This is the book I've been needing to read for a very long time. The author's approach to poetry as the art of thinking, both something innate and deeply personal within the poet and something transcendent and universal that resonates with readers articulated exactly what I hope my students will perceive as they study poetry with me. It made me want to re-read classics I haven't read in years and get back to my passion of translating poetry.

George introduces readers to 23 poets and how they saw the world, drawing on their poems as well as other biographical materials. While some writers, such as Homer and Shakespeare, will be familiar to Western readers, others like Li Bai and Rabindranath Tagore may be new. And George highlights important aspects of the poets' lives that may get lost in translation--for instance, while Rumi has enjoyed a recent rise in popularity, some translations obscure his Islamic religious background and word choices to make his ideas more palatable to New Age or spiritual-but-not-religious folks. But, this book argues, there's room to both appreciate who the poet was and the cultural context he was working in AND find the commonalities that we can locate in our daily lives.

For readers who are students of literature, aspiring poets, or simply those who find poetry intimidating, "How to Think Like a Poet" is a bridge into the world of verse. It presents a balanced blend of biography, literary analysis, and philosophical reflection. George’s own poetic sensitivity and enthusiasm permeate the text, encouraging readers to see poetry not just as literature but as a way of thinking and being.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to review a temporary digital ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

My thanks to both NetGalley and Bloomsbury USA for an advance copy of this book that looks at the lives of poets from many lands and many times, and comments on their works and lives in ways to help readers understand their works, their words, and enrich ourselves.

I was late coming to poetry. Which is odd in that in I was also late coming to music, and when I did it was always the song lyrics that brought me in. Many a day in my teens and probably twenties was spent trying to figure out what a song meant, how did these words fit me so well. Poetry never touched me. I knew Yeats, but more his Irish mythology since I played Dungeons & Dragons. Taffy was a Welshman was a popular poem in our house, mainly because of the murder at the end, but not much else. College did nothing but make me bored with education, nd my love of literature did not carry over into poetry. Later, I found myself looking at books, reading old verse and new verse, free and extremely mannered and locked in. And discovered a world I knew was there but was blind too. Not just works and odes, but the lives of poets, their glad times and sad times, and those other times where they just existed. That's why I enjoyed this book so much. How to Think Like a Poet: The Poets That Made Our World and Why We Need Them by novelist, academic and poet Dai George is a guide to poets and their worlds, what made them, what they made and why, and how the world treated them, and why we should still care today.

The book begins with a nice introduction by George detailing what he would like to do, and how he went about it. One of the big things is that George drew on poets who were not only white males from academia, but on poets who were women, and from around the world. The book starts with Homer, the one who might have started it all, moving through time and place, covering 23 artists, with an essay on contemporary poets, and what is asked of them. The names will be familiar to most, Plath, O'Hara, Sappho, Milton, but a few others like Rabindranath Tagore though award winners, were new to my eyes. The essays give descriptions of the poets lives, their works, with examples and commentary on how or why they work, along with discussions about their legacy, and why they should still be considered worthy of reading.

In many ways even with my years of book selling, I am still new to the world of poetry. It amazes me to see in shelving books, or when I am asked if our store has anything by certain poets how new they are to me. And yet when breezing through, can't say I am reading on the job, or in discussions, how have I lived without hearing these people. George's book is one that fills quite a few gaps, and gives a better understanding of what poetry does and can do. One learns about the poets and their works, but George writes in a way that is informative and educational, but one that urges on to find works on one's own. Pick up a chapbook, read those poems in The New Yorker. Stop and listen to that person on the street. By showing what has been written George makes one want to write poems, and find others that speak to these same emotions. a very well written collection that inspires, educates and makes one want more.

Recommended for students of literature, burgeoning poets and those starting on the path of enjoying poetry. A real treat, and a book that can be read straight through, or just to dive right into.

…it sometimes feels like poetry is the only form of language that can rise to the occasion and lend voice to our collective grief. It can’t save the world, or take the place of direct action, but if we’re lucky it might help us to think through the value of the world we’re left with in the future. from How to Think Like a Poet by Dai George

“Poetry is the art of thinking,” Dai George writes in his introduction. This book is his endeavor to understand what poets throughout history and across cultures think about. Each chapter includes a presentation of the poet’s work and life, delving into specific poems, and offering an overarching understanding of the interconnection between poets and poets and history.

The poets were part of the changing paradigms of their times: the Metaphysical, the Enlightenment, Transcendentalism, the Romantic era. They responded to Colonialism, times of war and political strife, and struggled with issues of faith and religion, and reflected the angst of the Modern world.

I appreciated this book for its insights.

Thanks to the publisher for a free book through NetGalley.

This was an interesting book. I liked the concept of the book. I also thought the author chose a well with the poets selected. There were a good variety of poets. It was also a good mix of information about the poet, the poems themselves, and what they mean/suggest. As someone who likes poetry but does not love it, this book made me want to take a closer look at these poets and their works. The author is clearly well versed in poetry and has a vast knowledge of the subject. It was a good book, and one that I would recommend.