The Ode Less Travelled: Unlocking the Poet Within by Stephen Fry

Published by Arrow, 2007, softcover, 356 pages, condition: very good.l

Stephen FryS The Ode Less Travelled provides us with a witty and entertaining guide to the mysteries of writing poetry.
He has always had a secret passion for poetry and he reveals this in this book about how to write poetry. This book will give everybody the tools to write poetry; covering the full spectrum of the different poetic forms, structures and techniques. According to Stephen it will make writing poetry fun, easy, satisfying, fulfilling and delightful.

I'm a compulsive book finisher. I almost always read a book to the end, no matter how little I'm enjoying it. There have been three exceptions to this 'rule' (character trait?) in my life and this book is one of them. I bought it for my wife as a Christmas present back in 2005, poetry being her thang. As it was sitting around the house, I started reading it too. I didn't get far. I don't know why I didn't finish it. It may have been down to not having the time to do the exercises contained within it but not wanting to just skip over them.

Anyway, thirteen years later, I have finally got around to finishing this book and, I have to say, I enjoyed reading it. Mr. Fry speaks eloquently, informatively and entertainingly on the subject of writing poetry. Doing the exercises, however, has been a small slice of Hell. Seriously, it was like having homework again; not what I wanted in my life as a 42-year-old long out of formal edumacation!

Actually, part of me did kind of enjoy doing the exercises... the masochistic, self-loathing part of me. If this book has taught me anything, it's that I am definitely NOT a poet.