WRITING POEMS
By Peter Sansom
Bloodaxe Books Ltd, P.O. Box 1SN, Newcastle Upon Tyne NE99 1SN,1994, paperback, ISBN 1-85224-204-3, UK £ 7.95, 128 pp,
Very Highly Recommended
Peter Sansom, one of the best contemporary poets, has extensive experience of poetry workshops and courses and has held
several placements in schools and colleges. He was also writer-in-residence at Doncaster Central library for three years and
he is a director of The Poetry Business in Huddersfield and co-editor of The North Magazine and Smith/Doorstop Books and Cassettes.
WRITING POEMS is a little book that does not tell you what or how to write, but helps you say genuinely what you genuinely
need to say, the writer says at the introduction of the book.
The book includes ten sections:
Section one deals with Poetry and the Marketplace, Submitting Poems to Magazines and other interesting topics.
Section two analyzes a poem . There the reader will learn the basics about meter , rhyme and free verse. The Spirit of
the Age comes in section three, offering the reader a range of literary fashions , while, section four, Almost a Remembrance,
displays practical hints on how to create the vivid detail poems need by comparing and contrasting various poems.
There is plenty to be said about the poems , but I want to draw your attention to their endings, the writer says. It is
tempting to finish a poem with a flourish , but the bigger the ending the more it has to have been earned by what precedes
it.
Section five ,Writing Poems, focuses on more detailed elements , such as punctuation, drafting ,the disaster poem and many
other. I think free verse looks odd with capitals heading the lines, the writer advises.
Workshop techniques and writing games are included in section six. An extremely interesting section showing the readers
how to enhance their writing and give them the motive to keep on writing. Packed with topics and questions to help the new
writer create is easy to follow and fun as well:
FREE WRITING (also called hot-penning). Use as a warm-up and as an exercise in itself. There are three rules:
- Once youve started you must not stop writing.
- You must not think. Let the writing go its own way...
- You must not rhyme.
A detailed approach of meter, rhyme , half-rhyme and free verse is in section seven , informing the reader about Given
or Fixed form. Section eight is about Some Given Forms, that is to say, stanzas, sonnet sequences, Haiku and other.
In section nine are displayed some poets and poems, while section ten ,Where to Go from Here, includes a glossary of technical
terms.
At the end of the book there is a bibliography section and then a section with Some Useful Addresses, such as The Poetry
Society, London, Scottish Art Council and other.
There is also a Libraries list, a Critical section and a Writing Courses list.
Peter Sansoms Writing Poems is an easy read that offers the reader thorough knowledge on poetry writing. The poet-to-be
will find this workshop-book invaluable and practical as well. There are numerous examples throughout the book and a lot of
information on how to submit to magazines, the small presses and other handy details.
Moreover, the writer includes brief resumes and discussion of literary history and literary fashions , and the creative
process itself. On completing this book, the readers can decide for themselves how they want their work to develop, whether
that magazine was right in returning it or if they simply dont know their poetic arse from their elbow.
WRITING POEMS caters for new writers, poetry reviewers, as well as all readers who wish to educate themselves in poetry
related areas.
It is an excellent ,informative book that no one should miss.
Related Titles
By the same author:On the Pennine Way, 1988
Everything Youve Heard is True, 1990
January, 1994
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Getting into Poetry by Paul Hyland
