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 14
... prose . In the hands of Whitman it was a good tool , a kind of syn- thetic chisel — the best he had . In his bag of chunks even lie some of the pieces of rhythm life of which we must build . This is honor enough . Vers libre is finished ...
... prose . In the hands of Whitman it was a good tool , a kind of syn- thetic chisel — the best he had . In his bag of chunks even lie some of the pieces of rhythm life of which we must build . This is honor enough . Vers libre is finished ...
Page 15
... prose to a verse that is only fairly irregular in a strictly metrical sense ” ( 426 ) . A large number of readers regard free verse in the same way that many people regard pornogra- phy : they do not know how to define it , but they ...
... prose to a verse that is only fairly irregular in a strictly metrical sense ” ( 426 ) . A large number of readers regard free verse in the same way that many people regard pornogra- phy : they do not know how to define it , but they ...
Page 18
... prose . She added that perhaps the " characteristic of poetry " is " return , " which she defines as various sorts of cohesive patterning , such as rhyme and anaphora . She continues , " Sometimes the return is indicated more in idea ...
... prose . She added that perhaps the " characteristic of poetry " is " return , " which she defines as various sorts of cohesive patterning , such as rhyme and anaphora . She continues , " Sometimes the return is indicated more in idea ...
Page 25
... prose sometimes " requires a delicate ear to detect it " ( " Vers " 217 ) . This point is still often asserted . Free verse's defenders frequently have the air of someone pulling rank . For instance , Alan Golding says that readers of ...
... prose sometimes " requires a delicate ear to detect it " ( " Vers " 217 ) . This point is still often asserted . Free verse's defenders frequently have the air of someone pulling rank . For instance , Alan Golding says that readers of ...
Page 28
... prose rhythm , which he likens to poetical rhythm , just without the " definite and fixed law ” ( 473 ) of verse . Still , he argues , the ear perceives prose as rhythmical , and thus the ends of sentences should be rhythmic " since the ...
... prose rhythm , which he likens to poetical rhythm , just without the " definite and fixed law ” ( 473 ) of verse . Still , he argues , the ear perceives prose as rhythmical , and thus the ends of sentences should be rhythmic " since the ...
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