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