A comprehensive guide to writing or reading poetry, by "one of our most lucid and important critics" (American Academy of Arts and Letters).

Each of the twelve chapters of How Poems Get Made examines a specific aspect of the poetic medium: diction, syntax, rhythm, echo, figure, repetition and more. Acclaimed poet and critic James Longenbach shows how a poet may manipulate these most basic elements of diction and syntax to create voice, image, tone or song, and bring a poem to life.