There's no better way for you to learn about poetry and understand its elements than with "Perrine's Sound and Sense". Both a concise introduction to poetry and an anthology, this classic best-seller succinctly covers the basics of poetry with chapters on evaluating poetry, exemplary poetry selections that you'll enjoy reading, and exercises that help you understand each selection. Every poem included in this collection is not only a perfect illustration of the poetic concept at hand, but a remarkable work in its own right.
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There's no better way for you to learn about poetry and understand its elements than with "Perrine's Sound and Sense". Both a concise introduction to poetry and an anthology, this classic best-seller succinctly covers the basics of poetry with chapters on evaluating poetry, exemplary poetry selections that you'll enjoy reading, and exercises that help you understand each selection. Every poem included in this collection is not only a perfect illustration of the poetic concept at hand, but a remarkable work in its own right.
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I have used the 11th edition (this is the 12th edition) for my AP Literature and Composition class for a few years now. Even though Perrine's text (including "Structure and Sense") tend to be pricey, they are well worth it. The chapter splits are geared at getting the reader to think about defining components of poetry (i.e. meter, tone, form, imagery, etc.). There is a great mixture of American, British, and World poets in this text from a variety of major literary eras. Each poem is accompanied with questions that require the reader to analyze the poem with depth.
There are really only a few shortcomings with this text: limited background information on each poem/poet, non-specification of poet origins (British poet).
Of course, adding such information would make Sound and Sense as large as a Norton Anthology. I don't think that is what Perrine's text aim to accomplish - they want to be practical while still doing justice to the art form.
That is exactly what this text does. Highly recommended for classroom use and for an independent study of poetry.
