Complete Idiot's Guide to Writing Poetry

by Nikki Moustaki

Discover the poet within! You've read poetry that has touched your heart, and you'd like to improve your own writing technique. But even though you have loads of inspiration, you're discovering that good instruction can be as elusive as a good metaphor. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Writing Poetry will help you compose powerful, emotion-packed poems that you can be proud of. You'll learn simple explanations of poetry building blocks such as metaphor, imagery, symbolism and stanzas; steps to the poetic process; easy-to-follow guidelines for writing sonnets, sestinas, narrative poems and more; fun exercises to help you master the basics of poetry writing; cliches and other poetry pitfalls to avoid; advice on writers' conferences and workshops; tips on getting your poetry published; good poems that will inspire your own work; strategies to beat writer's block.

Genres: Poetry, Writing, Nonfiction, Reference

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Nikki Moustaki is the author of The Bird Market of Paris: A Memoir, as well as twenty-five books on the care and training of exotic birds. She holds an MA in creative writing, poetry, from New York University, an MFA in creative writing, poetry, from Indiana University, and an MFA in creative writing, fiction, from New York University. She has received a National Endowment for the Arts grant in poetry, as well as many other national writing awards. She splits her time between New York City and Miami Beach.

Reviews

[Soul Rhallin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a great resource for the D.I.Y. educator who wants to develop and explore new poetic expressions. It is beautifully constructed for both ease of use and reading.

I have learned to create poetry with new formats in an easy and readily translated manner. So. If anyone is looking to broaden their poetic horizons, this is a great resource to have in your literary toolbox.

[Chris Johnston · Rating 5 out of 5]

The parallels between writing poetry and writing music are uncanny. Just substitute the word music for poems and composer for poet. Practical advice. Write poetry because you love it and can't help but write. Not for any other reason.

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful book--well written and informative. I learned a lot about how and why poetry got started and evolved. Also, it was inspiring, and the practice exercises are great for getting you started. I turned out several poems using their guidelines. Fun!

[Corrie Eavenson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this for my creative writing class. I found it very useful and entertaining. My professor likes it because it's "practical and not pretentious" haha

[J.D. Steens · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book provides a history of poetry (oral, story origins; song, meter; rhythm and rhyme – way back when), and breaks down the various forms of poetic expression. The author says that poetic lines are “a unit of meaning,” creating pauses, emphasis, and points of transition; that the beginning letter of each line does not have to be capitalized (it’s an aesthetic choice); and that titles “can be the key to unlocking the meaning or concept of the poem.” Poets have a concept. They have something to say. They see things not seen by others. They distill and paint with words.

Elsewhere, the author writes that poets “render their feelings and thoughts into verse such that a reader is able to understand and feel clearly what the poet meant.” “You are not the maker of puzzles,” she writes. “If your reader is baffled, you’ve not done your job….” “Your reader should not have to decipher your poems – no one wants to work that hard.” “Better that your reader understands what you’re writing about than be mystified and put down your work. Unless you’re writing a riddle, come right out and say what you mean.” That’s all good advice for a poet, though it doesn’t seem to match up with the poetry that’s out there. In that regard, the author also writes later that poems “can be baffling if you don’t know what to look for or what to appreciate.” Given that contradiction in Moustaki’s advice, it must be that poetic expression ranges from simple song-like poems to those with complex language, structure and meaning (e.g., I suppose, The Wasteland).

Moustaki states more than a few times that feeling and senses are evoked in poems by things not by “concepts and ideas.” She repeats the common advice to “Show, don’t tell.” For example, instead of saying someone has “nice legs,” a poet (William Carlos Williams) might say, “Your thighs are appletrees whose blossoms touch the sky.” In examples like that, one might prefer to stick with nice legs. Though neither fresh nor original, it’s two clear words versus nine words that create cognitive dissonance. Her advice might be a matter of taste. For poems that must be studied, do they evoke feeling and senses? Can’t conceptual insights evoke feeling and senses? Aren’t many of Will Durant’s lines on the lessons of history expressed poetically? The author also advises the budding poet to use “poetic conventions,” but fails to tell us what these are. The book itself suggests that poetry is largely free form, individualized expression, though these collectively might be categorized in some general ways. For editing and revising, the author quotes William Faulkner as the source of the “Murder your darlings” advice, which has an interesting controversy associated with it regarding attribution. Some state that Arthur Quiller-Couch was the original source of this quote.

[H.R. · Rating 2 out of 5]

For me, 2 stars. I've read a lot about poetry and writing it before though.

The book itself is well done and I'd gladly recommend it to someone who is looking for a good resource who hasn't read through many.

Bottom line:
If you're looking for a good resource this is 4-5 stars.
If you're like me and have a shelf of resources and several more scattered around the house this rates anywhere from 2-5 stars.

[Donna Quinlan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've written some very simple poems, and was looking for a little instruction on how to improve. This book was more difficult than I would have expected for a beginning book on poetry. It was written like a textbook with so many poetic terms and what I thought were rules. I wish I had read the last few chapters first because they put reading and writing poetry in perspective. If you are looking for in-depth study of poetry this book may work for you. The exercises were the best part.

[Adrienne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Don't worry--I didn't check this out to learn to write poetry. I'm just researching. Mostly, I just looked through this book and read a the section on Slams, which was short and not terribly helpful, and the intro and the section on common mistakes. If you want to write poetry, it's fairly helpful to get you started.

[Jonathan]

None

[عصام مطير البلوي · Rating 3 out of 5]

Simple

[Shug · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really helped me hone my poetry skills. Great info and tons of exercises.

[Lowbrow]

Our household owns this.