Poetic Rhythm : An Introduction

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Summary: This is the single best book on reading poetry I have found.
Review: Attridge is a careful and helpful reader of English poetry. This book, one of several he has written on the subject, is both elementary and profound. The field is fraught with difficulties and ambiguities, but Attridge sensibly avoids the silly stuff. He provides a helpful summary with each chapter, and numerous exercises that are both instructive and enjoyable. This is the kind of book one feels ought to mark a turning point in the study of prosody. If others may be persuaded to adopt his system of scansion, the field will be enormously rejuvenated. Having read it, one returns to earlier work by Fussell, Gross, Hartman and others wishing they might revise their books accordingly. In any case, the book is spirited, wide-ranging, and important.

Rating:
Summary: Poetic Rhythm: an Introduction
Review: Derek Attridge radically changed my thinking about poetry and prosody. I have been reading, writing and teaching poetry for many decades and have always felt intuitively that the ideas expressed in this book were correct though unfortunately I lacked the vocabulary to describe them. Speaking as both poet and teacher, I found this book a liberation. Anyone interested in the art of poetry should inhale this book.

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Summary: A very informative book on rhythm
Review: This book starts at the dirt basics of poetic rhythm and scansion and works its way up. It tells about the nitty-gritty in different kinds of meters, and it's helpful for learning what to use rhythm for in poetry (heightened language, etc).