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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Page 14
... Whitman's verse is a typical example of what is spoken of as free verse . Now Whitman never called it free verse . ( Interviews 38 ) The only thing that seems to have changed in the forty - eight years between the statements is that ...
... Whitman's verse is a typical example of what is spoken of as free verse . Now Whitman never called it free verse . ( Interviews 38 ) The only thing that seems to have changed in the forty - eight years between the statements is that ...
Page 16
... Whitman's form by asserting , Whitman's free verse poems demonstrate that poetic form is an open rather than a closed system , susceptible always to redefinition and further development in the shifting perspective of the reader . The ...
... Whitman's form by asserting , Whitman's free verse poems demonstrate that poetic form is an open rather than a closed system , susceptible always to redefinition and further development in the shifting perspective of the reader . The ...
Page 39
... Whitman did not invent the form . Whitman's scholars are quick to point out parallels in translations of the Bible ( particularly the poetical books such as Job and Psalms ) , Smart's Jubilate Agno , Ossian , and Blake . Whitman is not ...
... Whitman did not invent the form . Whitman's scholars are quick to point out parallels in translations of the Bible ( particularly the poetical books such as Job and Psalms ) , Smart's Jubilate Agno , Ossian , and Blake . Whitman is not ...
Page 40
... Whitman's case , the lines are often much longer . Yet more than line length determines long - line poetry . As Hollander points out , in such poems , “ the sense of line terminus is crucial : each line has become a larger unit of ...
... Whitman's case , the lines are often much longer . Yet more than line length determines long - line poetry . As Hollander points out , in such poems , “ the sense of line terminus is crucial : each line has become a larger unit of ...
Page 41
... Whitman's language could be rather conventional . Consider this passage from Song of Myself , section 5 : Loafe with ... Whitman ) , in freeing himself from meter , Whitman accepted the chains of the other conventions of traditional ...
... Whitman's language could be rather conventional . Consider this passage from Song of Myself , section 5 : Loafe with ... Whitman ) , in freeing himself from meter , Whitman accepted the chains of the other conventions of traditional ...
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