How do I read a poem? Do I really understand poetry? This comprehensive guide demystifies the world of poetry, exploring poetic forms and traditions which can at first seem bewildering. Showing how any reader can gain more pleasure from poetry, it looks at the ways in which poetry interacts with the language we use in our everyday lives and explores how poems use language and form to create meaning. Drawing on examples ranging from Chaucer to children's rhymes, Cole Porter to Carol Ann Duffy, and from around the English-speaking world, it looks at aspects including:
how technical aspects such as rhythm and measures work
how different tones of voice affect a poem
how poetic language relates to everyday language
how different types of poetry work, from sonnets to free verse
how the form and 'space' of a poem contributes to its meaning.
Poetry: The Basics is an invaluable and easy to read guide for anyone wanting to get to grips with reading and writing poetry.
Recenzijos
"Whether writing about Paradise Lost or the lyrics of Nick Cave, Jeffrey Wainwright is an inspiring and engaging critic of poetry. There are pleasures and insights to be found on every page of this immensely readable book.' - Stephen Regan, Royal Holloway, University of London"
Preface
viii
Acknowledgements
x
Because there is language there is poetry
1
(6)
Deliberate space
7
(23)
Tones of voice
30
(26)
The verse line: measures
56
(29)
`Free verse'
85
(17)
Rhyme
102
(19)
Stanza
121
(35)
Image -- imagination -- inspiration
156
(24)
Conclusion
180
(2)
Glossary
182
(24)
Bibliography
206
(9)
Index
215
Jeffrey Wainwright has taught poetry for many years in universities and is currently Professor of English at Manchester Metropolitan University. His work has been included in several anthologies, including (1982) and (1998)
