sundays", di buku ini ditelaah bentuk-bentuk tense yang digunakan untuk menunjukkan cinta dan pengorbanan seorang ayah.
Selain vocabulary dan grammar, wawasan tambahan juga diperlukan. Contohnya dalam puisi E. E. Cummings, "in Just-", terdapat referensi ke dewa Yunani berkaki kambing; kalau tidak tahu mitologi Yunani, tidak akan terpikir mengaitkan ke sana untuk memahami maksud puisi.
Petunjuk lain yang juga ada di buku S. Effendi adalah pembagian puisi menjadi puisi abstrak dan puisi konkret (atau indrawi). Di buku ini ada pula pembagian menurut ranah yang dicakup puisi, yaitu privat life dan public life. Private life adalah mengenai persoalan pribadi (atau istilah yang ada di karangan Pak Ajip Rosidi: "psikologi perseorangan") sedangkan public life isu yang lebih luas.
Tapi, kalau di buku S. Effendi diajarkan untuk memparafrasakan puisi, buku ini justru mengatakan "is necessary, but less useful in poetry than in prose" (pg. 178/577). Sepertinya ini karena memparafrasakan setiap puisi itu tentu tidak praktis. Toh banyak juga puisi yang mudah ditangkap tanpa harus diparafrasakan. Barangkali parafrasa berguna hanya pada awal belajar membaca puisi, terutama yang memang rumit, dan bersama-sama oleh guru di kelas.
Buku ini sampai mencakup soal bebunyian dalam puisi. Soal ini lebih banyak diterangkan di buku Teori dan Apresiasi Puisi Herman J. Waluyo. Saat membaca buku yang belakangan itu pun saya sudah kebingungan (^_^); Paling-paling, adakalanya saya menemukan puisi yang enak dibaca walaupun hanya dalam hati, menyerupai rap.
Kesimpulannya, puisi masih menjadi ranah yang kurang saya minati. Mau itu buku yang seluruh isinya puisi tok, ataupun yang disertai penjelasan, sama-sama belum tentu mudah dimengerti, jangankan disukai. Saya masih menganggap puisi sebagaimana cerita atau sketsa, potret dari suatu momen.
Bagaimanapun, ini masih awal dari perjalanan membiasakan diri dengan puisi, selama saya masih hendak menggauli kata-kata. Sebab, ternyata pemahaman puisi masih bagian dari penguasaan bahasa. Tandanya menguasai adalah adanya kemampuan untuk mengenali permainan, bahkan turut memainkan, dan itu satu hal yang bikin entahkah membaca atau menulis jadi kegiatan mengasyikkan.
"The play of language is the chief cause for the aesthetic success of any poem. Without play at many levels of language, from phonemes to logical structures, a poem is merely prose with line breaks added." (pg. 215/577)
Puisi pilihan:
"The Plain Sense of Things" - Wallace Stevens
"Heritage" -Countee Cullen
"Otherwise" - Jane Kenyon
"This Be the Verse" - Philip Larkin
October 22, 2023
Every Monday I have been meeting with a group of learned adults at a local library to discuss the classic poems and poets housed within this anthology. Helen Vendler has selected an array of poems here, some I read as a student in high school or college, some I taught to my own high school students, some I have previously read on my own, and some in this group for the first time.
The discussion of the poems presented in this anthology has brought a spark back to my heart, one I didn't even know was missing. I find myself looking forward to each Monday gathering to read aloud these poems to each other, discuss what we feel, or think, or wonder about. To share how we can connect to the poems or how the poems connect to other poems or writing we've read.
Helen Vendler's Poems, Poets, Poetry will always be special to me now because it reconnected me to poetry in a way I had recently lost.
The discussion of the poems presented in this anthology has brought a spark back to my heart, one I didn't even know was missing. I find myself looking forward to each Monday gathering to read aloud these poems to each other, discuss what we feel, or think, or wonder about. To share how we can connect to the poems or how the poems connect to other poems or writing we've read.
Helen Vendler's Poems, Poets, Poetry will always be special to me now because it reconnected me to poetry in a way I had recently lost.
November 16, 2017
Though I have only read the first four chapters (and that is probably the most I will read unless Mr. Zeoli assigns more) I appreciate Vendler's wisdom and insight on Poetry. Her dedication and passion towards her craft is demonstrated through something Mr. Zeoli said in class one day when we were discussing Vendler (and his literary crush on her): She memorized all of Shakespeare's sonnets (of which there are 154. 126 are addressed to a young man, and the other 28 towards a woman).
To be cont..
To be cont..
August 21, 2021
I did finish this eventually! Overall, an interesting textbook. Good variety and choice of poems to study, although not every analysis was equal; some were way too scholarly for a novice (or, reader of poetry who has no interest in scholarly analysis--i.e., many of us). I learned a lot about the scholarly and literary side of poetic discourse, though, and for that I am grateful. It is why I read the book, after all. (Not just for all the wonderful cummings and William Carlos Williams pieces!)
