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Western Wind: An Introduction to Poetry
WESTERN WIND is an introduction to the elements of craft that make poetry sing, a superior anthology of classic and contemporary poetry, and a guide for students to poetics, writing about poetry, and critical theory. In this text, two well respected poets bring their love of the craft of poetry into a book that teaches as well as inspires. The text also includes exercises, chapter summaries, games, diagrams, illustrations, and 4-color reproductions of great works of art.
688 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1974
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471 people want to read
About the author
David Mason
21 books7 followersAmerican writer and the former Poet Laureate of Colorado.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_M...
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_M...
Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 37 reviews
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December 5, 2020Pictured is the 5th edition, but I read the 4th. This is a book you'd find on the shelves of your college co-op because Professor Arbuthnot chose it for your Intro to Poetry course. Happily, it's a good choice on your professor's part, because the book is a concise overview of poetry and even offers light touches.
Oddly (but not odd at all)? The book works for beginners and experienced sorts alike. Poetry is a wood dark and deep, after all. If you don't believe me, ask Robert Frost. Plus the book includes a huge anthology of poetry at the end, many referred to in the chapters. A new appendix includes a nice piece on how to write ABOUT poetry (vs. write it). This is more likely the task of students taking a survey course.
For me, the most helpful sections were the most dense ones: Section Four ("The Sounds") and Five ("The Rhythms"). Here the authors provide a helpful review of things I personally give little thought to, like vowels and how different sounds tap into different emotions. As for Rhythms, it takes us down that dark alley called "meter," or what I call the "mathematics" side of poetry. I don't know about you, but terms like "iamb," "trochee," "anapest," and "dactyl" slide off like I'm the poetic version of Teflon. They just don't stick.
So I copied the helpful "Table of Feet" the authors put together in the "Different Drummers" section. That and the list of vowel pronunciations as collected in a "Frequency Scale of English Vowel Sounds." Further proof that "free verse" isn't completely free. How can it be when even your vowels are acting up (or missing their cues)?
Anyway, if you're interested in a poor man's Intro to Poetry (no tuition, no bursars) and want to make like an autodidact, you could do worse than school yourself using this book. And unlike me, you can make it leisurely. A chapter here, a chapter there, while you read all those other orphans in your TBR pile.
Oddly (but not odd at all)? The book works for beginners and experienced sorts alike. Poetry is a wood dark and deep, after all. If you don't believe me, ask Robert Frost. Plus the book includes a huge anthology of poetry at the end, many referred to in the chapters. A new appendix includes a nice piece on how to write ABOUT poetry (vs. write it). This is more likely the task of students taking a survey course.
For me, the most helpful sections were the most dense ones: Section Four ("The Sounds") and Five ("The Rhythms"). Here the authors provide a helpful review of things I personally give little thought to, like vowels and how different sounds tap into different emotions. As for Rhythms, it takes us down that dark alley called "meter," or what I call the "mathematics" side of poetry. I don't know about you, but terms like "iamb," "trochee," "anapest," and "dactyl" slide off like I'm the poetic version of Teflon. They just don't stick.
So I copied the helpful "Table of Feet" the authors put together in the "Different Drummers" section. That and the list of vowel pronunciations as collected in a "Frequency Scale of English Vowel Sounds." Further proof that "free verse" isn't completely free. How can it be when even your vowels are acting up (or missing their cues)?
Anyway, if you're interested in a poor man's Intro to Poetry (no tuition, no bursars) and want to make like an autodidact, you could do worse than school yourself using this book. And unlike me, you can make it leisurely. A chapter here, a chapter there, while you read all those other orphans in your TBR pile.
April 2, 2012
If I was deserted on an island and could only have one book. I think this would be it.
Somewhere this was highly recommended for learning about poetry. So when I began to love and read poetry and wanted to delve deeper this is the book that got me going. I admit that I haven't read the whole thing, because it is an introduction but it's also very thorough. Introduction is actually a code word for textbook. But don't let that scare you away. I find it readable and endlessly enlightening. It's a great introduction. Mason quickly deepens your reading by beginning with the role of the senses in imagery. He instantly helps you immerse yourself in the process.
Sectional headings are the senses, the emotions, the words, the sounds, the rhythms, and the mind. Poetry is explained. Poetic terms are defined and accompanied with clear examples. This can at times be a little bit of slog, but each section contains so much more.
An anthology of 250 poems follows the text - which also includes poems/excerpts.
If I have any criticism, it's that there's little post-modern material here, some classical, but heavily modern. But then, that's the poetry I most like. And a study of post-modern poetry is, to me, a book in itself.
Everytime I pick this book up my love for poetry deepens.
