Tom Hood

A Practical Guide to Poetry & Songwriting Tom Hood

A poet, to paraphrase the Latin, is created, not manufactured. All, therefore, that this book aims to teach is the art of Versification. That art, like Logic, is "ars instrumentalis, dirigens mentem inter cognitionem rerum." As Logic does not supply you with arguments, but only defines the mode in which they are to be expressed or used, so Versification does not teach you how to write poetry, but how to construct verse. It may be a means to an end, but it does not pretend to assure its attainment. Versification and Logic are to Poetry and Reason what a parapet is to a bridge: they do not convey you across, but prevent you from falling over. Helping you traverse the treacherous terrains of language and rhythm is the added gift of a wonderful dictionary of English rhymes that will aid both the learners and seasoned practitioners of this art form with a readymade tool at their disposal to transcend the inane bouts of forgetfulness during a gifted burst of creativity.