Versification: A Short Introduction

Rating:
Summary: The primary reference for stress & meter in English poetry
Review: If you wish to understand poetic meter, this is the only source you need. He does devote a short final chapter to versification based on accent, syllable count, free verse and "classical" meters but the book as a whole focuses on metrical verse.

What makes this book a classic is its constant reference back to stress in normal speech - it suceeds in showing meterical verse as a natural outgrowth of what we do naturally. This dispels quickly any sense of the esoteric - poetry is of and for people in general not for a special literati.

After establishing meter in the normal sphere of speech, he then goes on to discuss how the abstract meterical patterns are actually applied and how variety is added to avoid the sing-song effect.

The only flaw in the book is that examples tend to be extracts rather than full poems, but that is appropriate for the intended use of the book "a short introduction" as claimed by its subtitle.

This is the only book on English versification you will ever need.