A Poet's Craft
transcends the limitations of current books, combining the best of three types of poetry-writing guides: textbooks for academic use, general guides to writing poetry, and guides to writing in form. Like textbooks, it includes poetry-writing exercises and discussion of classic and contemporary poems as examples, and is logically organized to provide a complete overview of the elements of poetry writing, from diction to trope to free verse. Like general poetry guides, it has a tone lively and mature enough for the nonundergraduate, and includes sections on journaling and inspiration, revision, publishing, and even how to assemble a poetry book. Like form guides,
provides an introduction to meter and to writing formal poetry. Finch's book goes further than any poetry-writing guide now available to give readers a thorough, eclectic, and exciting introduction to every aspect of the art of poetry.