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Making Your Own Days: The Pleasures of Reading and Writing Poetry
From one of the most esteemed American poets of the twenty-first century comes a celebration of poetry and an invitation for anyone to experience its beauty and wonder.
Full of fresh and exciting insights, Making Your Own Days illuminates the somewhat mysterious subject of poetry for those who read it and for those who write it—as well as for those who would like to read and write it better. By treating poetry not as a special use of language but as a distinct language—unlike the one used in prose and conversation—Koch clarifies the nature of poetic inspiration, how poems are written and revised, and what happens to the heart and mind while reading a poem.
Koch also provides a rich anthology of more than ninety works from poets past and present. Lyric poems, excerpts from long poems and poetic plays, poems in English, and poems in translation from Homer and Sappho to Lorca, Snyder, and Ashbery; each selection is accompanied by an explanatory note designed to complement and clarify the text and to put pleasure back into the experience of poetry.
Full of fresh and exciting insights, Making Your Own Days illuminates the somewhat mysterious subject of poetry for those who read it and for those who write it—as well as for those who would like to read and write it better. By treating poetry not as a special use of language but as a distinct language—unlike the one used in prose and conversation—Koch clarifies the nature of poetic inspiration, how poems are written and revised, and what happens to the heart and mind while reading a poem.
Koch also provides a rich anthology of more than ninety works from poets past and present. Lyric poems, excerpts from long poems and poetic plays, poems in English, and poems in translation from Homer and Sappho to Lorca, Snyder, and Ashbery; each selection is accompanied by an explanatory note designed to complement and clarify the text and to put pleasure back into the experience of poetry.
320 pages, Paperback
Published April 8, 1999
24 people are currently reading
595 people want to read
About the author
Kenneth Koch
110 books88 followersKenneth Koch is most often recognized as one of the four most prominent poets of the 1950s-1960s poetic movement "the New York School of Poetry" along with Frank O'Hara, John Ashbery and James Schuyler. The New York School adopted the avant-garde movement in a style often called the "new" avant-garde, drawing on Abstract Expressionism, French surrealism and stream-of-consciousness writing in the attempt to create a fresh genre free from cliché. In his anthology The New York Poets, Mark Ford writes, "In their reaction against the serious, ironic, ostentatiously well-made lyric that dominated the post-war poetry scene, they turned to the work of an eclectic range of literary iconoclasts, eccentrics and experimenters."
Fiercely anti-academic and anti-establishment, Koch's attitude and aesthetic were dubbed by John Ashbery his "missionary zeal." Ford calls him "the New York School poet most ready to engage in polemic with the poetic establishment, and the one most determined to promote the work of himself and his friends to a wider audience." Koch died of leukemia at age 77, leaving a legacy of numerous anthologies of both short and long poems, avant-garde plays and short stories, in addition to nonfiction works dealing with aesthetics and teaching poetry to children and senior citizens.
Fiercely anti-academic and anti-establishment, Koch's attitude and aesthetic were dubbed by John Ashbery his "missionary zeal." Ford calls him "the New York School poet most ready to engage in polemic with the poetic establishment, and the one most determined to promote the work of himself and his friends to a wider audience." Koch died of leukemia at age 77, leaving a legacy of numerous anthologies of both short and long poems, avant-garde plays and short stories, in addition to nonfiction works dealing with aesthetics and teaching poetry to children and senior citizens.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
March 21, 2016
Kenneth Koch is one of my favorite poets. His poems are wild, funny, full of heart and mud. For me, he's the voice of the New York School par excellence. It's his writing which brought us Dean Young.
But this book has almost none of his fire or originality. Partially, the issue is that I was expecting something slightly different---this is a book for BEGINNING poets. I'm not saying that in a haughty way. I still have a ton of things highlighted, and I am ready to learn from anyone or anything. But Koch's intention here is to inspire/instruct new poets with and about the fundamental tools of the game. His sample poems almost all either Romantics or Shakespeare. They're great. But that's not why one reads Koch. With regard to "the basics" issue--certainly, I'm always up for learning some new technique or philosophy on line breaks for instance. But Koch focuses here on the FACT of line breaks...the purpose for them...the different types.
If, like me, you're interested in reading something a bit more advanced in terms of craft, I've found Kim Addonizio's Ordinary Genius, Stephen Dobyns's Best Words, Best Order, Robert Bly's Leaping Poetry, and Tony Hoagland's Real Sofistikashun much more helpful. And, of course, always begin with Richard Hugo's wonderful The Triggering Town.
