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
Results 1-5 of 26
Page 28
... break to the ear " ( 136 ) . In the twentieth century , the idea has been extended by writers like Hollander ( in " The Metrical Frame " ) and Finch , who in The Ghost of Meter uses it to incorporate social and political con- ditions in ...
... break to the ear " ( 136 ) . In the twentieth century , the idea has been extended by writers like Hollander ( in " The Metrical Frame " ) and Finch , who in The Ghost of Meter uses it to incorporate social and political con- ditions in ...
Page 41
... breaking the pentameter , Whitman's language could be rather conventional . Consider this passage from Song of Myself , section 5 : Loafe with me on the grass , loose the stop from your throat , Not words , not music or rhyme I want ...
... breaking the pentameter , Whitman's language could be rather conventional . Consider this passage from Song of Myself , section 5 : Loafe with me on the grass , loose the stop from your throat , Not words , not music or rhyme I want ...
Page 51
... breaking vehe- mently with Romantic pride , with the Romantic faith in the innocence of expres- sion . They have also taken on the burden of another world to be “ organized ” : the linguistic and psychological realm of James , Saussure ...
... breaking vehe- mently with Romantic pride , with the Romantic faith in the innocence of expres- sion . They have also taken on the burden of another world to be “ organized ” : the linguistic and psychological realm of James , Saussure ...
Page 61
... break , an earthquake , or explo- sion ” ( 87 ) . In Missing Measures , Steele similarly finds congruities between the governing aesthetic principles of nineteenth - century verse and those of free verse , but largely denies any ...
... break , an earthquake , or explo- sion ” ( 87 ) . In Missing Measures , Steele similarly finds congruities between the governing aesthetic principles of nineteenth - century verse and those of free verse , but largely denies any ...
Page 68
... break but the rhyme insists on convergence , and a triplet then further disturbs the “ normal ” manner of proceeding . The reader is seemingly encouraged to take the reintroduction of the concluding pentameter / alexandrine couplet as a ...
... break but the rhyme insists on convergence , and a triplet then further disturbs the “ normal ” manner of proceeding . The reader is seemingly encouraged to take the reintroduction of the concluding pentameter / alexandrine couplet as a ...
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