At somewhere around 10 syllables, the English poetic line is at its most relaxed and manageable.

At somewhere around 10 syllables, the English poetic line is at its most relaxed and manageable.

The writing of a poem is like a child throwing stones into a mineshaft. You compose first, then you listen for the reverberation.

One problem we face comes from the lack of any agreed sense of how we should be working to train ourselves to write poetry.

I prefer writing in the mornings, so to that extent I have a routine. I do reading and other things in the afternoon.

English poetry begins whenever we decide to say the modern English language begins, and it extends as far as we decide to say that the English language extends.

Generally speaking, rhyme is the marker for the end of a line. The first rhyme-word is like a challenge thrown down, which the poem itself has to respond to.