But this book has almost none of his fire or originality. Partially, the issue is that I was expecting something slightly different---this is a book for BEGINNING poets. I'm not saying that in a haughty way. I still have a ton of things highlighted, and I am ready to learn from anyone or anything. But Koch's intention here is to inspire/instruct new poets with and about the fundamental tools of the game. His sample poems almost all either Romantics or Shakespeare. They're great. But that's not why one reads Koch. With regard to "the basics" issue--certainly, I'm always up for learning some new technique or philosophy on line breaks for instance. But Koch focuses here on the FACT of line breaks...the purpose for them...the different types.
If, like me, you're interested in reading something a bit more advanced in terms of craft, I've found Kim Addonizio's Ordinary Genius, Stephen Dobyns's Best Words, Best Order, Robert Bly's Leaping Poetry, and Tony Hoagland's Real Sofistikashun much more helpful. And, of course, always begin with Richard Hugo's wonderful The Triggering Town.
July 19, 2016
Oh, the pleasures of a good poem...
In truth, I've long been mystified/frustrated/put off by poetry. But over the years, an urge to understand, or at least better appreciate, what all the fuss has been about these last 3000 years has tugged at me. My only formal experiences of poetry study were in high school (in the appreciation mode) and college (1 course, in the academic mode). The former came at too early a point in my aesthetic/intellectual development, and made no greater impression on me than to excite an appreciation for certain imagery (paths diverting in woods, roads less traveled, etc.); the latter, though coming at a moment of budding intellectual confidence, laid waste any idea that I could ever understand poetry written by adults for adults (WTF does ANY poem by Elizabeth Bishop mean!? [seriously]). And so, save for enjoying the occasional Shakespeare play or bit of rhyme, poetry and I have largely steered clear of one another since English XXXX, my freshman(?) year in college.
Recently though, I've found myself lurking in the poetry sections of used bookstores, stealing glances at Dickenson, Auden, or Stevens anthologies (so many blackbirds!), and beginning to realize I've been missing out on something. How, then, to begin filling my gap (in defiance of that college poetry professor who told me -- possibly in more, and more florid, words -- that I had no friggin' idea what Elizabeth Bishop poems mean [flaming lantern balloons rising in the skies over Sao Paolo, or something to that effect, being the specific sense-straw that broke my student-interpreter's back]).
Well. How better to start anew down the path of barbaric yawps, iambic pentameters, and broken rhymes, than in the company of someone who has thought long and hard about all the above. I don't have time (or the opportunity that I'm aware) to sit in on a poetry class. The next best thing, I now appreciate, is to read such classes distilled in book form. Making Your Own Days met my own needs for a start-up read in this area perfectly. Kenneth Koch is an astute reader of poetry and a skillful guide to its endless subtleties. I have just finished his terrific long essay on poetry reading/writing/appreciation, and am about to turn to the lengthy anthology that forms the second half of his book. Hitherto, I might have read one of these poems, thought "that makes no sense at all," looked around to affirm that other imagined readers thought the same, then, dismissing the entire poetic enterprise, shut the book (+/- harumphing), and picked a history off my bookshelf. Armed with Koch's wise advice, this time round I'm confident I'll not only read his entire anthology through, but that I'll enjoy large swaths of it and -- perhaps -- grasp a poetic intent or two along the way.
Kind thanks, Professor Koch, for the inspiring lesson.
In truth, I've long been mystified/frustrated/put off by poetry. But over the years, an urge to understand, or at least better appreciate, what all the fuss has been about these last 3000 years has tugged at me. My only formal experiences of poetry study were in high school (in the appreciation mode) and college (1 course, in the academic mode). The former came at too early a point in my aesthetic/intellectual development, and made no greater impression on me than to excite an appreciation for certain imagery (paths diverting in woods, roads less traveled, etc.); the latter, though coming at a moment of budding intellectual confidence, laid waste any idea that I could ever understand poetry written by adults for adults (WTF does ANY poem by Elizabeth Bishop mean!? [seriously]). And so, save for enjoying the occasional Shakespeare play or bit of rhyme, poetry and I have largely steered clear of one another since English XXXX, my freshman(?) year in college.
Recently though, I've found myself lurking in the poetry sections of used bookstores, stealing glances at Dickenson, Auden, or Stevens anthologies (so many blackbirds!), and beginning to realize I've been missing out on something. How, then, to begin filling my gap (in defiance of that college poetry professor who told me -- possibly in more, and more florid, words -- that I had no friggin' idea what Elizabeth Bishop poems mean [flaming lantern balloons rising in the skies over Sao Paolo, or something to that effect, being the specific sense-straw that broke my student-interpreter's back]).
