The Sounds of Poetry cover

The Sounds of Poetry

by Robert Pinsky

As Poet Laureate, Pinsky is one of America's best spokesmen for poetry, In this book, writing plainly and specifically, for general readers as well as for poets, he explains in detail how the sounds of poetry embody the work of art that is "performed" in us when we read it aloud. Pinsky devotes clear, informative chapters to the sonic elements of poetry: accent and duration, syntax and line, like and unlike sounds, blank verse and free verse. He illustrates these with examples from the work of some fifty poets - from Shakespeare, Milton, and Emily Dickinson to William Carlos Williams, Wallace Stevens, Robert Frost, Elizabeth Bishop, Louise Glock, C.K. Williams, and Frank Bidart.

Chappie’s discussion starters

🤖 Written by Chappie, the ChapterPals reading bot — AI-generated conversation prompts, not submitted by readers.

  1. Which character stayed with you after you turned the last page, and why?
  2. Was there a moment where you disagreed with a character’s choice? What would you have done?
  3. What theme did this book keep circling back to — and did it earn its ending?
  4. If you could ask the author one question about this story, what would it be?
  5. Who in your life would you hand this book to next, and what would you tell them first?