A Poetry Handbook

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Summary: Mary Oliver's A POETRY HANDBOOK
Review: Mary Oliver's A POETRY HANDBOOK is a must for poets of all skills. As a beginning poet, I had never attempted to do any writing whatsoever. I began consulting the book for guidance and suggestions on how to be an effective writer. Oliver's knowledge can teach a novice how to write poetry while at the same time helping more advanced shape their work. I would highly recommend this book as an essential tool for any poet.

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Summary: an inspiring guide to writing poetry
Review: Mary Oliver's poetry itself can do some teaching on its own, but we can be grateful she's chosen to articulate the writing process so richly in this book. The book will almost certainly will wring some writing out of you; it will also inspire you to examine your work habits and technique. Oliver's intelligence shines through, and will make you a better reader of poetry. Small note on the previous review: Mary Oliver does, indeed, teach, at Bennington College currently. If you can't enroll there, this book is your next best choice.

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Summary: Mary's Gift She Was Afraid to Give
Review: Sitting at a picnic table, I was given a book on poetry writing by Mary Oliver. I carried it around like a candy bar, taking bites of its peanuts in chocolate words about words. She states that she was afraid to write it because she loved the subject too much. Yet what a gift of love she has given. And what more do we have to give, or does Mary for that matter, than the words we are afraid to say? Thank you Mary.

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Summary: The "Elements of Style" for poetry
Review: The book is a concise, brilliant guide for anyone interested in writing poetry or in understanding it better.

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Summary: The poet's craft and art
Review: What can be said a book about poetry by the world's greatest living poetess? Besides learning about poetry we come to appreciate how much tradition, thought, work, rewriting goes into Mary Oliver's sublime poetry. Imagine if Shakespeare or Milton were to write a book on how poems are written and created?

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Summary: Great for the experienced and uninitiated
Review: What Oliver manages to do is speak to both the experienced and just-initiated poets. While I've been writing poetry since grade school, I wouldn't truly consider my poet as before reading this book, the most I could tell you about a sonnet was that it rhymed and the most about a haiku is that you had to write it in a certain amount of syllables. Oliver's book is quite an inspiration to get the creative juices following and is quite a manual on the process. Don't get me wrong, Oliver takes care of explaining the technical aspect of the poet's craft, but her book was more of a 'creative matchbox' than a classbook.

Rating:
Summary: Great for the experienced and uninitiated
Review: What Oliver manages to do is speak to both the experienced and just-initiated poets. While I've been writing poetry since grade school, I wouldn't truly consider my poet as before reading this book, the most I could tell you about a sonnet was that it rhymed and the most about a haiku is that you had to write it in a certain amount of syllables. Oliver's book is quite an inspiration to get the creative juices following and is quite a manual on the process. Don't get me wrong, Oliver takes care of explaining the technical aspect of the poet's craft, but her book was more of a 'creative matchbox' than a classbook.

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Summary: A Lasting Contribution To Poetry
Review: With _A Poetry Handbook_, Mary Oliver does for poetry what Strunk and White did for prose. This book is elementary, not in the sense of being remedial, but as a clear introduction to the fundimental principles of poetic criticism and craft. This is a book you will reference repeatedly, whose pages you will yellow with delight throughout your career -- however casual or professional -- in poetry.