A Curious Little Book About Poetry
How poems work, where they came from, and how to write your own.
A Cut a Fig ebook by Elise Aguilar
Available as PDF or EPUB. Delivered via email after conifrming payment. Read it on your phone, tablet, computer, or e-reader.
Poetry is strange. Let's figure out why.
A poem about your grandmother's rice cooker can turn into a poem about migration, being fulfilled, or the strange fact that time keeps moving whether you're ready for it or not. A poem about a bus can turn into a poem about your father.
That's the fun of poetry: the thing you start writing about isn't always the thing you end up writing about.
A Curious Little Book About Poetry is a practical, wonderous tour through the whole business. It looks at how poems are built, why poets make the choices they do, where poetry came from, how different forms work, and how to write one yourself.
So, what exactly is it?
A Curious Little Book About Poetry covers reading, writing, history, craft, forms, analysis, and revision.
It starts with the simplest thing possible: getting words onto the page. From there, it takes you through the history of poetry, the anatomy of a poem, line breaks, stanzas, rhyme, meter, sound, imagery, figurative language, voice, form, analysis, revision, and everything in between.
Along the way, you'll find:
- Exercises designed to be done at your own pace
- Writing prompts for when your brain has mysteriously misplaced every possible idea
- Diagrams explaining things like line breaks, stanzas, rhyme schemes, meter, and imagery
- A glossary of poetry terms, linked to the chapters where they first appear
- A reading list of poems from all around the world
It's part introduction, part reference book, part writing companion. You can read it from beginning to end, dip into the chapters you need, or keep coming back to the bits that make you go, Oh. So that's what that does.
What's inside
Part One
Starting Out
Before we get into iambic pentameter and existential despair, let's start with writing. Freewriting, observation, small objects, favorite things, and short exercises that help you make material before worrying too much about whether it's any good.
Part Two
Where Poetry Comes From
How poems were made, remembered, performed, and passed on before writing; the earliest poets we can name; how the Iliad was composed and transmitted; and the many jobs poetry has done throughout history. Includes a timeline stretching from ancient clay tablets to the modern open mic.
Part Three
The Building Blocks
The machinery of a poem: the line, the stanza, rhyme, meter, enjambment, caesura, sound devices, figurative language, imagery, the five senses, titles, first lines, voice, and tone. All the little decisions that make a poem sound and feel the way it does.
Part Four
Forms
Sonnets. Villanelles. Sestinas. Ghazals. Pantoums. Sijo. Landay. The monostich. You'll also encounter forms from the Philippines — the tanaga, ambahan, dalit, awit and korido, balagtasan, and spoken word — along with forms from other poetic traditions, plus a chapter on rewriting an old poem in a modern voice.
Part Five
Reading & Analyzing
A three-pass method for reading, six questions to ask of almost any poem, four close readings, a look at what tends to make a poem work, and a guide to writing about poetry without simply saying that the poet "uses imagery to create an effect."
Part Six
What to Read
A reading ladder that moves from short and approachable to longer and more difficult poems, a list of 60 poems to seek out, poets from the Philippines and around the world, and places where you can read poetry for free.
Part Seven
Practice
Finding material. Revising. Getting feedback. Sharing your work. Plus 30 more prompts, a glossary, and the sources behind the book. Basically: now go make something.
A few things to expect
The anatomy of a poem
See what happens when you take a poem apart: title, line, stanza, white space, and all the other choices hiding in plain sight.
Line breaks
Take the same piece of writing and break it three different ways: end-stopped, enjambed, and somewhere in between. Then read them aloud. Same words. Different poem.
Prose vs. poetry
What happens when you take two ordinary sentences and give them line breaks? Quite a lot, actually.
A history of poetry
Follow poetry from Enheduanna's hymns on clay tablets, around 2300 BCE, all the way to the poetry scenes of the 2010s.
Poets and poems from around the world
A reading list spanning traditions, regions, and eras — somewhere to start, wherever you're starting from.
Who is this for?
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The person who wants to write poetry but doesn't know where to start. You'll get a map, exercises, examples, and somewhere to begin.
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The prose writer who keeps wondering what the heck a line break is supposed to be doing. This book is for you too.
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The student or teacher who wants a straightforward reference. History, terminology, forms, analysis, exercises, and reading suggestions — all in one place.
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The reader who sometimes looks at a poem and thinks, "Am I supposed to understand this?" Not every poem has a secret answer. But there are ways to look at one.
Basically: if you're curious about poetry, you're probably in the right place.
Questions
Do I need to know anything about poetry first?
No. You can come to it knowing absolutely nothing about poetry, or knowing enough to have strong opinions about enjambment. The book starts with simple writing exercises and gradually builds toward forms, analysis, revision, and craft.
Is this a poetry textbook?
Not quite. It's more interested in making poetry understandable than making it feel academic. Think of it as a practical guide to the strange little machine that is a poem.
Is it a workbook?
It's a book with exercises rather than a traditional workbook. Most chapters end with something to try, and there are another 30 prompts near the end. Use a notebook, your notes app, a document, the back of a receipt — whatever gets the words moving.
Which format should I buy?
The PDF preserves the designed page layout and is particularly suited to tablets and computers. The EPUB reflows to fit your screen and is better suited to phones and e-readers.
Can I read it on my phone?
Yes. The EPUB is designed to reflow to different screen sizes. The PDF can also be read on a phone, although the larger screen of a tablet or computer will make the designed pages easier to enjoy.
Are the poems included in full?
The book uses short passages and excerpts where appropriate and points you toward the poems themselves. For copyrighted poems, you'll be directed to legitimate sources. The book also includes places where you can read poetry for free.
About the author
Elise Aguilar
Elise Aguilar is a writer, educator, and the founder of Cut a Fig, a community and workshop series for writers. She made A Curious Little Book About Poetry for people who want to understand what poetry is doing — and then have a go at doing it themselves.
Ready to get curious?
You don't need to become a poetry expert before you start writing poetry. You just need a few words, somewhere to put them, and perhaps a little curiosity about what happens when you arrange them differently.
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