The Ode Less Travelled: Unlocking the Poet Within

This is such a surprising book. I mean we all know that Fry is brilliant but who thought he could write perhaps the best college-level introduction to poetic form and effect? There are, yes, quite a few books about poetic form and effect but . . . this is not only the funniest, smartest, well-organized, and insightful one I've seen it's just flat out the best book of its kind. Fry is perhaps not well-served by his publisher . . . the book needs some development work here and there (basically just filling in bits and piece of information that Fry skips over, expanding the examples, and fleshing out the references) and the design, both of the cover and text should be reworked. The current interior and cover, at least in the US edition, are basically just splitting the difference between a serious textbook and a trade book but the book, and Fry, and students would be much better served by a interior design that formalizes the hierarchies of information in the text and is professionally typeset by a designer who is used to dealing with complex instructional texts. (Oh, I'm sure it's a bit of a hard sell to say "textbook" in a meeting about a book by Fry but there's no reason a good designer can't deal with the information design and make the design modern and lively.) The text is typeset perhaps slightly better than your average mid-list trade book but it is a complex text about, hello!, the English language . . . Fry's overall presentation is undercut by the everyday sloppiness of the typesetting and the attempt to squeeze an instructional text into a simpler standard non-fiction trade text design. Take a look at, say, a Princeton University Press title that covers similar ground and you'll see immediately that there are much better, more useful, ways of designing a book like Fry's. Likewise, thought a much easier problem to solve, the cover doesn't help position the book in the market. It's not a standard trade non-fiction book, it's a freaking genius and classic textbook that every college student should have at the ready. The cover doesn't have to be dry and boring, it can be wild and lively but . . . it needs to be a cover that looks like it belongs next to the CMS, a Fowler's, and a Webster's. Publisher! Hello! This book could, and should, have a long, long tail. There's no reason I can think of that the book can't be a _standard_ textbook for nearly every college student subjected to a class in poetry. It's not half as dry as the Turco book on poetic form and it's not as detailed as the Miller Williams but I suspect it could have a larger, more enthusiastic audience than either of those books . . . and both of those have gone through many editions. The Fry might be hard sell in a publishing meeting but I suspect it's much, much easier sale at, say, a college English department meeting. What adjunct English prof wouldn't leap at a chance to use a textbook that's a good excuse for watching a bunch of Youtube clips of Fry and Laurie? So, all of my complaints aside, this is a completely unexpected Five Star Book, easily the best available undergraduate introduction to poetic form and effect. Buy it. Read it. Laugh. Cry. Write poetry!

Stephen Fry (yes, that Stephen Fry) takes a unique approach to teaching poetry-writing: rather than aiming to turn out writers of literature, Fry writes for the poetry-hobbyist, likening it to learning to paint for one's own enjoyment. I've thoroughly enjoyed the book, and the personal journey he took me on. Fry's step-by-step approach was very easy to follow.

I LOVED this book. I am reasonably new to poetry, having only been reading and writing it extensively for a couple of years. I've looked on-line for "how to write better poetry", which is well worth doing, however, Stephen Fry takes all the results from all the google searches and condenses it down into a superbly ordered and explained treatise on why he likes poetry and how poetry is written, analysed and discussed. All of it told in an accessible, witty and fun way. Typical Fry. I have been hanging out with poets for years. I discuss their work, I discuss my own work, but we rarely, if ever, discuss meter. Most poets I know and talk to barely know what meter is... it's that thing that the high school teacher glazed over, because she didn't understand it herself and that was just one of the things on the curriculum that has to be taught on the way to sanitizing poetry out of the students (I generalize - that was my poetry experience. If you had better, I envy you!). Fry makes it front and centre. Poetry and meter are linked and understanding meter will make you a better poet. I believe this strongly. His overviews of the different types of rhyme (he has at least 4), poetry form and all his examples are lots of fun to read. I was particularly taken with the villanelle form, which Fry confessed, was the form that led to him writing this book in the first place. I borrowed this book from the library and took it on holiday with me. About half way through, I fought to get an internet connection and ordered a copy, which is now sitting in front of me. It is now my poetry reference and one I go to often.

It’s been a long time since my last poetry class, and I’ll have to confess that even back then my attention sometimes wandered. Stephen Fry is a writer, comedian, and actor. He was the comedy partner of Hugh Laurie (“House”) for years, and if you saw the recent The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, he played the foppish Master of Laketown. His writing talent shines here, and the Ode Less Travelled is a wonderful review (or introduction, if you never studied poetry) to the mechanics of poetry. Fry covers most of the basic components of poetry, and offers wonderful examples from great and lesser-known literature, as well as his own hilarious constructions. The book is designed as a tongue-in-cheek workbook, where you are encouraged (ordered?) to try the various techniques yourself. If you have an interest in poetry, or wonder why some people do, this book is a delightful learning tool.

4 star instead of 5 as the book is in rather shabby condition. Content: an easy 5. Whimsical and informative/

Absolute fun to read this book. Stephen Fry is a great coach and his writing style makes this such an engrossing read for someone who loves the poetry form and wishes to delve into writing poetry!

Seul bémol: je prête souvent ce livrée et les gens ne le rendent pas! Je ne sais pas combien j'en ai déjà acheté.

A lovely book that makes writing your own poetry even more fun! Recommended!

Want to be a better poet ?Then DO the exercises from the book. The villanelle exercise was great. I read my first villanelle at a poetry webinar . I got complemented on my ability to master tough forms. What a rush. This book will make you a better poet whether you are a tyro or have some experience

Excelente producto para entender la poesía en inglés desde sus fundamentos.

I never really understood poetry. And then, in the first pages of "The Ode Less Travelled" these 3 Golden Rules just changed the way i viewed poetry. Allowing me to truly appreciated it. And that was literally before the book even started. In the "The Ode Less Travelled" one learns how to write poetry. Or in my case, how to read poetry, for i have no intention to write it. English is not even my first language, and yet I've read 300 and so pages that talk about iambic pentameters, and sonnets, and villanelles, etc. And all because this book was amazingly written, Stephen Fry is so funny, I just loved this book! It was truly a fun informative read! I even did the poetry exercises (Which didn't turned out great, not the book's fault though). So I guess "The Ode Less Travelled" did Unlock the Poet Within, for better or for worse....