Well. How better to start anew down the path of barbaric yawps, iambic pentameters, and broken rhymes, than in the company of someone who has thought long and hard about all the above. I don't have time (or the opportunity that I'm aware) to sit in on a poetry class. The next best thing, I now appreciate, is to read such classes distilled in book form. Making Your Own Days met my own needs for a start-up read in this area perfectly. Kenneth Koch is an astute reader of poetry and a skillful guide to its endless subtleties. I have just finished his terrific long essay on poetry reading/writing/appreciation, and am about to turn to the lengthy anthology that forms the second half of his book. Hitherto, I might have read one of these poems, thought "that makes no sense at all," looked around to affirm that other imagined readers thought the same, then, dismissing the entire poetic enterprise, shut the book (+/- harumphing), and picked a history off my bookshelf. Armed with Koch's wise advice, this time round I'm confident I'll not only read his entire anthology through, but that I'll enjoy large swaths of it and -- perhaps -- grasp a poetic intent or two along the way.
Kind thanks, Professor Koch, for the inspiring lesson.
July 8, 2011
The title of Koch’s book comes from 2 lines in Frank O’Hara’s poem, “A True Account of Talking to the Sun at Fire Island”. The book contains three sections; the first is a series of essays on the language of poetry, with essays on subjects such as meter, rhyme, contrast, and personification. Koch believes that poetry is a “separate language”, and he states that the sound of the words is as important as the meaning.
The second part is a series of essays on writing and reading poetry. Koch talks about inspiration, acknowledging that reading the poetry of others often inspires poets. The chapter on writing was my favorite. It delves into the many twists and turns a line may lead the poet on as the poem develops. He addresses places where a poet may become stuck. Koch talks about writing the ending, suggesting that the end may be more important to the poet than to the reader.
The final section is an anthology of poems with brief explanations. Most of the poems used as examples are classics, so readers who prefer more modern writing may find the explanations tedious.
The second part is a series of essays on writing and reading poetry. Koch talks about inspiration, acknowledging that reading the poetry of others often inspires poets. The chapter on writing was my favorite. It delves into the many twists and turns a line may lead the poet on as the poem develops. He addresses places where a poet may become stuck. Koch talks about writing the ending, suggesting that the end may be more important to the poet than to the reader.
The final section is an anthology of poems with brief explanations. Most of the poems used as examples are classics, so readers who prefer more modern writing may find the explanations tedious.
March 9, 2015
This was a very dense, difficult read for me. It helped me understand why some people enjoy modern poetry, and why certain conventions are in use, or were important developments at the time, but I'm also almost certain that it also cemented my dislike of all modern poetry. I'm going to stick to light verse and poetry for kids from here on out!
June 25, 2022
Really made my day. While I've secretly been writing poetry for over 40 years, this one little book on the subject brought all the complexities of the technical aspects into a comprehensive integrated focus without boring me into a snore. Making my own days. Yes! That is exactly what reading and writing poetry does for me. To heck with the rest of the whole crazy world...
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September 28, 2014Reading this for my thesis on teaching poetry to ESL students. More Koch forthcoming. He's kind of hella conservative in some ways “to be poetry it has to be musical” ummmmm … but seems to love Ashbery, so that's cool. Very useful for thinking about teaching poetry, lots of "categories" but I probably wouldn't read this for pleasure...
May 5, 2019
"The poetry language is used by persons who have things (known to them or not known) that they need to say, and who are moved by this need and by a delight in making music out of words."
"Talking to God is a special case of apostrophe, since it is based on a public tradition and on a private conviction that God actually exists, can hear, and can respond. Poets may believe they are talking to Time or to Death in the heat of writing a poem, but don't usually have a continuing feeling that such a conversation is possible."
"Common mistaken ideas about how to read poetry include the Hidden Meaning assumption, which directs one to more or less ignore the surface of the poem in a quest for some elusive and momentous significance that the poet has buried amid the words and music. This idea probably comes from the fact that, being moved by a poem, one assumes an important religious, philosophical, or historical cause for being moved and tries to find it hidden someplace in the poem; whereas in fact a few words rightly placed can be moving if they catch a moment of life—almost any moment; if, amidst all the blather and babble of imprecise, uncertain language in which we live, there is something better, some undeniable little beautiful bit of light."
"Talking to God is a special case of apostrophe, since it is based on a public tradition and on a private conviction that God actually exists, can hear, and can respond. Poets may believe they are talking to Time or to Death in the heat of writing a poem, but don't usually have a continuing feeling that such a conversation is possible."
