The Ode Less Travelled: Unlocking the Poet within
by Stephen Fry
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List Price: ££7.99
Our Price: ££3.26
Your Save: £ 0.00 ( % )
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
Manufacturer: Arrow Books Ltd
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
EAN: 9780099509349
ISBN: 0099509342
Label: Arrow Books Ltd
Number Of Pages: 384
Publication Date: 2007-09-06
Publisher: Arrow Books Ltd
Studio: Arrow Books Ltd
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Comment: It starts well. The first section (on metre) is easy to read and understand, with plenty of examples. The constant attemps at humour in the first few pages soon dies out, thankfully, and I found the content both interesting and informative.
Unfortunately the second half of the book isn't as good. The chapter on form soon becomes bogged down in numerous short sections that seem to blend into each other in a mishmash of similar names. Also, the author appears to believe that vulgarities and obscenities are necessary to further the reader's understanding of the topics.
Overall, a very good book on metre, but the rest is poor.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Utterly brilliant - the perfect gift. Anyone who is studying English at any stage will thank you for it
Comment: I've seen it written here already but I learnt more about metre, rhyme and verse form(so poetry basically)from Stephen Fry than i did throughout my entire English Literature degree.
And all that i have learnt makes me want to throw myself at all the poems i already love and, perhaps, unlock a few more of their secrets.
Stephen Fry has an amusing, patient and passionate tone throughout as he imparts a vast knowledge in relatively simple terms. His lessons are illustrated with short excerpts fron some great poems. Throughout the book there are exercises to encourage the reader to put into practise the new skills learnt. It is, therefore, more than a book, it is a creative experience which on account of its privacy is most enjoyable.
Stephen Fry has succeeded utterly with this book. It will enrich your reading, and if ,for a while you have been staring at a blank page, it will certainly enrich your poetry writing. This book should be on every reading list in the land.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Illuminating to a poetry philistine. Fry's slightly twee schoolmasterly style might irritate.
Comment: This book did make me me appreciate poetry a bit more, at least the technicalities of it. But while I am a fan of his, I found the sheer Stephen Fry-ness of it hard to stomach at times, like all the PUT YOUR PENCIL DOWN NOW stuff. It's like he is indulging a fantasy of being an English Literature O-Level teacher at a minor public school, or something. Just a bit too earnest.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Perfection in book form.
Comment: I confess to picking this book up because I saw Stephen Fry's name on the spine. But it was not fan-ship that made me unable to put it down again. I had no particular interest in poetry when I started reading it. Over the years I had written a few scribbled poems here and there, but that's as far as it went. This book has changed all that.
Since reading this book I have bought, read, and loved poetry for the first time in my life. I can actually appreciate what I'm reading now instead of being bored. I have also begun writing with so much more satisfaction than before. There's something empowering about knowing the "rules", rather than just floundering along trying to make things rhyme. Whether you choose to use them or not is up to you, he encourages you to try everything your own way, but whatever you decide, it's now a *choice* rather than just not knowing any better.
The text is written as if he is speaking to you. It's all very light and conversational, but it never feels like he's dumbing it down. You get all the technical jargon explained and used in its proper place, but in such a way that it actually makes *sense*. He will explain the root of a word perhaps (amphibrach - amphi: on both sides, brach: short. A foot with short stresses on both sides of a heavy stress.) which makes things stick in my head all the more. Instead of being bombarded by pompous long words, they're all taken apart and you realise that they are there for more than just confusing us mere mortals. The meaning becomes clearer the more the words are used, and the first time you read something like, "Most people would say that limericks are certainly anapaestic in nature and that amphibrachs belong only in classical quantitive verse," and realise that you understood every bit of it, and not only that, but you have an opinion on the topic... well, it's a very good feeling.
It's also the first how-to writing book that has actually made me laugh out loud. His humour is transfused throughout the book, making it a highly enjoyable read. He never takes himself overly seriously, but at the same time obviously cares deeply for his subject and is writing to share it with others.
I love this book very very much and have recommended it to friends, who have bought it and loved it as much as I do.
I'm living in hope that he might write more books like this!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Narrative form of explanation exceeds all expectations
Comment: As has been already mentioned by many people and (some) critics. Mr.Fry has this delightful ability to convey the more sophisticated concepts in his own unique and bohemian style. It's as though he is constantly with you at every single step you take towards the "secretive" chambers of poetry.
Much of his mode of instruction is his own understanding and takes on matters. For readers unaccustomed or irreverent towards his sense of humour (and I can see why) - this book may come across as though taught by an unschooled self-taught yet a talented, passionate boy who has a refreshing take on things who tries too hard to come across as smart, casual and formal at the same time.
Regardless, it's a worthy attempt, one that should be encouraged and welcomed and allowed to veneer in unorthodoxy.
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