Over the course of fifteen years, Mary Ruefle delivered a lecture every six months to a group of poetry graduate students. Collected here for the first time, these lectures include "Poetry and the Moon," "Someone Reading a Book Is a Sign of Order in the World," and "Lectures I Will Never Give." Intellectually virtuosic, instructive, and experiential, Madness, Rack, and Honey resists definition, demanding instead an utter—and utterly pleasurable—immersion. Finalist for the 2012 National Book Critics Circle Award.

Introduction -- On beginnings -- Poetry and the moon -- On sentimentality -- On theme -- On secrets : Eight beginnings, two ends -- On fear -- Madness, rack, and honey -- My Emily Dickinson -- Someone reading a book is a sign of order in the world -- Remarks on letters -- Kangaroo Beach -- I remember, I remember -- Twenty-two short lectures -- Lectures I will never give -- Acknowledgments -- Selected bibliography.