"Common mistaken ideas about how to read poetry include the Hidden Meaning assumption, which directs one to more or less ignore the surface of the poem in a quest for some elusive and momentous significance that the poet has buried amid the words and music. This idea probably comes from the fact that, being moved by a poem, one assumes an important religious, philosophical, or historical cause for being moved and tries to find it hidden someplace in the poem; whereas in fact a few words rightly placed can be moving if they catch a moment of life—almost any moment; if, amidst all the blather and babble of imprecise, uncertain language in which we live, there is something better, some undeniable little beautiful bit of light."
July 9, 2017
I've always wanted to enjoy poetry more, and this was suggested to me by a friend. I have very little experience with poetry, but I found it a great introduction. Perhaps the best thing is that it introduces aspects of reading poetry then the second half of the book is an anthology of dozens of poems with a short note on each explaining and illustrating the things mentioned in the first half. For me, that was very helpful and gave me a chance to put to practice reading poetry and enjoying it.
September 29, 2019
This is divided into two parts. First an introductory essay on reading and writing poetry. The second is an anthology of important poets and one or two examples their work. Both sections make this an excellent introduction of those new to poetry. The anthology is especially helpful in that it includes some background about the poem that provides some context for the new reader. Another great feature is Koch's decision at times to provide more than one English translation of poems written in other languages.
February 13, 2020
Koch writes an enjoyable to read book about how poetry can be enjoyable to read without having to become a literary scholar in the process. He simultaneously illuminates the music and language of poetry while also providing— through examples and his own eloquent arguments—a good case for its importance to our lives. It also has a brief anthology for those looking for a poet to read. It’s not complete, but it’s a good start.
January 18, 2021
Personal notes on read:
Summer 2020
4/10- not very interesting but learned some new poets
Favorite poems/authors to look up-
The vision, Robert Herrick
Christina Rossetti
Mina Loy
Allen Ginsberg (A supermarket in California)
Elizabeth Bishop (Arrival at Santos)
Duino Elegies, Rainier Maria Rilke
Summer 2020
4/10- not very interesting but learned some new poets
Favorite poems/authors to look up-
The vision, Robert Herrick
Christina Rossetti
Mina Loy
Allen Ginsberg (A supermarket in California)
Elizabeth Bishop (Arrival at Santos)
Duino Elegies, Rainier Maria Rilke
February 12, 2022
Taught me so much. Very useful for new poetry readers and poets alike.
abandoned
March 14, 2022It got bogged down in academic-sounding analysis of language forms and I lost interest.
May 24, 2016
http://bailamosblog.blogspot.com/2011...
A while back JM wrote about five books that changed her, inspired by a post here.
I revisited Kenneth Koch's Making Your Own Days and would classify this as a book that changed me. It made me realize(?), recognize(?), remember(?) that I love poetry.
I read first two parts of the book as coursework in college. Koch takes Paul Valéry's idea that poetry is a "language within a language" and runs with it. Poetry is a language in which the sound of words is as important as their meaning, as important as syntax. It is a language where the music of words is important. It's a language inclined to comparison, where people talk to the moon and winds and Death, it's a language where people are encouraged to lie. Um, awesome.
The first part of the book deals with "the language of poetry," and I think this is the strongest section. It seems like a better introduction to poetry than any textbook that tried to tackle the subject in high school. Later, Koch shoots down the "Hidden Meaning assumption, which directs one to more or less ignore the surface of the poem in a quest for some elusive and momentous significance that the poet has buried." You can enjoy a poem because the language is beautiful. That was an important lesson. In school they always focus on what it all means and how many syllables there are and what the rhyme scheme is. No wonder we get turned off.
For me, the weakest link was the chapter on inspiration in Part II on writing and reading poetry. The conversation is vague. I feel like other books on writing cover the subject better.
The third part of the book is an anthology of poems. The book introduced me to Frank O'Hara. (In fact, the title of the book comes from "A True Account of Talking to the Sun at Fire Island.") I couldn't help falling in love with him. This time around, I was attracted to Wallace Stevens' "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird."
The book was a jumping off point. It introduced writers I'd like to read, it made me think it's okay to respond to poems in the same way I respond to paintings or other art: I can enjoy it for its own beauty, even if I don't "get" it.
Reading inevitably recalled Dead Poets Society:
I agree.
A while back JM wrote about five books that changed her, inspired by a post here.
I revisited Kenneth Koch's Making Your Own Days and would classify this as a book that changed me. It made me realize(?), recognize(?), remember(?) that I love poetry.
