The author adopts a new approach to the understanding and appreciation of poetry in English. Spoken language is the basis of this art, so careful attention is given to its rhythms and other sound patterns. Poetry is meant to be heard, above all, and any approach that does not recognize this sells the poet, and the poem, short. The author, himself a poet, illustrates his arguments with examples drawn from nursery rhymes, limericks and Dadaist "ear poems", as well as from familiar works. The book concludes with an anthology drawn from poems written over the past thousand years, laid out in a way designed to help each reader with his or her subjective tastes.