From classics to modern masterpieces, these great poetry books—recommended by poets themselves—belong on your bookshelf.

Poetry is easy. Good poetry is not. ... The next step allows you to choose from quatrain, couplet, or free verse poetry styles, as well as the length and rhyming scheme, if applicable.

Verse by Verse won't lock you into using those suggestions. You can ditch or tweak them, or accept them as is. The tool is supposed to inspire you, not generate an entire poem on your behalf ...

Nina Sankovitch Westport, Conn.. Bad to Verse. To the Editor: The poetry issue Was a waste of time. It was too long And did not rhyme.. Andrew R. Solow Woods Hole, Mass.. books@nytimes.com ...

“I think very few people can manage free verse,” wrote the poet W. H. Auden. “You need an infallible ear, like D. H. Lawrence, to determine where the lines should end.” How true. Knowing where to end ...