Somewhere this was highly recommended for learning about poetry. So when I began to love and read poetry and wanted to delve deeper this is the book that got me going. I admit that I haven't read the whole thing, because it is an introduction but it's also very thorough. Introduction is actually a code word for textbook. But don't let that scare you away. I find it readable and endlessly enlightening. It's a great introduction. Mason quickly deepens your reading by beginning with the role of the senses in imagery. He instantly helps you immerse yourself in the process.
Sectional headings are the senses, the emotions, the words, the sounds, the rhythms, and the mind. Poetry is explained. Poetic terms are defined and accompanied with clear examples. This can at times be a little bit of slog, but each section contains so much more.
An anthology of 250 poems follows the text - which also includes poems/excerpts.
If I have any criticism, it's that there's little post-modern material here, some classical, but heavily modern. But then, that's the poetry I most like. And a study of post-modern poetry is, to me, a book in itself.
Everytime I pick this book up my love for poetry deepens.
September 29, 2011
I have never liked poetry. But after finishing my poetry class, I am sold--hook, line, and sinker. Who knew I would fall in love with the English language so deeply. And to think I actually have a favorite poet--it would have to be E.E. Cummings. Yes, there is still junk poetry out there, but at least now I'm willing to listen to the wind as it rushes by.
April 28, 2018
I have the 1970s edition of this book and it’s one of the best poetry books I’ve ever read. I was inspired and constantly compelled to write/try different poetry styles and techniques. Halfway through, I even limited my reading to 5-10 pages a day just to savor it . I highly recommend this book. I’m sad to put it back up on my shelf.
September 10, 2022
There is an entire chapter on vowel sounds…
July 23, 2008
It may be an introduction to poetry, but this book proves useful whether it's the first or last thing you read on the subject. I regularly dip into it to stretch new muscles I'd never before been aware of. It doesn't need to be read straight through and for that reason alone it should be a regular reference on everyone's shelf, right next to their dictionary. That said, I doubt that is likely to happen.
In our modern culture there seems to be a kneejerk reaction against learning "about" poetry and writing. As the authors point out, no one would ridicule someone wanting to repair their own car for learning all the technical jargon and mechanical concepts, yet conventional wisdom dictates that anyone should be able to write a story or rhyme, and words like "hyperbole" are for ivory tower snobs. History has certainly proven that illiterate or minimally educated individuals can and have composed exquisite and soul-jarring poetry, but there need not be a battle between those advocating for and against education on the arts. Education is only bad when it is seen as automatic credentials. In art of course there is no such thing as credentials.
Anyone can create poetry, but with the background this book offers, a reader/listener/composer is more likely to be cognizant of intricate detail and will appreciate a stunning feat all the more. No one has to love Shakespeare, but it is useful to understand why so many people do.
In our modern culture there seems to be a kneejerk reaction against learning "about" poetry and writing. As the authors point out, no one would ridicule someone wanting to repair their own car for learning all the technical jargon and mechanical concepts, yet conventional wisdom dictates that anyone should be able to write a story or rhyme, and words like "hyperbole" are for ivory tower snobs. History has certainly proven that illiterate or minimally educated individuals can and have composed exquisite and soul-jarring poetry, but there need not be a battle between those advocating for and against education on the arts. Education is only bad when it is seen as automatic credentials. In art of course there is no such thing as credentials.
Anyone can create poetry, but with the background this book offers, a reader/listener/composer is more likely to be cognizant of intricate detail and will appreciate a stunning feat all the more. No one has to love Shakespeare, but it is useful to understand why so many people do.
Read
November 3, 2020Am I behind on my reading goal so I'm marking textbooks I read in class this year at read? Yes. That being said, this was a really good book on poetry, and I'd recommend it, even if you aren't in "Introduction to Poetry." If you can find it cheap (which may be hard considering its a pretty popular textbook), and are interested in poetry, give a read!
October 16, 2022
I consider myself a relatively bright person. This book, although it claims to be an “Introduction” to poetry, was far more concerned with its own poetic voice than its ability to educate. I literally threw this book across the room just before I finally allowed myself to drop the class and save myself another 10 weeks of misery.
February 25, 2024
It seems funny to review a text book on Goodreads but here I am. I have the 1970s edition of this and when I am in the mood for reading poetry this is always one of the first books I think of. Not only is it a good introduction to the "hows and whys" of poetry, it's also an excellent collection of poems.
Read
November 4, 2021Yeah I read it for school. It’s a textbook. But I read it from start to finish, spent considerable time trying to understand it, and I learned a lot, so I think it counts as part of my reading challenge!
August 8, 2018
This is a good starter for understanding how to write a poem.
January 2, 2024
This book managed to make me love poetry.
October 15, 2024
raise your hand if you read this for english poetry 205 🤩🙋♀️
August 8, 2009
I am re-reading this for a poetry class this semester.
