Read this book for Freshman English in high school. nice alternative to a textbook. Wouldn't really want to read this outside of class.

I have this book for a college level English class, and I absolutely love it! The best part about it is the depth and quality of its selection of poems and stories. I found it to be a comprehensive collection of the best that literature has to offer.

I have not yet read this particular book, but I have read the majority of this material in the Norton Anthologies. I did take some time to browse through the index; I was impressed by the variety of authors represented within. It is a general literature book intended for lower level literature classes, yet it includes many classic novellas and poems. I feel this book will provide a solid foundation for those who are interested in familiarizing themselves with the works of classic literature that have set the standard for the English language.

While I would not deny Perrine's and Arp's level of scholarly prowess in crafting this work, much of that scholarship is unnecessary and, at times undesirable. I used this book in my Advanced Placement English Literature class in high school, and I did not come away especially "enlightened" about poetry. Perrine and Arp seem to forget that the best poetry is inspired and should jostle thoughtful readers into philosophic contemplation. Any hint of this is lost in the way the authors dissect each work, measure it, judge it according to their calculus, and, in the process, strip it of its former beauty. Even the time honored works of Shakespeare, Donne, Dickinson, and other great poets come away with this seemingly undeserved black mark.

This is a wonderful collection of poetry, no doubt. Offering various styles and poets, the poems in "Sound & Sense" are absolutely beautiful. I don't have much to say about the constant remarks by Perrine. Why? He makes this into an English textbook. But! - poetry is not like math. There is no step-by-step way to read or write poetry, and there is no RIGHT way to do so either. This book tries to lay it out too much. Yes, I see that is is an "introduction" to poetry, but a reader will fall into the idea that poetry can only be approached through the mathematical ways laid out in "Sound & Sense." After all, Robin Williams in "Dead Poets Society" (film) did ask all his students to rip out the introduction of an earlier version of "Sound & Sense." Why? Poetry should be read, and if you wish to analyze, there's no way to set about doing it.

But - the collection of poems is reason enough to buy the book.

This textbook methodically explores poetic form and structure. This approach could have been quite limiting, but Perrine manages to analyze poetry without undermining his central message - poetry is to be enjoyed.

I highly recommend this book to both readers new to poetry and those that already have considerable familiarity with the major poets.

A ninth edition is available, but with a title change. Sound and Sense is now Perrine's Sound and Sense. Look for more reviews under this new title (ISBN 0155030280).

Perrine approaches the three broad genres of literature-- short story, poetry, and drama--in an exciting, fun way for beginning literature students, or those required to take a literature course. And for the instructor, "Literature" is especially a beginning instructor's dream. Perrine organizes the genre's in three separate sections and provides solid, accepted critical material on craftsmenship. He also provides excellent study questions for students. The poetry section is especially good. He presents progressively more sophisticated poems and also gives side by comparisons of "bad" poems with "good" poems which have the same theme. In the past, a companion teacher's supplement was avaiable which was balanced, readable, and nonthreatening in that instructors could use the supplemental comments or not and feel comfortable either way.

English class has never been my favorite class, but poetry has always been one of my better topics. This year - Sophmore High School English - I was required to buy Sound and Sense for class. This is the worst poetry book I have ever read. While the collection of poems is wonderful, the text written by Arp is terrible. Arp comes off as condescending and mean spirited, making the reading of the book a chore. His definitions of the various poetical terms are solid, but you could just as easily get them out of a dictionary. Arp tells the reader that poetry cannot be beautiful unless it concers the perfect love, flowers, or fuzzy animals. He equates the reading of poetry to listening to a radio, and says that if one does not like a critically aclaimed poem, one's tuner is on the wrong station. He leaves nothing to free will, preferring to lead a flock of sheep into an abyss of bad writing over allowing someone to disagree with him here or there. Chapters on "Good Poetry and Bad" do not leave the reader with a love of poetry, nor does the book as a whole make me want to spout sonnets. There are many better collections of poetry around. The poems within Sound and Sense can as easily be found in the Norton or another anthology. As for its educational value, I find that it offers very little by the way of insight, and instead gushes half baked opinions. Do yourselves a foavor and skip this one. You'll learn more about poetry from Dr. Seuss.

My first exposure to Sound and Sense was in high school, and, at the time, I found the book so valuable a resource that I later purchased a copy. Post-college, my views have changed somewhat.

If the tone of the writing was not so condescending, this could be a great book. It defines most of the terms necessary to understand critical texts on poetry, including those analyses related to meter, style, and tone. I find the questions after each poem to be helpful and thought-provoking. That said, it is frustrating to me that the author presents ideas and arguments in absolutes (must, must not, never, always, etc.) and then asserts that the logic that MUST be applied to point A CANNOT be applied to point B (but maybe I have spent too many hours working with lawyers).

My suggestion would be to read the text with a grain of salt. Glean the terminology, answer the questions posed at the end of each poem, follow their suggestions of rereading and considering the many facets of poetry, and try to overlook the condescending manner in which the authors display their opinions as fact.

I've been nibbling away at a 20 year old edition of this book for a few years in my spare time, and almost every bite has increased my abitity to appreciate poetry. I like the examples, most of them seem pretty old, Frost is about as modern as he gets, but thats ok with me. You might find this book a little annoying if it was required reading in a course, sometimes it asks more questions than it answers.