The Art of the Poetic Line

Author: James Longenbach

Publisher: Graywolf Press (2007)

"Poetry is the sound of language organized in lines." James Longenbach opens this provocative book with that essential statement. Through a range of examples―from Shakespeare and Milton to Ashbery and Glück―Longenbach describes the function of line in metered, rhymed, syllabic, and free-verse poetry. The Art of the Poetic Line is a vital new resource by one of America's most important critics and most engaging poets.

The Art Of series is a new line of books reinvigorating the practice of craft and criticism. Each book will be a brief, witty, and useful exploration of fiction, nonfiction, or poetry by a writer impassioned by a singular craft issue. The Art Of volumes will provide a series of sustained examinations of key but sometimes neglected aspects of creative writing by some of contemporary literature's finest practioners.