09-20-2011, 05:08 AM
Like anything else I guess sometimes it's helpful. Mostly, what I find helpful are not the how to books but the essays that make you think about different aspects fo your writing. I'm in the process of reading Orr's Beautiful and Pointless and Bernstein's Attack of the Difficult Poems. I find the essays more interesting because there's usually something I can pick up that gives me insight into how I might work. I don't look at these things as ways to pick up technique (that usually comes from analysing why the poems I like work).
No silver bullets though...I think a few of these are moderately helpful but maybe not in the way the author envisioned them being used. If it's someone touting their own style I would find that less than helpful.
No silver bullets though...I think a few of these are moderately helpful but maybe not in the way the author envisioned them being used. If it's someone touting their own style I would find that less than helpful.
The secret of poetry is cruelty.--Jon Anderson