In this classic text, the distinguished poet and critic John Hollander surveys the schemes, patterns, and forms of English verse, illustrating each variation with an original and witty self-descriptive example. In new essays for this revised edition, J. D. McClatchy and Richard Wilbur each offer a personal take on why Rhymes's Reason has played an integral role in the education of young poets and student scholars.
 
"[Hollander] put everything he knew about the structures of poetry--those fabled magic tricks--into a sort of guidebook for those starting out on the trail up Mount Parnassus. . . . There are astonishments on every page."--from the Foreword by J. D. McClatchy
 
"This book's wit and inventive spirit, its self-describing embodiments of form, now offer the beginning poet a happy chance to discover the technician in himself."--from the Afterword by Richard Wilbur
 
"How lucky the young poet who discovers this wisest and most lighthearted of manuals."--James Merrill
 
"What the E. B. White-William Strunk The Elements of Style is to the writing of prose, Rhyme's Reason could very easily become to the writing of verse. . . . Marvelously comprehensive, clarifying and useful, [and] a delight to read."--John Reardon, Los Angeles Times Review of Books
 
"A virtuoso performance and a mandatory text for poetry readers and practitioners alike."--ALA Booklist