Product Description

Stephen Fry's The Ode Less Travelled provides us with a witty and entertaining guide to the mysteries of writing poetry.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2725 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09-06
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Synopsis
Stephen Fry believes that if you can speak and read English you can write poetry. But it is no fun if you don't know where to start or have been led to believe that Anything Goes. Stephen, who has long written poems, and indeed has written long poems, for his own private pleasure, invites you to discover the incomparable delights of metre, rhyme and verse forms. Whether you want to write a Petrarchan sonnet for your lover's birthday, an epithalamion for your sister's wedding or a villanelle excoriating the government's housing policy, The Ode Less Travelled will give you the tools and the confidence to do so. Brimful of enjoyable exercises, witty insights and simple step-by-step advice, "The Ode Less Travelled" guides the reader towards mastery and confidence in the Mother of the Arts.

From the Inside Flap
Stephen Fry believes that if you can speak and read English you can write poetry. But it is no fun if you don't know where to start or have been led to believe that Anything Goes.
Stephen, who has long written poems, and indeed has written long poems, for his own private pleasure, invites you to discover the incomparable delights of metre, rhyme and verse forms.
Whether you want to write a Petrarchan sonnet for your lover's birthday, an epithalamion for your sister's wedding or a villanelle excoriating the government's housing policy, The Ode Less Travelled will give you the tools and the confidence to do so. Brimful of enjoyable exercises, witty insights and simple step-by-step advice, The Ode Less Travelled guides the reader towards mastery and confidence in the Mother of the Arts.

From the Back Cover
Stephen Fry believes that if you can speak and read English you can write poetry. But it is no fun if you don't know where to start or have been led to believe that Anything Goes.

Stephen, who has long written poems, and indeed has written long poems, for his own private pleasure, invites you to discover the incomparable delights of metre, rhyme and verse forms.
Whether you want to write a Petrarchan sonnet for your lover's birthday, an epithalamion for your sister's wedding or a villanelle excoriating the government's housing policy, this book will give you the tools and the confidence to do so.

Brimful of enjoyable exercises, witty insights and simple step-by-step advice, The Ode Less Travelled guides the reader towards mastery and confidence in the Mother of the Arts.

`Fry's extraordinary book is an idiots' guide to the writing of poetry… You can't but marvel at Fry's easy familiarity with the rictameter and the rondeau redoublé and applaud the energy of his evangelistic zeal' Independent on Sunday

`With his usual wit and occasional obscenity, he takes us through an array of metrical forms and poetic structures, talking to us like a cajoling hearty teacher' Sunday Telegraph

`Intelligent and informative, a worthy enterprise well executed' Observer

`A smart, sane and entertaining return to basics' Daily Telegraph

`Funny and instructive' Spectator

Customer Reviews

Clever, witty, but...
Clever, but very opinionated. Its anti freeverse agenda makes it the Daily Mail of poetry books. I hope that would-be poets will balance their reading diet with a few less reactionary tomes.

If you only ever read one book on poetry..... make it this one
'Stephen Fry' is a pretty reliable brand: he writes stylishly, performs wonderfully, and usually combines wit, wisdom and knowledge in a unique package. I had some doubts that he could work his magic on what is essentially a teaching text about the form and structure of verse - but I should have trusted.

His enthusiasm for poetry shines through every page, and he sverves so swiftly and deftly from exposition to wit to analysis to exercise to opinionated rant to respectful homage, and to much else, that I found myself almost cheering his honesty, directness and clarity. He is a wonderful populariser who manages to mark his teaching with his own personality and yet respects the sources of his knowledge. The exercises are fun and truly helpful (he really understands that we learn best by doing), and the analysis he offers is wonderfully wide-ranging. It takes a certain kind of genius and cheek to productively compare Hopkins, Hardy and McGonagall's 'The Tay Bridge Disaster' within a few pages, but Fry manages it. He also cheekily, but effectively, does much of his teaching by writing samples and explanations in verse.

Just occasionally Fry "luxuriates in the exuberance of his own verbosity" (as apparently Disraeli did) and goes on a fraction too much. His forward is ten pages long and basically tells us that poetry deserves its own 'how to' book. But these moments are rare and others may think them part of his charm. Also, although the book has an excellent glossary and a proper reading list, I would have welcomed an index - this little primer is good enough to continue using as a reference work. It has certainly persuaded me to return to poetry books that have been gathering dust.

And it really should be on the reading list of every would-be English Literature student! Fry can slip from the sublime to the vulgar and back again with an ease which makes him a most endearing teacher.

When you buy it, make sure you also purchase a new notebook, some pencils and a rubber. Fry's homework is hard to resist.

Excellent book
I bought this book because I love Stephen Fry's writing, not specifically to learn about poetry. Working my way through it has been a wonderful experience. It is written in a style that feels like a personal tutorial, and the concepts (especially the section on metre) are explained very clearly and with humour. I have been pleasantly surprised at how my writing has developed by doing the exercises, and my appreciation of poetry has deepened. Along with his many other talents, Stephen Fry is a gifted teacher on this subject and I have definitely benefitted by taking this journey with him. I would recommend this book to anyone.