University of Michigan Press, 2002
Coedited with Katherine Varnes
“An Exaltation of Forms will fascinate, educate, and surprise poets, students and critics of poetry, creative writing students, and anyone who loves and appreciates poetry.”
“At once handbook, reader, and guide to the literary tastes and wisdom of poets, An Exaltation of Forms is an indispensable resource certain to find a dedicated audience among poetry lovers. The editors invited over fifty contemporary poets to select a poetic meter, stanza, or form, describe it, recount its history, and provide favorite examples. The essays represent a remarkably diverse range of literary styles and approaches, and show how the forms of contemporary English-language poetry derive from a wealth of different traditions.
The forms range from hendecasyllabics to prose poetry, haiku to procedural poetry, sonnets to blues, rap to fractal verse. The range of poets included is equally impressive–from Amiri Baraka to John Frederick Nims, from Maxine Kumin to Marilyn Hacker, from Agha Shahid Ali to Pat Mora, from W. D. Snodgrass to Charles Bernstein. Achieving this level of eclecticism is a remarkable feat, especially given the strong opinions held by members of the various camps (e.g., the New Formalists, LANGUAGE poets, feminist and multicultural poets) that exist within today’s poetry community. Poets who might never occupy the same room here occupy the same pages, perhaps for the first time. The net effect is a book that will surprise, inform, and delight a wide range of readers, whether as reference book, pleasure reading, or classroom text.”
-from Amazon
REVIEWS
“I have and will continue to use An Exaltation of Forms in my course: Survey of Forms. It’s an undergraduate entry level poetry course designed to familarize creative writing majors with prosody and form. In the Spring of 2002 I supplemented the class texts with An Exaltation of Forms as soon as it was published. I plan to use the book in its entirety when I teach the course again in the spring of 2003. An Exaltation of Forms offers a much more inclusive survey of forms than other books. The book offers a range of poetic styles, philosophies and approaches– an abundance of models for students. For example, unlike the Wallace and Bishop textbooks, An Exaltation of Forms includes discussions of avant garde forms and even spoken word forms– two forms/genres often under-represented in creative writing courses.”
-Terrance Hayes
“My new poetry group of six is using An Exaltation of Forms to try out new forms. We meet once a month and decide on a form to read about and experiment with for the next meeting. Everyone loves the book and says that it’s far better than other books about forms they’ve seen.”
-Judith Barrington
“I am happily using An Exaltation of Forms in conjunction with Perrine’s Sound & Sense for a graduate course called Poetry for Poets which attempts to cover both the theory of poetry (elements etc) & some practice. Both texts work well, and quite well together. I haven’t assigned every chapter of An Exaltation of Forms by a long shot. But I think it is a very useful book and I would definitely use it again!”
-Rachel Hadas
“An Exaltation of Forms is an invigorating book. I read it, share it with friends, and recommend it to students.”
-Grace Schulman
“An Exaltation of Forms is a revolutionary book.”
-Elizabeth Alexander
“Finch and Varnes have compiled and edited a groundbreaking and important book on poetry and its forms. Most outstanding is how the book is true to its title; it IS an exaltation of forms. Eclipsing Lewis Turco’s The Book of Forms, this volume celebrates poetic expression in its polyvalent forms. The editors gathered short, pithy introductions to poetic forms (from dactyl metrics to the ghazal) used by practicing poets from the well-known (Billy Collins, Maxine Kumin) to the emerging (Vince Gotera, Tracie Morris). Accompanying the introductions are poetic examples of the forms. Most impressive is the range and eclecticism of topics: LANGUAGE poetry lies next to new formalist poetry lies next to slam poetry lies next to shaped poetry. In short, this book deftly and enthusiastically answers the question of where poetry stands at the beginning of the 21st century. Highest recommendation.”
–J. Brock, Choice
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Meters
DANA GIOIA
Accentual Verse
MARGARET HOLLEY
Syllabics: Sweeter Melodies
PAUL HOOVER
Counted Verse: Upper Limit Music
JOHN RIDLAND
Iambic Meter
ANTHONY HECHT
Blank Verse
CHARLES O. HARTMAN
Anapestics
CARL PHILLIPS
Trochaic Meter: Running with Abandon
ANNIE FINCH
Dactylic Meter: A Many-Sounding Sea
MICHELLE BOISSEAU
Free Verse
RACHEL HADAS
Hendecasyllabics: All Composed in a Metre of Catullus
ROSANNA WARREN
Quantitative Meter, including Alcaics
JOHN FREDERICK NIMS
Some Maverick Meters
2. Stanzas
TIMOTHY STEELE
Heroic Couplet: “The Bravest Sort of Verses”
FELIX STEFANILE
Terza Rima: The Self-Engendering Muse
JOHN HOLLANDER
Quatrain
GRACE SHULMAN
Sapphics
JACQUELINE OSHEROW
Ottava Rima
R.S GWYNN
Spenser’s Eponymous
PAT MORA
Décima: a Poetic Journey from Spain to New Mexico
3. Received Forms
W.D SNODGRASS
Folk Ballad
JUDITH BARRINGTON
Ballade: Exquisite Intricacy
RAYMOND PATTERSON
Blues
JAN D. HODGE
Carmina Figurata: Taking Shape
X.J KENNEDY
Epigram: Gists, Piths, and Poison-Pills
AGHA SHAHID ALI
Ghazal: To Be Teased Into DisUnity
JEAN HYUNG YUL CHU
Haiku
TRACIE MORRIS
Hip Hop Rhyme Formations
WILLIAM J. HIGGINSON/PENNY HARTER
Japanese-Style Linked Forms
GAIL WHITE
Clerihew & Limerick
NANCY WILLARD
Litany Poem: A Wand Made of Words
ROB HARDIN
Musical Form and Formalist Poetry
VINCE GOTERA
Pantoum: Postcolonial Pedigree
MAXINE CHERNOFF/MICHEL DELVILLE
Prose Poem: Strange Tales and Bitter Emergencies
D.J RENEGADE
Rap
TOM DISCH
Rondeaus and Roundels
LEWIS TURCO
Sestina: The End Game
MARILYN HACKER
Sonnet
KATHLEENE WEST
Triolet: Trippingly on the Tongue
MAXINE KUMIN
Villanelle: Gymnastics
4. Principles for Formal Experimentation
HILDA MORLEY
Organic Form
ALICE FULTON
Fractal Amplifications
BOB HOLMAN
Performance Poetry
KEITH TUMA
Beyond Found Poetry
DAVID LEHMAN
List poem
JENA OSMAN
Procedural Poetry: Intentions of Nonintention
CHARLES BERNSTEIN
Nude Formalism
ALDON NEILSEN
Oulipian Poetry
Fluency of Form: Three Inventions
ALLISON JOSEPH
Cinquain, Quattern
AMIRI BARAKA
Lo Coup
MARK WALLACE
Predetermined Avant Garde Forms
Bibliography: Sources for Further Reading
Contributors’ Notes
Index of poets quoted
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