An Annotated Checklist of English Versification
by Jeffrey Woodward
Click on the title of each text for more details.
I. General Reference
Baker, David, ed. Meter in EnglishBrogan, Terry V. F. English VersificationAnthology of essays by various contributors that debates the fundamental nature and definition of the traditional English metrical foot
Intermediate
Highly Informative
Gross, Harvey, ed. The Structure of VerseA groundwork bibliographical reference on prosody
Intermediate
Optional
Preminger, Alexander, ed. The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and PoeticsCollection of excellent and otherwise difficult to locate essays on metrics
Intermediate
Highly Informative
The standard encyclopedic reference in the field on the theory and history of poetics
Beginner
Essential
II. Historical Studies
Attridge, Derek. Well-Weighed SyllablesBridges, Robert Seymour. Milton's ProsodyHistory of the literary controversies surrounding classical quantitative measures in the Elizabethan period
Advanced
Optional
Gross, Harvey. Sound and Form in Modern PoetryA thorough review of iambic meter, elision and blank verse structure in Milton but applicable to English versification as a whole
Intermediate
Essential
Saintsbury, George. Historical Manual of English ProsodyA fascinating critique of metrical developments from Hardy to Lowell
Intermediate
Highly Informative
Schipper, Jakob. A History of English VersificationA comprehensive historical overview but somewhat dated
Beginner
Optional
Another broad historical survey but with particularly insightful sections on an aspect of poetics often overlooked: the structure of the stanza
Advanced
Essential
III. Prosody Theory and Criticism
Attridge, Derek. Rhythms of English PoetryAttridge, Derek. Poetic RhythmAn exhaustive theory of rhythm as informed by literary and linguistic studies
Advanced
Highly Informative
Finch, Annie. The Ghost of MeterA revision of the above title which aims at greater accessibility to a "lay" audience
Intermediate
Highly Informative
Fussell, Paul. Poetic Meter and Poetic FormA literary critique of the "culture and prosody" of free verse in America
Beginner
Highly Informative
Hartman, Charles O. Free VerseA very popular and perceptive handbook of metrical criticism
Beginner
Highly Informative
Lewis, C.S. Selected Literary EssaysAn exploration of free verse within its cultural context with emphasis on an understanding of its non-metrical structural principles
Intermediate
Highly Informative
Steele, Timothy. All The Funs In How You Say A ThingThree interesting metrical essays among many others on varied literary topics
Beginner
Optional
A sensible examination of meter directed toward and unlikely to bore the neophyteThompson, John. The Founding of English MetreBeginner
Highly Informative
A fundamental inquiry into modern English metrical development in the Tudor and Elizabethan erasWinters, Yvor. The Function of CriticismAdvanced
Essential
Two metrical essays of significance for historical and critical reasons in a volume devoted largely to other literary mattersWinters, Yvor. In Defense of ReasonIntermediate
Highly Informative
Cited here predominately as the easiest source of access for the out-of-print title that immediately followsWinters, Yvor. Primitivism and DecadenceIntermediate
Highly Informative
An early study of Pound, Eliot, Williams, Stevens and Moore and one of the first attempts to offer a theory of free verse structureIntermediate
Highly Informative
IV. Versification Manuals
Beum, Robert and Karl Shapiro. A Prosody HandbookA solid versification manual addressed to undergraduate and graduate studentsCorn, Alfred. The Poem's HeartbeatBeginner
Highly Informative
A basic prelude to further study that fails to rival its many competitors in the burgeoning field of versification handbooksFenton, James. An Introduction to English PoetryBeginner
Optional
A solid guide to the traditional foot-system but considerably weaker on syllabic, quantitative and accentual meters as well as on free verseHobsbaum, Philip. Metre, Rhythm and Verse FormBeginner
Optional
An adequate overview of basic meters, prosodic terminology and other fundamentalsHollander, John. Rhyme's ReasonBeginner
Optional
A popular survey of the fundamentals which relies on excellent verse examples and sound but succinct analysisMalof, Joseph. A Manual of English MetersBeginner
Highly Informative
An uncommon emphasis on folk meters and native accentual systems while iambics and other metrical issues yet receive their dueMcAuley, James. VersificationIntermediate
Optional
An extremely abbreviated but incisive essay that instructs the beginner and advanced student alikeTurco, Lewis. The Book of FormsBeginner
Essential
The most popular versification manual on the market todayWilliams, Miller. Patterns of PoetryBeginner
Highly Informative
A pleasurable preface to metrics which relies greatly on the author's judicious selection and analysis of contemporary formal poemsBeginner
Highly Informative
V. Anthologies of Formal Verse
Dacey, Philip, and David Jauss, eds. Strong MeasuresUseful appendices on meter and form with a generous sampling of some of the best of contemporary formal verseFinch, Annie, ed. A Formal Feeling ComesIntermediate
Highly Informative
The most comprehensive anthology of formal verse by contemporary women poetsFinch, Annie, and Kathrine Varnes, eds. An Exaltation of FormsIntermediate
Highly Informative
Established meters and formal experimentation in poems accompanied by metrical commentaryJarman, Mark, and David Mason, eds. Rebel AngelsBeginner
Optional
A fair cross-section of the New Formalist poetry of the 1980s and 1990sStrand, Mark, and Eavan Boland, eds. The Making of a PoemBeginner
Optional
Definitions of poetic forms and meters with appended illustrative poemsBeginner
Highly Informative
VI. Exotics: Imported Meters
Conran, Tony. Welsh VerseOne of the best discussions of classical Welsh meter with some of the finest translations of its poems into EnglishFrank, Roberta. Old Norse Court PoetryBeginner
Highly Informative
A scholarly study, with translations, of this little known literature and of its prosodyHalporn, James, Martin Ostwald and Thomas Rosenmeyer. The Meters of Greek and Latin PoetryAdvanced
Highly Informative
A standard handbook for undergraduate and graduate students of the classics but an extremely useful tool for the practicing poet as wellKnott, Eleanor. Irish Classical PoetryIntermediate
Highly Informative
Brief introduction to early Irish poetry and its versificationMartin, Hubert. AlcaeusBeginner
Optional
Concise definitions and descriptions of the Greek Aeolic meters unassumingly hidden away in a scholarly monograph on the poetry of AlcaeusRaven, D. S. Greek MetreBeginner
Highly Informative
An able substitute for the Halporn volume, if one is neededIntermediate
Highly Informative
Jeffrey Woodward resides in Detroit. His poems and articles appear widely in periodicals in the USA, UK, Canada and Australia including, most recently, Acumen (England), Blue Unicorn, International Poetry Review, Poem, Re: Arts & Letters, The Christian Century, Galley Sail Review, The Hypertexts, Lines Review (Scotland), The Lyric, Envoi (Wales), Plains Poetry Journal, South Coast Poetry Journal, Studio (Australia), New Hope International (England) and many others.