Writing Metrical Poetry

by William Baer

Write poetry in the great metrical tradition of Dante, Shakespeare, Dickinson, Frost, and the poets of the current Formalist revival. In this contemporary guide, you'll learn how to write metrical poetry in all the major forms, from blank verse and quatrains to sonnets and villanelles. Each chapter provides step-by-step instruction that's accessible and easy to understand for even the beginning poet. This book includes unique features difficult to find anywhere else: Essential but non-intimidating instruction on meter and rhyme; Focused assignments detailing how to make your first attempt at a specific form; Illuminating discussions on pop culture, figures of speech, difficult themes, and other important topics; An engaging overview of poetry's history, and why it's important to learn the traditional forms; Complementing the instruction are many classic and contemporary poems, including recent work by Richard Wilbur, Wendy Cope, X.J. Kennedy, Dana Gioia, Rachel Hadas, Wyatt Prunty, Alicia Stallings, and many others; Writing Metrical Poetry is the perfect course in metrical poetry for the person working alone or working in the classroom.

Genres: Poetry, Writing, Nonfiction

274 pages, Paperback

First published March 22, 2006

About the author

William Baer, a recent Guggenheim fellow, is the award-winning author of twenty-five books including New Jersey Noir; Times Square and Other Stories; One-and-Twenty Tales; Companion; The Ballad Rode into Town; Formal Salutations: New & Selected Poems; Classic American Films; and The Unfortunates (recipient of the T.S. Eliot Award). A former Fulbright in Portugal, he’s also received the Jack Nicholson Screenwriting Award and a Creative Writing Fellowship in fiction from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Reviews

[Fragano Ledgister · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very readable how-to guide/textbook on writing poetry in formal mode. The writer includes a good number of examples of the various types of poem (and a very nice warning against the sestina, which I very much appreciate!), as well as a range of exercises.

This is an enjoyable, and easily readable text for those who want to try their hands at writing poetry in the various formal, metrical modes in English. I wish I'd had something like this available forty years ago.

[Jean Bowen]

The book is divided into chapters each covering a metrical or several types of metrical forms of poetry. He includes examples of the form and explications. Each chapter ends with writing assignments. Great resource for writers.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

If, like me, you somehow never learned enough about the different forms of poetry to actually try writing a ballad or a villanelle or a sonnet, check out this book. It explains all the various types of formal poetry, with great examples and assignments to try writing them. Even if you don’t want to write in iambic pentameter, it’s fun just reading all the classic poems and understanding how they came about. Personally, I like forms. Among the 50 quotes from famous poets about meter, form and rhyme [included in one of several appendices], I agree with this one by Maxine Kumin: “I believe that writing in a rhyme scheme startles you into good metaphor. At least, it works that way for me. It’s the form in which to pour the cement of the poem.”

[Jason Cady · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading several books on poetry writing such as, "Rules of the Dance" by Mary Oliver, "Introduction to English Poetry" by James Fenton, and "A Poet's Ear" by Annie Finch I was excited for some more in depth study of meter. But, this book is not necessarily about meter. It's about poetry. The kind of poetry that is metric. So while there are chapters on the sonnet and French forms there is only one chapter that covers both trochaic and anapestic meter. Although, to be fair, blank verse does get two chapters. And the appendices were packed with interesting info. I read the appendix on The Formalist Revival twice.

My only real complaint was that, at times, the author could be a bit of a stuffy scold. Every assignment includes the admonishment: "avoid the pop culture." Sure, it can be shallow to focus too much on pop culture, however, it's important to write about the world we currently live in. It would be like telling Dante to "avoid the Christianity."

[Hannah]

Revisiting an old college textbook for a project. 💕

This is a really approachable survey of poetic meter and I particularly enjoy how passionately Baer argues on behalf of formal poetry (and how politely he discloses his disdain for free verse). The example poems he uses are delightful and it’s also enjoyable to have an expert pick apart of piece of art to show just how the effect of said art is achieved.

[Dara · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 This book was informative, but the fact that the author couldn’t be bothered to mention a female poet for the first nine pages set the tone for my wariness about his opinions.

[Amanda Patterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfect as a start for writers who want to take poetry seriously

[Adrienne Christian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing!!

[Nic · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very helpful read on writing metrical poetry. Only too bad that I'd to return it to the library before I could really make full use of the entire guide.