November 30, 2021
This was used as a textbook for my English class. I'd say that the first half is the most useful for helping you learn to read poetry. And it has an amazing collection of poems inside. The text can be repetitive and stretched out though, I would suggest finding tips on reading poetry online perhaps.
September 6, 2018
I have yet to go through the anthology at the end of the book, but the first part is excellent. It isn't hard to see why Vender is widely considered one of the most important critics of her generation.
March 5, 2019
Some of the sections are overly simplistic, others are really rewarding. The selection of poems is great, and provided me with a bunch of poets to check out. Overall this was a good intro and helpful, but a little bit lower level than I would have liked.
November 21, 2025
Really great book explaining some of the aspects of poetry for the first quarter of the book, with example. The rest of the book has quite a good anthology at the back part of the book with no commentary so you can read a wide selection.
December 31, 2017
A better than average intro to poetry textbook.
March 18, 2018
Poetry is hit and miss for me, but this book has a wide selection.
October 25, 2020
The text is excellent, 5 stars. I didn't care for the anthology.
April 10, 2021
Perfect anthology to build up a poetry unit. I loved the analysis points and instructional guides to understand poetry better. I still like Mary Oliver’s better, however!
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May 17, 2022Read this for my poetry class this semester. It was a good read and I felt like it had a lot of good commentary on the poems included. Definitely was a helpful book
August 20, 2023
Great insights sprinkled through educational content and followed by an anthology where Helen Vendler shares plenty of her favorite poems in a non-linear order.
August 6, 2012
Helen Vendler makes poetry comprehendible and enjoyable. First of all, she covers all the major structural terminology, which is convenient. On top of that, she provides useful strategies for breaking down and examining poems. Yes, it's a style of New Criticism and thereby likely to be criticized for destroying the ‘aura’ of the poem, or something. Personally, however, I enjoy the approach of examining why/how a piece of work makes you feel a certain way; an understanding of the relation between a work's form and content heightens my sense of appreciation. Recommended to anyone who has wanted to give poetry a try but doesn’t know how to begin.
I had read a couple chapters of this for class this past fall, and so I finished up what hadn't been assigned in the main portion (though not the writing about poetry section) as well as the useful appendices. I haven't finished going through the anthology section yet, but I've finished Vendler's text proper.
I had read a couple chapters of this for class this past fall, and so I finished up what hadn't been assigned in the main portion (though not the writing about poetry section) as well as the useful appendices. I haven't finished going through the anthology section yet, but I've finished Vendler's text proper.
April 3, 2014
Vendler's genius is in the way she talks about poetry and the way she works through poems. This is a fantastic book for anyone who wants to become a better reader of poetry.
If you want to engage in a deeper, more introspective and thoroughly insightful relationship with poetry, this is a great book. So many people resist poetry because they want it to be thoroughly available in one reading; working at learning how to interpret poetry is one of the most richly rewarding enterprises I can think of and this book is a superb "vade mecum".
I give it five stars for the way Vendler tries to open up a relationship with her readers; certainly I lamented the lack of many a great poem, but you cannot have everything.
If you want to engage in a deeper, more introspective and thoroughly insightful relationship with poetry, this is a great book. So many people resist poetry because they want it to be thoroughly available in one reading; working at learning how to interpret poetry is one of the most richly rewarding enterprises I can think of and this book is a superb "vade mecum".
I give it five stars for the way Vendler tries to open up a relationship with her readers; certainly I lamented the lack of many a great poem, but you cannot have everything.
June 27, 2013
I read this book with Helen Vendler during a NEH institute at Harvard in 2008. It would take a small book to review this textbook in a way that might pay it justice. Suffice it to say that Dr. Vendler, the "grande dame" of American poetry, suffuses each poem she treats with power and a grace that commands the reader to pay better attention to the poem, the poet, and the act of creation itself. Had we all the good fortune of learning to read poetry from Dr. Vendler, the place of poetry in our society--and perhaps literacy itself--would be in a far better state.
November 5, 2008
I think that this book would be helpful in any high school English class during a poetry unit. It provides information on various aspects of poetry and it also provides a large variety of poems. Each part is broken up into different sections, such as poetic kinds, narrative versus lyric, and content genres. It is a really long anthology, so I could only see certain sections being used during the unit.
December 15, 2012
Vendler does a great job of deconstructing poems. However, it should only be read for the purpose of practicing deconstructing different poems and poets. I personally skipped to the anthology in the back when my class was done, as it is a great anthology. Recommended for literary theory scholars and students, particularly those into comparing Old styles with more Modern styles. Only complaint: Only ONE poem by Edgar Allen Poe in the anthology!!!!
March 26, 2015
Probably the foremost authority in teaching poetry, Vendler's book is a must for those studying poetry. While poetry for most is a prose expression with revolving rhyme schemes, Vendler goes into expert detail on the craft of the genre and the many tools used by poets to master the art. If you are writing or thinking about writing poetry, do yourself a huge favor and read this book. It will change the way you understand the art.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews