Editions

The Ode Less Travelled

  • Imprint: Arrow

  • ISBN: 9780099509349

  • Length: 384  Pages

  • Dimensions: 198mm x 24mm x 129mm

  • Weight: 266g

  • RRP: £9.99

The Ode Less Travelled

  • A guide to 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.

  • Imprint: Arrow

  • ISBN: 9780099509349

  • Length: 384  Pages

  • Dimensions: 198mm x 24mm x 129mm

  • Weight: 266g

  • RRP: £9.99

Reviews

  • 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

More from this Author

View all View all
View all View all

About the Author

Stephen Fry

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 General Melchett in Blackadder. He has hosted over 180 episodes of QI, and has narrated all seven of the Harry Potter novels for the audiobook recordings. He is the bestselling author of four novels - The Stars' Tennis Balls, Making History, The Hippopotamus and The Liar - as well as three volumes of autobiography - Moab is My Washpot, The Fry Chronicles and More Fool Me. Mythos and Heroes, his retelling of the Greek myths, are both Sunday Times bestsellers.

Stephen Fry

Read more

/content/dam/prh/articles/adults/2019/december/stephen-fry-damian-bradfield.jpg

Extracts

Damian Bradfield and Stephen Fry: The internet has changed us

In this extract from The Trust Manifesto, author and WeTransfer co-founder Damian Bradfield speaks with Stephen Fry about how the internet has permanently transformed the way we experience the world.
/content/dam/prh/articles/adults/2018/october/stephen_fry_heroes_snippet.jpg

Extracts

Heroes by Stephen Fry

In this companion to his bestselling Mythos, Stephen Fry brilliantly retells the dramatic, funny, tragic and timeless tales of Greek heroes.
/content/dam/prh/articles/archive/stephen-fry-more-fool-me.jpg

Extracts

More Fool Me by Stephen Fry

Stephen Fry offers a vision of autobiographical hell from his latest memoir

Our Use of Cookies

We use cookies on this site to enable certain parts of the site to function and to collect information about your use of the site so that we can improve our visitors’ experience. For more on our cookies and changing your settings click here

Our Use of Cookies

We use cookies on this site to enable certain parts of the site to function and to collect information about your use of the site so that we can improve our visitors’ experience.

For more on our cookies and changing your settings click here

Strictly Necessary

Strictly Necessary cookies enable core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility. You may disable these by changing your browser settings, but this may affect how the website functions. See More.

Analytics

Analytics cookies help us to improve our website by collecting and reporting information on how you use it. These cookies may be set by us or by third-party providers whose services we have added to our pages. See More.

Preferences & Features

Preference and Feature cookies allow our website to remember choices you make, such as your language preferences and any customisations you make to pages on our website during your visit. See More.

Targeting / Advertising

Targeting cookies are used to make advertising messages more relevant to you and your interests. They perform functions like preventing the same content from reappearing, ensuring ads are displayed and, in some cases, selecting content based on your interests. See More.