How to Read a Poem and Fall in Love with Poetry

"Read a poem to yourself in the middle of the night. Turn on a single lamp and read it while you're alone in an otherwise dark room or while someone sleeps next to you. Say it over to yourself in a place where silence reigns and the din of culture-the constant buzzing noise that surrounds you-has momentarily stopped. This poem has come from a great distance to find you."

So begins this astonishing book by one of our leading poets and critics. In an unprecedented exploration of the genre, Hir...