Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Poetry for Dummies (Paperback)














by The Poetry Center (Author), John Timpane (Author) "The word poetry sends chills down the spines of many otherwise strong and balanced people..."

Well, the sales pitch on Amazon makes this book sound at least helpful to those people who haven't a poetic bone in their body - but they wouldn't be looking for it, would they?

From the publisher's intro: "Sometimes it seems like there are as many definitions of poetry as there are poems. Coleridge defined poetry as “the best words in the best order.” St. Augustine called it “the Devil’s wine.” For Shelley, poetry was “the record of the best and happiest moments of the happiest and best minds.” But no matter how you define it, poetry has exercised a hold upon the hearts and minds of people for more than five millennia. That’s because for the attentive reader, poetry has the power to send chills shooting down the spine and lightning bolts flashing in the brain — to throw open the doors of perception and hone our sensibilities to a scalpel’s edge."

At $US13.59, I'm tempted ... The Amazon page is at http://www.amazon.com/Poetry-Dummies-Center/dp/0764552724

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