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Summary:
I have a dark and dreadful secret. I write poetry... I believe poetry is a primal impulse within all of us. I believe we are all capable of it and furthermore that a small, often ignored corner of us positively yearns to try it. —Stephen Fry, The Ode Less Travelled
Stephen Fry believes that if one can speak and read English, one can write poetry. Many of us have never been taught to read or write poetry and think of it as a mysterious and intimidating form. Or, if we have been taught, we remember uncomfortable silence when an English teacher invited the class to "respond" to a poem. In The Ode Less Travelled, Fry sets out to correct this problem by giving aspiring poets the tools and confidence they need to write poetry for pleasure.
Fry is a wonderfully engaging teacher and writer of poetry himself, and he explains the various elements of poetry in simple terms, without condescension. His enjoyable exercises and witty insights introduce the concepts of Metre, Rhyme, Form, Diction, and Poetics. Aspiring poets will learn to write a sonnet, on ode, a villanelle, a ballad, and a haiku, among others. Along the way, he introduces us to poets we've heard of, but never read. The Ode Less Travelled is a lively celebration of poetry that makes even the most reluctant reader want to pick up a pencil and give it a try.
Customer Reviews:
Average Customer Rating:
Helpful tips for aspiring poets!
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I have read many books on poetic techniques. What a relief it was to find this book and read it: it shows how to write poetry for those who yearn to write poetry, beginning at the beginning. In a readable, chatty, understandable way content like metre, rhyme, form, and diction and poetics today are covered in helpful, practical, and useful ways. Plenty of exercises. But be prepared for an unwelcome section on smutty poetry - I did not like this part. However, on the whole this is an excellent book for poets seeking that hard-to-acquire basic grasp on what poetry is really all about - the beats, the rhythm, the life - and how you write it. A good glossary of poetic terms is an added bonus in the appendix. Altogether, this book is 300 odd pages of inspiring, fun reading. It helps you! You will know how to write poetry and write it well.
Funnier in Idea than Execution
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Maybe it's a British humor thing. I liked "The Liar" well enough (good energy), although was disappointed by "The Hippopotamus". As an actor, Frye is great.
I love Stephen Frye. My wife loves poetry. As "The Ode Less Travelled" was touted and sales seemed to confirm its universal appeal, I bought it as a gift for my wife. She tried it, and it wound up sitting on her nightstand for months while other books jumped ahead of it in importance. Eventually, during spring cleaning, it found itself on a bookshelf where it will probably never be cracked again.
I tried it, and understood how it found itself there. Two years from now, plan on finding gift copies at used bookstores and library book sales. In the end, it seems like a book poetry lovers would not buy for themselves, but would be bought for them. Beware.
A fine and informal look at formal poetry
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Any reasonably accomplished poet who survives the foreword will likely find this a wonderful overview of the principles of metric poetry and rhyme. That foreword seems to pitch the book to non-poets, and is premised on Fry's generous notion that anyone can write poetry, and will find it fun. At least he does not encourage calling just anything poetry, proselytize for any therapeutic poetry cures, or romanticize inchoate self-expression. Far more useful is Fry's insistence that poets, like gardeners or photographers, need to know the tools and terminology of their field. This book does that very well for beginners, and those of us who have been reading and writing poetry for years can benefit from Fry's refresher course on principles, and his wry and bold observations about various forms, common or rare. This book is alive, and while it lacks the depth of the invaluable Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, or Lewis Turco's maddeningly constructed The Book of Forms, Fry's book reminds us of the delight that poetry can bring. The book is free of lit-crit jargon and academic theory. I wish that this book had been available when I taught creative writing and I have been glad to read it for myself.
A gem
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I have added Stephen Fry's book to my basket because I admire his sense of humor and his vivacious personality, and because I was looking for a book to help me reconnect with poetry. I must say this book did so admirably. It is an excellent, not intimidating approach, with a lovely selection of tools, by a person who appreciates the beauty in life. It feels like having a favorite professor sitting next to you. Brilliant.
Poetry is (not really) serious business!
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I have the feeling that if Stephen Fry was a teacher and I was his student, he'd be smacking my knuckles with a ruler in disgust after about five minutes:
Oh my God, Mr. Fry, But your book is so dry, And your skills at the verse so outweigh me! I'm such a poor student That it would be prudent To allow me to sink and not save me. I tried numerous times To follow the lines And keep up without going under, But one night in bed, Six chapters I'd read: "What the hell is he talking about?" I wonder...
See what I mean? Not to say I didn't learn anything from this book, I did. A lot! And it's fun to read, especially Mr. Fry's own poems (I wish he'd publish a book of his poetry, even though he says he won't). It's just...well, this ain't no light reading, as they say. Put your thinking cap on and concentrate (there's a glossary in the back, but if you're as ignorant as I am, keep the internet handy, too: 'Gesellschaften'...really?), and you will learn something about poetry, how it works, and how to write it yourself. Perhaps it's easier to think of writing poetry like drinking wine: the lingo may be intimidating and unfamiliar, but if you drink what you like, you'll be happy.
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