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An Exaltation of Forms: Contemporary Poets Celebrate the Diversity of Their Art Paperback – February 20, 2002

by Annie Ridley Crane Finch (Author), Kathrine Lore Varnes (Author)

4.6 33 ratings

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At once handbook, reader, and guide to the literary tastes and wisdom of poets, An Exaltation of Forms is an indispensable resource certain to find a dedicated audience among poetry lovers. The editors invited over fifty contemporary poets to select a poetic meter, stanza, or form, describe it, recount its history, and provide favorite examples. The essays represent a remarkably diverse range of literary styles and approaches, and show how the forms of contemporary English-language poetry derive from a wealth of different traditions.
The forms range from hendecasyllabics to prose poetry, haiku to procedural poetry, sonnets to blues, rap to fractal verse. The range of poets included is equally impressive--from Amiri Baraka to John Frederick Nims, from Maxine Kumin to Marilyn Hacker, from Agha Shahid Ali to Pat Mora, from W. D. Snodgrass to Charles Bernstein. Achieving this level of eclecticism is a remarkable feat, especially given the strong opinions held by members of the various camps (e.g., the New Formalists, LANGUAGE poets, feminist and multicultural poets) that exist within today's poetry community. Poets who might never occupy the same room here occupy the same pages, perhaps for the first time. The net effect is a book that will surprise, inform, and delight a wide range of readers, whether as reference book, pleasure reading, or classroom text.

Poet, translator, and critic Annie Finch is director of the Stonecoast low-residency MFA program at the University of Southern Maine. She is author of The Ghost of Meter: Culture and Prosody in American Free Verse, Eve, and Calendars. She is the winner of the eleventh annual Robert Fitzgerald Prosody Award for scholars who have made a lasting contribution to the art and science of versification.

Kathrine Varnes teaches English at the University of Missouri-Columbia. She is the author of the book of poems, The Paragon. Her poems and essays have appeared in many books and journals.

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

When I started to edit An Exaltation of Forms, everyone thought my vision for the book was a revolutionary idea: to invite performance poets, free verse poets, metrical poets, and exploratory poets together into one book to talk about what form meant to them and to provide discussion and examples of their favorite forms. It took eight years to edit the book, and by the time we were done, everyone thought the idea made complete sense. It is still the only book of its kind, and I hear constantly from people who use it in teaching or in their own writing and find it irreplaceable.

About the Author

Annie Finch's books of poetry include Eve, Calendars, and Spells: New and Selected Poems. . Her poetry has appeared in the Penguin Anthology of Twentieth-Century Poetry and onstage at Carnegie Hall. She is also the author of many books about poetry including A Poet's Craft: A Comprehensive Guide to Making and Sharing Your Poetry. More at anniefinch.com.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Univ of Michigan Pr; 1st edition (February 20, 2002)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 442 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0472067257
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0472067251
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.51 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.25 x 1.25 x 9.25 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #492,583 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #100 in Literature Encyclopedias
- #451 in British & Irish Literary Criticism (Books)
- #590 in Poetry Anthologies (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.6 33 ratings

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Annie Finch
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Annie Finch is a poet, writer, translator, speaker, teacher, performer, and witch. She is the author of seven books of poetry including Spells: New and Selected Poems, Among the Goddesses, Eve, and Calendars. She has also published books sharing knowledge and ideas about poetry and poetic craft such as A Poet's Craft, The Body of Poetry, The Ghost of Meter, Villanelles, and Measure for Measure: An Anthology of Poetic Meters. Finch writes often about magic, feminism, and spirituality and is the editor of the first major anthology of abortion literature, Choice Words: Writers on Abortion. She has collaborated frequently with music, theater, and dance and is the founder of Poetry Witch Ritual Theater. Her poetry has been recognized with the Sarasvati Award and the Robert Fitzgerald Award and shortlisted for the Yale Series of Younger Poets, National Poetry Series, and Foreword Book Award, and her poems have been featured in such publications as The New York Times, The Norton Anthology of World Literature, and The Penguin Anthology of Twentieth-Century American Poetry. She teaches widely, and has lectured and performed on five continents.
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Kathrine Varnes
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Kathrine Varnes was born in Germany, but she grew up in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles where her parents became therapists during her early teens. She has taught engagement with literature through writing, reading, and performance for over fifteen years at various colleges and universities. After living in Delaware, Missouri, and Kentucky, Varnes has settled happily in Larchmont, New York. Links and further details at www.kathrinevarnes.com.
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33 global ratings

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cbjones1943
Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on March 16, 2016
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this is an indispensable book for my poetry practice...

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Elizabeth Vrenios
Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on September 27, 2017
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great book

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ShopperReviews
You're better off with a Norton Anthology (The Making of a ...
Reviewed in the United States on January 3, 2016
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A generic forms book with the same tired examples everyone else has already used. You're better off with a Norton Anthology (The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms), which will be far more informative and will use examples both classic and new.

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2 people found this helpful

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Jenni Wilson
Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2015
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Excellent text.

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[email protected]
as good or better than Turco
Reviewed in the United States on August 27, 2004
Wow, this book has made quite an impression. There is nothing I can say to top what has been said already, but what I can do is add my two cents of approval. I actually prefer this book over Turco's Book of Forms. It reads better and explains the forms better. This books covers a wide variety of traditional and experimental forms of poetry. And Finch and Varnes pulled together a diverse group of poets, from R.S. Gwynn and Dana Gioia to Maxine Chernoff and DJ Renegade. From Anthony Hecht to Paul Hoover. There's Tim Steele, Jan Hodge, X.J. Kennedy, Agha Shahid Ali, Maxine Kumin, Charles Bernstein, adn Billy COllins. You get all styles of poets and poetry within. For any serious poet, this is a must have book. And it is loaded with great examples of each type it discusses.

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15 people found this helpful

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Tracy Ebeling
Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on August 23, 2014
AAA+++

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J. Clemons
AVerage Insights
Reviewed in the United States on November 6, 2006
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Some good essays, but most were undergraduate pieces from the 1950s,except the ideas were less compelling than they would have been in that era. Disappointing, but also revealing, because as always it would be better if poets just wrote poetry (unless your John Keats: see his letters) and stopped cluttering up the world with their prose.

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Gut Reaction Reviews
Should be on every poet's shelf
Reviewed in the United States on October 16, 2020
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Having written six poetry books over the years, I had never really "studied" form. Having decided to improve my writing I bought three books on form. This is by far the best. The discussion of forms is enhanced by the variety of poets who take on each. There are forms in here I was not familiar with and some I had used unknowingly.
The discussions are not so academic one cannot follow, and the examples range from classic to modern. The poets are not shy about expressing their opinions whether about the forms or the reception of forms by other poets.
There may be more extensive books on the subject of forms, but I feel this is a must for any poetry lovers bookshelf.
I give this one five stars.

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B. G. Strand
CREATIVE VISIONS a golden thread of poetic forms
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 10, 2018
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The practical structure&approach using an essay from a poet protaginist therof,(with a few of their and others examples)makes this the most helpful and easy to follow guide of the many available to the serious student of poetic forms.The forms surveyed over the traditional ,across the spectrum to the avant-garde in the left field of poetry,under four main headings Meters/Stanzas/ Received forms/ Experimental.An excellent authorative primer on prosody,with a helpful introduction and biliography for further study.

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