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 36
Page 2
... natural child of prosodic pluralism . ( " Verse Form " 540 ) The second sentence describes a major task of this study , and I will attempt to revise the first assertion by recovering , not formulating , the various theories of free ...
... natural child of prosodic pluralism . ( " Verse Form " 540 ) The second sentence describes a major task of this study , and I will attempt to revise the first assertion by recovering , not formulating , the various theories of free ...
Page 5
... natural . Further , the term allegory helps indicate the coherence and dynamism of much free - verse form . The allegorical hero of John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress does not just stand there , symbolizing the Christian Man ; he goes on ...
... natural . Further , the term allegory helps indicate the coherence and dynamism of much free - verse form . The allegorical hero of John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress does not just stand there , symbolizing the Christian Man ; he goes on ...
Page 22
... natural feel for rhythm . Derek Attridge points out that Latin prosody " was the result of an attempt to impose upon one language [ Latin ] a metrical system natural to another , Greek " ( Well - Weigh'd 17 ) . Since English prosody was ...
... natural feel for rhythm . Derek Attridge points out that Latin prosody " was the result of an attempt to impose upon one language [ Latin ] a metrical system natural to another , Greek " ( Well - Weigh'd 17 ) . Since English prosody was ...
Page 25
... natural rhythm of language determined by its inher- ent alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables . " Since competent English speakers stress some syllables and not others , the sequence of stresses auto- matically qualifies as a ...
... natural rhythm of language determined by its inher- ent alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables . " Since competent English speakers stress some syllables and not others , the sequence of stresses auto- matically qualifies as a ...
Page 47
... natural " writing to be the style and genre their audience recognized as appropriate . Hence , they found it " natural " to be , or to want to be , well dressed . As Fussell points out , the “ more general con- temporary aesthetic ...
... natural " writing to be the style and genre their audience recognized as appropriate . Hence , they found it " natural " to be , or to want to be , well dressed . As Fussell points out , the “ more general con- temporary aesthetic ...
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 |
Other editions - View all
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