ABC of Reading is a book by the 20th-century Imagist poet Ezra Pound published in 1934. In it, Pound sets out an approach by which one may come to appreciate and understand literature (focusing primarily on poetry). Despite its title the text can be considered as a guide to writing poetry. The work begins with the "Parable of the sunfish", features a collection of English poetry that Pound called Exhibits and several notable quotations.

Mantras

Treatise on Metre

The monograph ends with an essay on creative development and the poet's relationship to music entitled "Treatise on Metre." Featuring three sections, Pound explores the requirements of authentic inspiration and how regulation [including "nomenclature" and rhyming schemes] inhibits the natural process. Using music as a throughline, he argues that rhythm and melody, under the banner of listening, can infuse the process of versification and help instigate more genuine, less didactically-inclined prosody.