Best Criticism & Theory Books

A selection of recommended criticism & theory books worth reading.

• Poetry HandbkMary Oliver
• New and Selected Poems Volume One Mary Oliver 2Mary Oliver
• Bad Girls of the Bible And What We Can Learn from ThemLiz Curtis Higgs
• Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World Study Guide Finding Intimacy with God in TJoanna Weaver
• Sir Gawain and the Green KnightSimon Armitage
• Poets CompanionKim Addonizio, Dorianne Laux
• If Not, Winter Fragments of SapphoSappho
• Beowulf Illus
• Making of a Poem A Norton Anthology Of Poetic Forms
• Why I Wake Early PoemsMary Oliver
• The Universe in Verse 15 Portals to Wonder Through Science & PoetryMaria Popova
• Poetry Unbound 50 Poems to Open Your WorldPádraig Ó. Tuama
• Phenomenal Woman Four Poems Celebrating WomenMaya Angelou
• A Century of Poetry in The New Yorker 1925-2025New Yorker Magazine Inc
• FragmentsHeraclitus
• Art of DescriptionMark Doty
• Finger Exercises for PoetsDorianne Laux
• Ess NerudaPablo Neruda
• The Agony of ErosByung-Chul Han