Robert McDowell

The title of this book led me to think that it would have some basic instruction on how to write poetry—you can't assume anyone is familiar with that—but that mostly the book would be on how to integrate poetry into my spiritual practice. But in reality, it's almost entirely a poetry-writing 101 instruction guide, concentrating on the traditional forms, and fairly indistinguishable from other introductory books on the topic. McDowell does talk about spirituality throughout the book, but only in the most general terms, referring to some generic spirituality that has something to do with mindfulness, meditation, opening the heart, etc.

I would have liked at least to have been able to recommend this book as a beginning text on poetry, even if it didn't do much for me personally as a spiritual guide. However, I believe there are some factual errors in the chapter on sonnets. The author appears to confuse the English and Italian sonnet forms, calling the English form "Petrarchan" (Italian sonnets can be called "Petrarchan;" English sonnets are "Shakespearean"). One of his examples of an English sonnet is actually an Italian one—indeed, it's a translation of one of Petrarch's sonnets.

Overall, this could be a supplementary book on how to write poetry, but you should probably look elsewhere both for introductions to writing poetry and suggestions of how to bring poetry into your spirituality and vice versa.… (mehr)

Every so often you come across a book - that even if you are not finished, you must start telling anyone who will listen that they should read it too. The is a VERY readable and understandable book. Did I mention interesting, informative, and does not read as a textbook? Grab a cup of coffee or tea and dive in. Copyright is 2008 so it is still easy to get your hands on. Robert actually makes poetry easy to understand. I've given up on poetry in the past - the books I find on it are to technical, this book is like Robert sitting next to you discussing poetry. What about that phrase "spiritual Practice"? Will this book be only about Hyms and Proverbs? No. You will meet poets, understand why what they have or had to say is important without getting dazed by too much information. This book will sit on my shelf and be read and referred to again and again - I will not give away any more information, the surprises will be yours to discover. - Thank you Robert for writing this book, I love it.… (mehr)