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. |
From inside the book
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Page 3
... actually promotes political dictatorship ; more traditional poetry invites the kind of skeptical inquiry salutary for a democratic society . On the other side of the fence is Joseph M. Conte , who ends his study of postmodern form ...
... actually promotes political dictatorship ; more traditional poetry invites the kind of skeptical inquiry salutary for a democratic society . On the other side of the fence is Joseph M. Conte , who ends his study of postmodern form ...
Page 4
... actually sonnets . There are those who find sonnets embedded in other poems , and a fair number of critics willing to consider the notion of a free - verse sonnet.2 The question of whether these poems are “ really ” sonnets seems ...
... actually sonnets . There are those who find sonnets embedded in other poems , and a fair number of critics willing to consider the notion of a free - verse sonnet.2 The question of whether these poems are “ really ” sonnets seems ...
Page 6
... actually that author's participation in an established tradition . The second is that group of readers who have noticed connections between free and more traditional verse , but never really put them together . The criticism of T. S. ...
... actually that author's participation in an established tradition . The second is that group of readers who have noticed connections between free and more traditional verse , but never really put them together . The criticism of T. S. ...
Page 7
Chris Beyers. teenth century , the meter was actually the instrument of authoritative patri- archy . To prove this , she cites the ... actually ahistorical . Thus , while in essential agreement with Marjorie Perloff's argument Introduction 7.
Chris Beyers. teenth century , the meter was actually the instrument of authoritative patri- archy . To prove this , she cites the ... actually ahistorical . Thus , while in essential agreement with Marjorie Perloff's argument Introduction 7.
Page 8
... actually much debate . Consider these words from Marina Tarlinskaja : Every poem written in Spenserian stanza brings to mind The Faerie Queene , together with its images and style . Every tragedy written in unrhymed iambic pentameter is ...
... actually much debate . Consider these words from Marina Tarlinskaja : Every poem written in Spenserian stanza brings to mind The Faerie Queene , together with its images and style . Every tragedy written in unrhymed iambic pentameter is ...
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