Written by two major American poets, this guide to versification is immensely useful for anyone interested in poetry or in general poetic structure. Its systematic study of meter, tempo, rhyme, and other components of verse incorporates countless vivid illustrative examples.
Concise and informal, The Prosody Handbook progresses from the smaller elements to the larger: from syllables to feet to lines to stanzas, and from smaller stanzas to larger ones. Its modified notation for marking times and stresses is easily understandable. The extensive and expanded material in the chapter titled Scansions and Comments introduces the manifold problems of scansion, confronting readers with the necessity of considering a poem's prosody simultaneously with all its other elements and aspects.
A glossary provides ready definitions and illustrations of the most common prosodic terms. A brief chapter covers classical prosody, and the text concludes with an updated bibliography. Both readers and writers of poetry will find this comprehensive volume an essential companion.