The Poem's Heartbeat: A Manual of Prosody (Copper Canyon Classics)

Comprehensive coverage of rhyming and metrical verse with a final chapter on "Unmetered Poetry' the latter of marginal interest to me. For the writer who has that built-in desire to say things with an attractive meter and who wishes to rhyme, this is a valuable addition to your writing techniques library. This is one of four books I bought on writing poetry and is probably the best of the four, with foundational poetry elements extensively covered and allowing permission to vary and feel confident that the budding poet is writing acceptable verse. Not only giving confidence, but assurance that your work is developing your skills. Regarding my 4-Star rating, while I really like this book, and recommend it, I doubt any book on writing poetry is something I'd love.

Although it is not clear from the art, this book is mostly a study of historical poetry. It is very interesting as a study of meter, which is not a very popular subject for modern poets. It will be interesting if you have a background in math, music, or a desire to learn about poetic history. The study is not useless for the aspiring poet, but modern audiences will not appreciate the nuances of meter as was historically common.

A gem of a book. Easy to read and straightforward. Teaches you all the basics plus variations. Even if you don’t write metered verse, you will find this book very helpful in understanding the rhythms that you will still find in unmetered poetry. Highly recommend for any novice like myself.

Just as a cardiologist can feel conduction rhythms by looking at an EKG, and as a med student needs to measure the peaks of the spikes; so a poet can feel the heartbeat of a poem in the prosody, and a writing student needs to mark stresses until feeling the rhythm, This book guides one from - / - / to experiencing the titillating tempo.Prosody is also the music in any prose. The performances of Lincoln (Gettysburg), Kennedy (Inaugural), and King (Dream) are remembered for prosody as much as substance. Any writing or speaking can profit from this book.

I can't imagine a better book on a subject that can be a dreary exercise in taxonomy and memorization of terms. Corn does precisely what's required, which is to be systematic without the least hint of pedantry. The tone is conversational throughout, and you have the immediate sense that you are in the hands of a master teacher.If you are new to prosody, try this book first, then see if you need to buy or read any other. You almost certainly won't. If you've tried others and been dissatisfied, read this one and see how much time and frustration you might have saved. Somebody gave this a 3-star rating; if this is a 3-star book, I'm a monkey's maiden aunt. Recommended without reservation.

I read about this book in another book on poetry, and it sounded interesting, so I bought it. When it arrived, I thought: "Uh-oh -- this looks difficult to comprehend." But in fact the information in this book isn't difficult to comprehend. Corn writes in clean, straight-forward prose, introducing the reader to the type of poetry that has existed in the English language for centuries -- helping us feel the verbal accents and how they're used to achieve poetic rhythm. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and hope to read it several more times: I'm sure I'll take away more understanding each time I do.

At this time, I felt a desire to write, always loving words, I found a vehicle in poetry after reading Proust with awe, of his craft, the desire started to grow into total joy in each accomplishment of my performance.I really get along with poetry's challenge, it gives me surprise, every time, I always got along with surprise, but don't know why, maybe the surprise is truly, curiosity reward some people feel.This book brings me to the next level, there are many.[ASIN:1556592817 The Poem's Heartbeat: A Manual of Prosody (Copper Canyon Classics)]]

Alfred Corn's book is an excellent resource for intermediate and advanced students of prosody. It is a little too dense for someone who has no experience with writing in meter, but the student with a basic understanding of prosody would benefit greatly from studying this text to further her study. The text makes sequential sense, lays things out in an understandable manner and doesn't condescend to its readers. It was a very helpful tool in helping me to understand the nuts and bolts of prosody.

The only book I have found that explains prosody in simple terms. It helped me understand a lot, hopefully with some practice, I'll get there.

I am an aspirant poet. Having bought a number of books on the art of writing poetry this is the only one that has really been of help

A great book for beginner poets.