The secret poet reveals himself, a teacher of forms

Actor & novelist Stephen Fry’s newest publication is a handbook on writing poetry: The Ode Less Travelled: Unlocking the Poet Within (Hutchinson imprint, Random House UK, November 2005). You can read an excerpt at the publisher’s Web site, and the book is already generating some interest in the media:

from Guardian Unlimited Books:
“Modern verse/ just gets worse/ ...and worse,” David Smith reports
“Stephen Fry has launched a scathing attack on the ‘arse-dribble’ of modern poets and revealed a private passion for writing his own verse. In his new book, The Ode Less Travelled, a guide to writing poetry, Fry argues in favour of traditional form and metre.”
“Stephen Fry’s Malayan Pantoums,” by Ian McMillan
“I like Stephen Fry. I like his eclecticism and his wit, and I like the way he thinks he can do anything, and do it well: act, write novels, present awards at world music events, chair brainy quiz shows. And he’s right. He can.”

Related resources:
Guide picks: Books on poetry, poetic traditions, writing, performance & poetics
Pantoum defined, in our Glossary of poetic forms
Pantoum links