A History of Free VerseThis book examines the most salient and misunderstood aspect of twentieth-century poetry, free verse. Although the form is generally approached as if it were one indissoluble lump, it is actually a group of differing poetic genres proceeding from much different assumptions. Separate chapters on T.S. Eliot, Wallace Stevens, H.D., and William Carlos Williams elucidate many of these assumptions and procedures, while other chapters address more general theoretical questions and trace the continuity of Modern poetics in contemporary poetry. Taking a historical and aesthetic approach, this study demonstrates that many of the forms considered to have been invented in the Modern period actually extend underappreciated traditions. Not only does this book examine the classical influence on Modern poetry, it also features discussions of the poetics of John Milton, Abraham Cowley, Matthew Arnold, and a host of lesser-known poets. Throughout it is an investigation of the prosodic issues that free verse foregrounds, particularly those focusing on the reader's part in interpreting poetic rhythm. |
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... English poetry History and criticism . 2. Free verse - History and criticism . 3. American poetry - History and criticism . 4. English language Versification . I. Title . PR509.F7 B49 2001 821.009dc21 00-011419 To Michelle and Willie ...
... English poetry History and criticism . 2. Free verse - History and criticism . 3. American poetry - History and criticism . 4. English language Versification . I. Title . PR509.F7 B49 2001 821.009dc21 00-011419 To Michelle and Willie ...
Page 4
... English poetry came to designate a fourteen - line rhyming lyric poem in iambic pentameter , often , but by no means exclusively , addressing the topic of love . There are many specific sorts of sonnets : Italian , Spenserian ...
... English poetry came to designate a fourteen - line rhyming lyric poem in iambic pentameter , often , but by no means exclusively , addressing the topic of love . There are many specific sorts of sonnets : Italian , Spenserian ...
Page 10
... English , a multi - critic debate on meter ; and book - length prosodic studies of single authors , including Herbert , Wordsworth , and Hardy , and so forth . Subjectively , I can say that everywhere I go I meet somebody intensely ...
... English , a multi - critic debate on meter ; and book - length prosodic studies of single authors , including Herbert , Wordsworth , and Hardy , and so forth . Subjectively , I can say that everywhere I go I meet somebody intensely ...
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... ( English 402 ) . The sense of exasperation in Brogan's remark stems from the fact that , while defining free verse was a persistent theoretical occu- pation of the twentieth century , free - verse practice remains poorly understood . My ...
... ( English 402 ) . The sense of exasperation in Brogan's remark stems from the fact that , while defining free verse was a persistent theoretical occu- pation of the twentieth century , free - verse practice remains poorly understood . My ...
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... English , it means " ( 158 ) . Roger Fowler likewise finds the term vague and “ dated , ” but adds , “ some word is needed ” ( 79 ) to describe nontraditional poetry . In fact , William Pratt has said that the lack of consensus about ...
... English , it means " ( 158 ) . Roger Fowler likewise finds the term vague and “ dated , ” but adds , “ some word is needed ” ( 79 ) to describe nontraditional poetry . In fact , William Pratt has said that the lack of consensus about ...
Contents
13 | |
61 | |
The Haunting of Wallace Stevens | 101 |
Straight Talk Straight as the Greeks | 135 |
The Parsing Meter and Beyond | 179 |
Avoiding Prosody? | 223 |
Notes | 237 |
Works Cited | 255 |
Index | 273 |
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Common terms and phrases
aesthetic alliteration approach argues Arnold asserted begins Blue Guitar cadence called century chapter claim classical Coleridge Coleridge's consider contemporary couplets Cowley Cowley's create critics decorum describes Dover Beach E. E. Cummings Eliot English enjambment essay example feel free verse free-verse theory genre grammatical Greek Henley iambic pentameter iambs idea Imagist imitate implies insists irregular ode language Letters line breaks lineal form long-line loose lyric means metaphor metrical Milton's natural nineteenth-century notion organic organicism pattern perhaps phrase Pindar poem poem's poet's poets Pope Pound prose Prufrock reader regular rhyme and meter rhythmic rules scansion seems sense short lines short-line sonnet sort sound speaker speech stanza Stevens Stevens's stress suggests syllables tetrameter thing thought tion traditional prosody traditional verse translation triadic line trimeter twentieth-century variable foot vers libre versification visual Wallace Stevens Whitman William Carlos Williams Williams Williams's words writing wrote