The Poetry Handbook A Guide to Reading Poetry for Pleasure and Practical Criticism

by Lennard, John

• ISBN13: 9780198711544
• ISBN10: 0198711549
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1997-01-02
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

The Poetry Handbook is a lucid and practical guide to the poet's craft.There are chapters on metre, form, layout, lineation, punctuation, rhyme,diction, syntax, history, biography, and gender, as well as one on exams whichincludes sample essays by undergraduates. At the end of every chapter each topicis applied to the same poem, Nobel-winner Derek Walcott's 'Nearing Forty',building up a full technical reading. Critical and scholarly terms areitalicized and clearly explained, both in the text and in glossaries; notes andquotations are supplemented by detailed reference to both the Oxford Anthologyof English Literature and the Norton Anthology of Poetry; and there is asubstantial 'Suggestions for Further Reading' section. Designed particularly forA-level and undergraduate students facing exams in Practical Criticism, ThePoetry Handbook will fascinate and reward anyone interested in how poemswork.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Metre Form Layout

Punctuation Lineation Rhyme Diction

Syntax History Biography Gender Exams

Glossary and Index of Technical Terms

Index of Poems and Poets Quoted and Cited

Select Bibliography and Further Reading

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