This volume is a lucid and entertaining guide to the poet's craft, and an invaluable introduction to practical criticism for students. Chapters on each element of poetry offer a wide-ranging general account and end by looking at different poems, to build up sustained analytical readings. The second edition--fully revised, expanded, updated, and supported by a new companion website--confirm The Poetry Handbook as the best guide to poetry available in English. A lucid and entertaining guide--updated, revised, expanded, and adding a new website John Lennard has taught at the universities of London and Cambridge, and for the Open University. He has published three books: But I Digress (1991), the best-selling Poetry Handbook (1996) and The Drama Handbook (2002). He is presently Dean of the Shakespeare Programme at the British-American Drama Academy in London; on the Global Virtual Faculty of Fairleigh Dickinson University; and teaches for the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge.