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The Sounds of Poetry:

A Brief Guide
Front Cover
30 Reviews
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Sep 1, 1999 - Language Arts & Disciplines - 144 pages
The Poet Laureate's clear and entertaining account of how poetry works.

"Poetry is a vocal, which is to say a bodily, art," Robert Pinsky declares in The Sounds of Poetry. "The medium of poetry is the human body: the column of air inside the chest, shaped into signifying sounds in the larynx and the mouth. In this sense, poetry is as physical or bodily an art as dancing."

As Poet Laureate, Pinsky is one of America's best spokesmen for poetry. In this fascinating book, he explains how poets use the "technology" of poetry--its sounds--to create works of art that are "performed" in us when we read them aloud.

He devotes brief, informative chapters to accent and duration, syntax and line, like and unlike sounds, blank and free verse. He cites examples from the work of fifty different poets--from Shakespeare, Donne, and Herbert to W. C. Williams, Frost, Elizabeth Bishop, C. K. Williams, Louise Glück, and Frank Bidart.

This ideal introductory volume belongs in the library of every poet and student of poetry.

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I give it two stars because Pinsky's writing is lovely. - Goodreads
Otherwise, it's called prose.) - Goodreads
... you say…more advice, more instruction! - Goodreads

Review: The Sounds of Poetry: A Brief Guide

User Review  - Seth Wilpan - Goodreads

It seemed like it would be fun when it started, an analysis of how the different elements of language, (syntax, line length, meaning, etc.) interact with each other to land on us. After a while, it ... Read full review

Review: The Sounds of Poetry: A Brief Guide

User Review  - David - Goodreads

Regrettably, I was not greatly impressed with this book. Not sure what I was hoping for, but Pinsky seems a bit shallow in his dive into the sounds and rhythms of pentameters and free verse. I'm ... Read full review

All 30 reviews »

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References from web pages

Goodreads | The Sounds of Poetry: A Brief Guide
See your friends reviews of The Sounds of Poetry: A Brief Guide (Paperback) by Robert Pinsky. Goodreads has 64 reviews from fans.
www.goodreads.com/ book/ show/ 199395.The_Sounds_of_Poetry_A_Brief_Guide

What Makes Poetry 'Poetic'? - 99.03
David Barber reviews Robert Pinsky's poetry primer
www.theatlantic.com/ issues/ 99mar/ poetic.htm

Forum on the Humanities and the Public World, Robert Pinsky
The Townsend Center at UC Berkeley hosts two major lectureships per year, and is a major source of event funding for many departments on campus
townsendcenter.berkeley.edu/ publicworld_pinsky.shtml

'The Power of Poetry' (June 1999) - Library of Congress ...
His most recent publications are The Handbook of Heartbreak: 101 Poems of Lost Love and Sorrow and The Sounds of Poetry: A Brief Guide, which Mr. Pinsky ...
www.loc.gov/ loc/ lcib/ 9906/ pinsky.html

Index of weekly About Poetry feature articles - 1999
Previous issues of weekly poetry features and columns from 1999, from your About Poetry Guides, Bob Holman and Margery Snyder
poetry.about.com/ library/ weekly/ mprev99.htm

Pinsky, Robert
Pinsky, Robert Neal Born: October 20, 1940, in Long Branch, New Jersey Died: Vocations: Critic, Historian, Poet, Professor, Translator ...
www.pabook.libraries.psu.edu/ palitmap/ bios/ Pinsky__Robert.html

The Nature and Elements of Poetry by Edmund Clarence Stedman at ...
The Sounds of Poetry: A Brief Guide. by ADAM KIRSCH THE SOUNDS OF POETRY: A BRIEF GUIDE By Robert Pinsky. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. $16. ...
www.questia.com/ library/ book/ the-nature-and-elements-of-poetry-by-edmund-clarence-stedman.jsp

Robert Pinsky: Information and Much More from Answers.com
Robert Pinsky (born Oct. 20, 1940, Long Branch, NJ, US) American poet and critic. Pinsky was poetry editor of The New Republic from 1979 to 1986
www.answers.com/ topic/ robert-pinsky

Poetry Flash:"The Poet as City Planner: An Interview with Robert ...
Number 287 April/May 2001. The Poet as City Planner: An Interview with Robert Pinsky TONY BARNSTONE & SHAWN FITZPATRICK Copyright © 2001 Poetry Flash ...
www.poetryflash.org/ archive.287.Barnstone.html

What we call “poetry” can vary incredibly, but the type we ...
Robert Pinsky, The Sounds of Poetry, A Brief Guide Babette Deutsch, Poetry Handbook, A Dictionary of Terms Miller Williams, Patterns of Poetry, ...
www.ndsu.nodak.edu/ instruct/ cinichol/ CreativeWriting/ 323/ FormandPoetry.htm

About the author (1999)

Robert Pinsky is Poet Laureate of the United States. FSG published The Inferno of Dante in 1994 and The Figured Wheel in 1996. He teaches in the graduate writing program at Boston University and lives in Newton Corner, Massachusetts.

Bibliographic information

QR code for The Sounds of Poetry
TitleThe Sounds of Poetry: A Brief Guide
AuthorRobert Pinsky
Editionreprint
PublisherFarrar, Straus and Giroux, 1999
ISBN0374526176, 9780374526177
Length144 pages
Subjects › 

Language Arts & Disciplines / Speech
Literary Criticism / Poetry
Poetry / General
  
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