This is one of those books that makes me feel giddy inside. Many of the poetry "manuals" and text books I have come across are quite disjointed, confusing and incomplete in their explanations of forms, meters and such. At times some of these books feel high-falluting. Western Wind is a book I can consult again and again. It's a book that speaks plainly about poetry and inspires the poet in anyone. The book houses great examples and great information, to boot. I love the questions the book puts forth in its introduction. For example: "Why do charms against the devil fail to work in translation?...What kind of rhyme is like a blue note in music?..." The book goes beyond the study of forms, meter, and all the other poetry related terms one can glean from books such as Turco's The Book of Forms (which I own, consult often, but still find confusing in the way it's set up, and even in its examples. I have to often look up examples of my own).
A quote from the intro:
"...poetry comes before prose does. It is closer than prose to the origins of language. We can even say it's more natural..."
As a musician and someone who considers herself a practicing poet, this passage really hits home for me, and it is one of the many reasons I get giddy reading this book. With this passage alone, I am reminded that poetry is important. Further, it can inform other genres, building writerly skills that only make any writers' work stronger, more potent, poignant and full of music.
Speaking of music...
there is a whole section of the book dedicated to the sounds of poetry alone. Within that section is a section about poetry's "music."
This is one of those books that makes me feel giddy inside. Many of the poetry "manuals" and text books I have come across are quite disjointed, confusing and incomplete in their explanations of forms, meters and such. At times some of these books feel high-falluting. Western Wind is a book I can consult again and again. It's a book that speaks plainly about poetry and inspires the poet in anyone. The book houses great examples and great information, to boot. I love the questions the book puts forth in its introduction. For example: "Why do charms against the devil fail to work in translation?...What kind of rhyme is like a blue note in music?..." The book goes beyond the study of forms, meter, and all the other poetry related terms one can glean from books such as Turco's The Book of Forms (which I own, consult often, but still find confusing in the way it's set up, and even in its examples. I have to often look up examples of my own).
A quote from the intro:
"...poetry comes before prose does. It is closer than prose to the origins of language. We can even say it's more natural..."
As a musician and someone who considers herself a practicing poet, this passage really hits home for me, and it is one of the many reasons I get giddy reading this book. With this passage alone, I am reminded that poetry is important. Further, it can inform other genres, building writerly skills that only make any writers' work stronger, more potent, poignant and full of music.
Speaking of music...
there is a whole section of the book dedicated to the sounds of poetry alone. Within that section is a section about poetry's "music."
September 1, 2024
spent a lot of my summer reading this with a study group. it was useful but i don't know if it's the best textbook on which I/we could have spent that time
August 9, 2023
I finally found a used copy of this. This book was my textbook in the late 1990's in college for poetry class, and I wish I'd kept mine. It was SO useful and explanatory about everything from style to iambic pentameter and onomatopoeia. Especially with so many examples of each thing. I really enjoyed our assignments in here and I do believe it's why my poetry today is 100% better than the junk I wrote in high school, ha ha. Just so happy to have a copy on my shelves again. It's totally worth looking for.
May 7, 2016
This was my poetry textbook in college in 1990 or so. It was OK then; I wasn't much of a poetry fan but as an English major I had to read some. But I enjoyed it a lot more this time around: I didn't have to read it! My kids are reading it now as part of their homeschool work; I read along with them so we can discuss it. One likes it more than the other. If you knew them, you could guess which was which. :-)
May 15, 2015
A tight description of the the mechanics of poetry with emphasis on the modern and many masterful examples for the beginner, novice or master poet, student, teacher, or reader to absorb. Quality examples from masters and critics complement the anthology within.
March 11, 2017
I was reading this one for a while, ever since it was assigned for Uni, and it has a lot of really good poetry in here. My favorites are for sure the poems by T.S. Elliot whom I was introduced to through this class.
September 22, 2008
The best anthology of Poetry to use to teach poetry. Well-written. Good samples. Nice apparatus--clear and short.
October 17, 2008
Worked on this book for over a year for a Writing Poetry class through BYU Independent Study.
March 23, 2009
good first text on poetry
March 21, 2010
This book was seminal in my introduction to English poetry and recommended by Linda Allardt, my first official English poetry teacher.
September 18, 2011
Brilliant and lovely. The knowledge and refined sensitivity to poetry which I gained from studying this book is invaluable.
January 19, 2012
A book that helps you understand the anatomy of a poem and the effect of each element on the whole. Not afraid to identify bad habits to avoid. A great resource for writers and readers of poetry.
August 13, 2012
A great book if you are a beginner to poetry.
May 24, 2013
I really like the way this book divided the topic of poetry. I used it in my poetry lit class in the spring semester.
July 21, 2013
Got me started
January 23, 2016
Loved this book. What a great tutor in learning to write poetry. I 'had' to read it for my BYU writing class and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 37 reviews