I read first two parts of the book as coursework in college. Koch takes Paul Valéry's idea that poetry is a "language within a language" and runs with it. Poetry is a language in which the sound of words is as important as their meaning, as important as syntax. It is a language where the music of words is important. It's a language inclined to comparison, where people talk to the moon and winds and Death, it's a language where people are encouraged to lie. Um, awesome.
The first part of the book deals with "the language of poetry," and I think this is the strongest section. It seems like a better introduction to poetry than any textbook that tried to tackle the subject in high school. Later, Koch shoots down the "Hidden Meaning assumption, which directs one to more or less ignore the surface of the poem in a quest for some elusive and momentous significance that the poet has buried." You can enjoy a poem because the language is beautiful. That was an important lesson. In school they always focus on what it all means and how many syllables there are and what the rhyme scheme is. No wonder we get turned off.
For me, the weakest link was the chapter on inspiration in Part II on writing and reading poetry. The conversation is vague. I feel like other books on writing cover the subject better.
The third part of the book is an anthology of poems. The book introduced me to Frank O'Hara. (In fact, the title of the book comes from "A True Account of Talking to the Sun at Fire Island.") I couldn't help falling in love with him. This time around, I was attracted to Wallace Stevens' "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird."
The book was a jumping off point. It introduced writers I'd like to read, it made me think it's okay to respond to poems in the same way I respond to paintings or other art: I can enjoy it for its own beauty, even if I don't "get" it.
Reading inevitably recalled Dead Poets Society:
We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.
I agree.
December 27, 2021
Un libro simple de un tema complejo. Un liibro que transmite cariño. La principal tesis: la poesía como otro lenguaje más, un lenguaje que también se aprende a leer, a hablar y a escribir. Aquí Koch detalla y ejemplifica con diversos poemas cuales son algunas de las tendencias de este lenguaje.
September 10, 2007
I read this for a course taught by the author that, of course, closely followed the book. That course has had such an influence on me over the years and I recently decided to give the book a re-read. I think this would be a good book for people who have never liked poetry but maybe wish they could. I have enjoyed it for thinking about life in general in more poetic terms and for helping with writing my own. It seeks to lay out for you what it is like to be in the head of a poet writing a poem, which is more than a form of writing but is a different language, one that we perhaps need more of in our lives, something a bit more irrational and magical.
December 15, 2007
i found this book immensely helpful in facilitating my understanding of the rhythm and musicality of free verse poetry. koch's down-to-earth explanations really helped me get an intellectual grasp on what i was already doing intuitively in my own work. joining the two together--intellect and intuition--is, i think, key to both improved writing and a greater enjoyment of the craft. koch's book provides the poet with just that--the means to improve and enjoy his/her writing--and he does so through his entirely accessible and nurturing prose.
September 9, 2009
I like Kenneth Koch. And he makes me want to read more poetry. Also: this book is pure gold for teaching undergraduates about writing poems. Big ideas stated clearly and with a sense of humor. I've never been so excited to read sections of Wordsworth! (By the way, I wish that was my last name. Peter Wordsworth. That's who I want to be).
March 15, 2008
Koch talks a little too much here, kind of obscuring the power of what he's saying by going on about rhyme schemes and Dante, but he has tons of good solid ideas, so I'll just excerpt him and forget about hard feelings.
April 28, 2009
I read the library copy but I'll probably buy my own. Kenneth Koch has been a long-time favorite of mine in the poetry teaching department - I love the attention he pays to the music of poetry, as well as his erudition, his intelligence and his straightforward style. A treasure reference book.
January 12, 2014
Probably the best (definitely the clearest) introduction to reading poetry that I've read (and I've read a few). I'd recommend it to the uninitiated or inexperienced reader or would-be writer of poetry. Koch's accompanying anthology of poems (with commentary on each one) is a delight.
May 3, 2021
first time i understood what meter is sort of what is it
August 20, 2007
wonderful anthology of poetry is the last half of the book (multiple versions of translated poems)
October 15, 2008
Seeing as poets are the priests of the invisible, their houses of worship are too. But Koch pours a bit sweet bag of critical sugar on top of it so we non-poets can at least see the outlines.
January 22, 2012
I hate this.
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January 25, 2016Great book for me
February 5, 2024
Decent enough introduction. Not as comprehensive as I hoped, but the anthology is well selected.
March 12, 2025
Woderful. Not a one-time read. It'a book to keep permanently on the table and pick it up with every cup of tea.
July 11, 2015
Such a great book to have near... to read and enjoy on its own and for what it tries and does do.
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August 13, 2017I liked what he had to say about translation.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews