The Ode Less Travelled
  • Published: 1 November 2007
  • ISBN: 9780099509349
  • Imprint: Arrow
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 384
  • RRP: $28.00

The Ode Less Travelled

Unlocking the Poet Within

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Paperback
1 Nov 2007
EBook
1 Feb 2011
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Stephen Fry's The Ode Less Travelled provides us with a witty and entertaining guide to the mysteries of writing poetry.

If you can speak and read English, you can write poetry.

The trick is knowing where to start. Stephen Fry, who has long written poems, and indeed has written long poems, for his own private pleasure, invites you to discover the incomparable delights of metre, rhyme and verse forms.

Whether you want to write a Petrarchan sonnet for your lover's birthday, an epithalamion for your sister's wedding or a villanelle excoriating the government's housing policy, The Ode Less Travelled will give you the tools and the confidence to do so.

Brimful of enjoyable exercises, witty insights and simple step-by-step advice, The Ode Less Travelled guides the reader towards mastery and confidence in the Mother of the Arts.
  • Published: 1 November 2007
  • ISBN: 9780099509349
  • Imprint: Arrow
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 384
  • RRP: $28.00
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About the author

Stephen Fry

Stephen Fry was born in Hampstead in 1957 and, following a troubled adolescence, went on to study English Literature at Queen's College, Cambridge. As well as being the bestselling author of four novels, The Stars' Tennis Balls, Making History, The Hippopotamus, and The Liar, and two volumes of his autobiography, Fry played Peter in Peter's Friends, Wilde in the film Wilde, Jeeves in the television series Jeeves & Wooster and (a closely guarded show-business secret, this) Laurie in the television series Fry & Laurie. More recently, he presented Stephen Fry: The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive, his groundbreaking documentary on bipolar disorder, to huge critical acclaim. Before it was announced that Fry would retire as moderator, his legions of fans tuned in to watch him host the popular quiz show QI each week.

Stephen Fry is an award-winning comedian, actor, presenter and director.

He rose to fame alongside Hugh Laurie in A Bit of Fry and Laurie (which he co-wrote with Laurie) and Jeeves and Wooster, and was unforgettable as Captain Melchett in Blackadder.

More recently he presented Stephen Fry: The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive, his groundbreaking documentary on bipolar disorder, to huge critical acclaim. His legions of fans tune in to watch him host the popular quiz show QI each week.

portrait photo of Stephen Fry

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Praise for The Ode Less Travelled

Fry's extraordinary book is an idiots' guide to the writing of poetry, a primer, a tutorial with funny turns, an earnest textbook... You can't but marvel at Fry's easy familiarity with the rictameter and the rondeau redoublé and applaud the energy of his evangelistic zeal

Independent on Sunday

With his usual wit and occasional obscenity, he takes us through an array of metrical forms and poetic structures, talking to us like a cajoling hearty teacher

Sunday Telegraph

Intelligent and informative, a worthy enterprise well executed

Observer

A smart, sane and entertaining return to basics

Daily Telegraph

Funny and instructive

Spectator

Full of the warmth and wit we have come to expect from one of our foremost national treasures.

MyWeekly