How long does it take to read How to Read a Poem?
And Fall in Love with Poetry
Edward Hirsch
How to Read a Poem by Edward Hirsch takes about 6 hours 36 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
About 6 hours 36 minutes
A weekend read
First published 1999. 360 pages, about 99,000 words.
14 days at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 11 hours |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 6 hours 36 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 4 hours 8 minutes |
The page count is the median across 2 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
How to Read a Poem is an exploration of poetry and feeling. In language at once acute and emotional, Edward Hirsch writes about what poetry is, why it matters, and how we can open up our imaginations so that its message can reach us and make a difference. In a reading of verse from around the world, including works by Wallace Stevens, Charles Baudelaire, Sylvia Plath, and Pablo Neruda, Hirsch discovers the meaning of their words and ideas and brings their sublime message home into our hearts.
Subjects: Poetics, History and criticism, Poetry, Explication, Poetry, history and criticism
