How to Scan a Poem: A Poetry Witch Workbook

by Annie Finch

Poet Annie Finch shares her lifelong passion for meter and scansion with poetry lovers and poets in this uniquely useful book. From the basic tools and fundamental 3 steps of scansion to the most complex metrical delights, How to Scan a Poem covers it accentual poems, anapests, trochees, iambs, dactyls, and more, with sample poems you can scan right in the book and explorations of the all-important connections between meter and meaning. The art of Deep Scansion you will learn here invites you to enter the poet’s own voice, mind, and inner ear in the most intimate of ways. “Scansion is widely considered to be a way of thinking—and yet it is a way of hearing, a way of feeling, a way of listening, a way of dancing. Truly, scansion is a way of living.” —Annie Finch

162 pages, Paperback

Published May 1, 2023

About the author

Annie Finch is the author of six books of poetry, including Spells: New and Selected Poems, The Poetry Witch Little Book of Spells, Calendars and Eve (both finalists for the National Poetry Series), and the verse play Among the Goddesses: An Epic Libretto in Seven Dreams (Sarasvati Award, 2012). Her poems have appeared onstage at Carnegie Hall and in The Penguin Book of Twentieth-Century American Poetry. Her other works include poetry translation, poetics, poetry anthologies, and a poetry textbook. She is also the editor of Choice Words: Writers on Abortion (Haymarket Books, 2020). Annie Finch holds a Ph.D from Stanford, served for a decade as Director of the Stonecoast MFA Program in Creative Writing, and has lectured on poetry at Berkeley, Toronto, Harvard, and Oxford. In 2010 she was awarded the Robert Fitzgerald Award for her lifetime contribution to the art and craft of Versification. Finch has collaborated on poetic ritual theater productions with artists in theater, dance, and music and has performed as Poetry Witch on three continents. She teaches poetry and magic at PoetryWitchCommunity.org. 

“My poems harness the magically diverse and deeply rooted craft of poetic rhythms and forms. Like spells, they enjoy being spoken aloud three times." —Annie Finch

Annie on Twitter @poetrywitch
Annie on Instagram @thepoetrywitch

Annie connects with readers and facilitates seasonal rituals and classes in poetry and meter in her online community,
PoetryWitchCommunity.org, open to all who identify as women or gender-nonconforming.

Want more info? Updates, videos, poems, spells, spellsletter signup, and more at anniefinch.net

Blessings to all my beautiful readers!

Reviews

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was excited to find out about this book--I love the idea, and it's a much needed guide for people trying to get into scansion. I felt like it didn't really get beyond beginning stages, though Finch does try to add in materials to show her academic chops.