Poetry has the power to move and challenge the reader. It can intensify or even celebrate misery, be cynical or wry, or just laugh outright in an outrageous way. Poetry is as serious and as antic as life, and yet reading modern poetry can be difficult, shocking to our sense of what language is our must be.

In A Grain of Poetry, Herbert Kohl opens the door to communication with poetry--the whole range and variety of contemporary poetic voices. While reading poetry doesn't have to involve making critical judgments, it does require knowing how to read modern works and how to be patient and give oneself over to the language and sentiments of a poem. Rather than provide a critical analysis of "good" poetry, Kohl presents a series of guideposts to help everyone read poetry and discover those poems that inform and inspire them. In clear, direct language, he covers all of the essential--but often uncharted--paths to understanding poetry:form and structure, line breaks and pauses, rhythm and melody, imagery, and recitation.

Written by one of the country's leading educators, A Grain of Poetry is a comprehensive and highly accessible guide for all poets, students, and poetry lovers.