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 8
... reader to reader . In short , a meter or form has no inevitable meaning . Individual poets think certain meanings into certain forms , and which poets we choose to read , and how we choose to read them , comprises our traditional ...
... reader to reader . In short , a meter or form has no inevitable meaning . Individual poets think certain meanings into certain forms , and which poets we choose to read , and how we choose to read them , comprises our traditional ...
Page 13
... readers of the preface to Paradise Lost that his “ neglect ” of rhyme is not " to be taken for a defect , though it may seem so perhaps to ... reader . Thomas Campion ( for his quantitative verse ) Chapter One: The Problem of Free Verse.
... readers of the preface to Paradise Lost that his “ neglect ” of rhyme is not " to be taken for a defect , though it may seem so perhaps to ... reader . Thomas Campion ( for his quantitative verse ) Chapter One: The Problem of Free Verse.
Page 14
Chris Beyers. reader . Thomas Campion ( for his quantitative verse ) , Coleridge ( for his accen- tual verse ) , and ... readers that " Vers libre does not exist " ( To Criticize 183 ) . Twenty - five years later , he continued to argue ...
Chris Beyers. reader . Thomas Campion ( for his quantitative verse ) , Coleridge ( for his accen- tual verse ) , and ... readers that " Vers libre does not exist " ( To Criticize 183 ) . Twenty - five years later , he continued to argue ...
Page 15
... readers regard free verse in the same way that many people regard pornogra- phy : they do not know how to define it ... Reader's Encyclopedia of American Literature ( 1991 ) .3 " This manner of describing free verse , " remarks Harry ...
... readers regard free verse in the same way that many people regard pornogra- phy : they do not know how to define it ... Reader's Encyclopedia of American Literature ( 1991 ) .3 " This manner of describing free verse , " remarks Harry ...
Page 16
... Reader's Encyclopedia of American Literature ( 1962 ) , for example , tells its readers that " the really noteworthy writers of ' free ' verse have set up for themselves disciplines of sound and rhythm as severe as any under which ...
... Reader's Encyclopedia of American Literature ( 1962 ) , for example , tells its readers that " the really noteworthy writers of ' free ' verse have set up for themselves disciplines of sound and rhythm as severe as any under which ...
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