I need to re-read this now that I'm writing poetry. It wasn't as useful to me when I was studying short fiction.

i fucking hate poetry with a burning passion and this book only slightly changed that so now i hate poetry sometimes with a burning passion

dead poet’s society !!

A really nice collection of poems, neatly grouped to guide the reader/student. Really helpful for a poetry novice. But, a little dull, and occasionally, a little overwhelming with the sheer number of poems it offers. Also, it's a little traditionalist, sometimes focusing on a very narrow interpretation of the poem, but again, it serves as a nice introduction to the poetry world.

A nice mix of poetry, with some gentle guidance.

Read this book as the textbook for my Poetry class. Extremely useful and easily understandable for people who find poetry difficult (and intimidating.) The book also provides questions that help you to understand and analyse the poems, along with some background information about the poems and poets.

A really good book on writing, specifically poetic writing.

*3.7
Yes, it's didactic. Yes, the explanations are ridiculously pretentious. Yes, it should include more Eliot. But on the whole, a very worthy collection of poetry. I'd personally drop some and add some others. The explanations can be lengthy but it truly has some interesting [again, so pretentious but also interesting] things to say about poetry. It's a hard subject for a textbook, I think. And as far as textbooks go, I nearly enjoyed reading it all.
I say well done.