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Poetry Writing Reference books:
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Practice, practice, and then practice some more. Get some first grade writing paper to practice on or a learning to write workbook. I found these two on Amazon actually for adults. One is cursive the other is print.
Cursive handwriting workbook for Adults: Learn to write in Cursive, Improve your writing skills & practice penmanship for adults https://www.amazon.com/dp/B089CZYTFV/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_ESfQFb9X0RXQK
Print Handwriting Workbook for Adults: Improve your printing handwriting & practice print penmanship workbook for adults https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08BFRDFS9/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_cTfQFb7085AZK
> Derek Attridge's The Rhythms of English Poetry
Thanks for the review! On this subject, looking for something more academic I have been. Stephen Fry’s The Ode Less Traveled is a lighthearted and composition-driven introduction to metered verse, for those interested.
There are more tricks and rules going on, more than just ligatures and abbreviations, which create the spacing and connections. If you want to learn more, find The Palaeography of Gothic Manuscript Books. Calligraphy and typography books do not cover the same territory. There are very few fonts which include the features found in palaeography. One such font is AJ Quadrata.
I love palaeography and just want to share a bit. The rubricated p's stands for psalmus - which, together with the large initial letter, indicates a new song. (Like "shouldn't" and "wouldn't" the dot indicates a missing letter.) If you're interested in learning medieval scribal abbreivations & ligatures, I can thoroughly recommend Derolez's book. With a little knowledge, something like this 1400s English manuscript reveals itself to be pretty much plain English.
It's more of a surprise when half r isn't used.
If you are interested in palaeography, I recommend Derolez's The Palaeography of Gothic Manuscript Books. It is of course nothing like a calligraphy book, but is very special in 'opening' the past. It's a delight to be able to open an early English illuminated book, and see - even though it doesn't look like English - that there are many phrases that are perfectly understandable to any modern speaker. The past is not always as foreign as it seems.
Having just read it a few months back, I recommend the John D Smith edition, which is the only 'complete' translation in a single volume. I promise you, that you won't get any other translation in a single book.
There's a reason I put 'complete' like that: the filler parts of the Mahabharata (and there are a lot) are summarised instead of a whole translation. If that bothers you go for the 10 volume Bibek Debroy edition.
>Who do you suggest for the Rāmayana?
same author also wrote an abridged version of the Ramayana: https://www.amazon.ca/Ramayana-Shortened-Modern-Version-Indian/dp/0143039679
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disclaimer: i like the literary style of the author and am not a theologian.
The Ode less traveled is such a book and it will give you exposure to lots of forms and detail examples with the humor and wit of Mr. Fry. Obviously, there are old english textbooks on the subject too. You could try Norton .
Let’s say you want to compose dactylic hexameter and compose an epic in the Homeric manner. I’m not sure that can be done. The more you learn about the epics the more increasingly complicated they become. To think you could do it would be like saying I’m going to build a rocket ship and fly to mars with spare parts in my garage while simultaneously digging to the center of the earth and visiting parallel universes. First learn Ancient Greek or Latin, Latin is less complicated fyi, not only to fluency but with formal poetic style because English is completely unsuited for such a venture because Epic requires, to my mind , highly inflected language. Is there a chance, yeah but ignore it it’s so small.
Or a book like this. I bought it for my 7 year old son and he learned cursive in about ten sessions (which took him several months because his motivation was off and on, and I wasn’t inclined to push it.) I think you could be up and running in a week, honestly. You have the basics down. Just need to retrain your habits and consistency.
There’s a collection of poems compiled in a book called Love Speaks Its Name, that you might wanna check out!
Love Speaks Its Name (Everyman's Library Pocket Poets) https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0375411704/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_womBCbTQ1PN6Z
Lol, fuck that. Unabridged costs in excess of £200.
Will ask /r/hinduism too.
I've recommended any of Garrison Keillor's "Good Poems" books to first-time poetry readers, and they've all thanked me for it. They're not exactly 'courses' on poetry, but they are definitely well-rounded collections.
As far as learning the different types of poetry, I would recommend getting a course on writing poetry, rather than a textbook. You might not finish the book with the next volume of Charles Bukowski or Robert Frost sitting on your desktop, but you will understand how poems are put together and why poets would use certain forms over another. If you have any kind of writing experience, Michael Bugeja's The Art and Craft of Poetry is one of the best.