Rating: 
Summary: The best there is...
Review: I have read a large number of poetry textbooks, workbooks, courses, and reference books, and this book is the best I have ever read on the subject. It was clearly written, with a lot of useful information, and truly great exercises.
Rating: 
Summary: Immediately useful book
Review: I picked this book up by coincidence and am very pleased with it. The authors take a very low key, non-intrusive style combine with their extensive knowledge and experience. There is an inviting style to the book that made it immediately appealing. What I liked most was that the book focused on its basic theme, the pleasures of writing good poetry and then stuck to it without either going away on tangents or repeating their points over and over again as some other authors tend to do.Each chapter ends with exercises that appear simple and are designed to be so - but allow you to explore specific areas and concepts. They have also selected sample poems to illustrate specific points (they are terrific poems to boot!). My favorite chapters were the ones on rhyme, rythm and repetition. I was worried that since modern poetry has become so free form that there was no more place for rhyme, rythm or repetition and the authors do a fine job of explaining their role in today's poetry. I fully expect to be using this wonderful book as a guide and inspiration for a long time to come.
Rating:
Summary: Immediately useful book
Review: I picked this book up by coincidence and am very pleased with it. The authors take a very low key, non-intrusive style combine with their extensive knowledge and experience. There is an inviting style to the book that made it immediately appealing. What I liked most was that the book focused on its basic theme, the pleasures of writing good poetry and then stuck to it without either going away on tangents or repeating their points over and over again as some other authors tend to do. Each chapter ends with exercises that appear simple and are designed to be so - but allow you to explore specific areas and concepts. They have also selected sample poems to illustrate specific points (they are terrific poems to boot!). My favorite chapters were the ones on rhyme, rythm and repetition. I was worried that since modern poetry has become so free form that there was no more place for rhyme, rythm or repetition and the authors do a fine job of explaining their role in today's poetry. I fully expect to be using this wonderful book as a guide and inspiration for a long time to come.
Rating:
Summary: Think "Dead Poets Society" ...
Review: I've grown a little cynical at the plethora of "How to Write Poetry" books that are out there - I've either read or bought well over two dozen of the things. Most of them are simply saying the same thing over and over and over, and leave you wondering whether the writers are all reading and recycling each other's How To books ... But this one is different. It is incredibly readable for a start, manages to be warm and friendly and funny at the same time as showing new ways to look at the craft of writing. The best example I can give you is the chapter on grammar ... a terrifying ordeal for a great many of us. But somehow this pair have managed to make it INTERESTING and INSPIRING! They are like the sort of English teacher you wish you could have had at High School. Remember Robin Williams in "Dead Poets Society"? Now you get the picture. Look, I could go on for hours on this book. Beg, borrow or steal a copy for yourself. This book brought me to tears - all I kept thinking was that it was exactly the book that I needed right now. Try it. You'll agree.
Rating:
Summary: Think "Dead Poets Society" ...
Review: I've grown a little cynical at the plethora of "How to Write Poetry" books that are out there - I've either read or bought well over two dozen of the things. Most of them are simply saying the same thing over and over and over, and leave you wondering whether the writers are all reading and recycling each other's How To books ... But this one is different. It is incredibly readable for a start, manages to be warm and friendly and funny at the same time as showing new ways to look at the craft of writing. The best example I can give you is the chapter on grammar ... a terrifying ordeal for a great many of us. But somehow this pair have managed to make it INTERESTING and INSPIRING! They are like the sort of English teacher you wish you could have had at High School. Remember Robin Williams in "Dead Poets Society"? Now you get the picture. Look, I could go on for hours on this book. Beg, borrow or steal a copy for yourself. This book brought me to tears - all I kept thinking was that it was exactly the book that I needed right now. Try it. You'll agree.
Rating:
Summary: a great guide
Review: It comes as no surpise (since Dorianne Laux is a great poet and Addonzio is one of the best of her generation) that this is a great guide to writing poety (I love the subtitle: "A Guide to the Pleasures of Writing Poetry"-- note the pleasures). And it's good for any level of experience. It has a lot to teach the beginner, a help to the intermediate, and even the advanced student of poetry can get some ideas from this book. The first section of the book covers some subjects for writing, including family, death, and the erotic. Most of the book discussing the craft of poetry. The chapters deal with images, simile and metaphore, the line, voice, dreams and experiments, meter and rhyme, repetition and rhythm, the villanell, panotoum, and sestina, grammr, and revision. Then they have a section titled "The Writing Life" which deals with self-doubt, writer's block, getting published, and the internet. Most of the chapters end with writing exercises, to help give you ideas for poems and practice at writing. And at the end of the book they have their "Tweny-Minute Wriitng Exercises." Addonizio and Laux chose, in general, great poems to illustrate whatever they are discussing. And the book even has several useful appenices: Books on Poetry and Writing; Anthologies for Further Reading; Finding Markets for Your Poems; and More Resources for Writers. It's a great guide and useful teaching tool, and told in a conversational, interesting voice. It's a purchase no poet will regret.
Rating:
Summary: Simply one of the best books in the field
Review: Laux and Addonizio have put together a supurb collection of essays, examples and ideas for poets and writers at all levels of accomplishment. The chapters are short, readable, written with ease and authority. The example poems they use are invariably superb and illustrative. Laux and Addonizio are particularly adept at demystifying the writing process for beginnners. The appendices in the back provide valuable information on a range of writing resources, such as literary internet sites, annotated lists of poetry anthologies and other books on writing. There are countless middle-of-the-road guidebooks on poetry writing, sometimes helpful, often cumbersome, lofty or skewed in their aesthetic toward the precious or the academic. The Poet's Companion is fresh, unpompous and sound through and through. As a veteran high school creative writing teacher, and a poet with two books of my own out, I speak from some experience. --Douglas Goetsch
Rating:
Summary: Interesting AND helpful
Review: One of the best guides for writing poetry out there. If you want to write well buy this book
Rating:
Summary: A Library of reference in a small book
Review: The Poet's Companion is one of the best reference books I have seen for the craft of writing poetry. Whether you are a student or a seasoned poet, this book should be on your desk.
Rating:
Summary: A great aid for both writers and teachers of writing
Review: This is a wonderful book--wise and kind. The exercises are great for generating work in both individual and group situations, and the examples used by Laux and Addonizio are inspiring. What separates this book from other so-called how-to books is the authors; their love of words and poetry is evident on every page. I recommend this book to writers in all genres.
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