How Poems Get Made

By (author) Longenbach James
Short description/annotation
A comprehensive guide to writing or reading poetry, by “one of our most lucid and important critics” (American Academy of Arts and Letters).
Description
Each of the twelve chapters of How Poems Get Made examines a specific aspect of the poetic medium: diction, syntax, rhythm, echo, figure, repetition and more. Acclaimed poet and critic James Longenbach shows how a poet may manipulate these most basic elements of diction and syntax to create voice, image, tone or song, and bring a poem to life.
Biographical note
James Longenbach (1959—2022) was the author of six books of poems—including Forever and Earthling, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award—and eight books of prose. The recipient of an Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and a Guggenheim Fellowship, among other honors, his poems appeared in The New Yorker, the Paris Review, the Nation, and elsewhere.