Description
Book SynopsisA uniquely comprehensive, step-by-step introduction to poetic form, The Art of Poetry moves progressively from smaller units such as the word, line, and image, to larger features such as verse forms and voice.In fourteen engaging, eloquently written chapters, Wolosky explores in depth how poetry works while offering brilliant readings of some of the finest lyric poetry in the English and American traditions. Both readers new to poetry and poetry veterans will be moved and enlightened as Wolosky interprets works by William Shakespeare, John Donne, William Blake, William Wordsworth, Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, Sylvia Plath, and others. Featuring a comprehensive bibliography, a glossary of poetic terms, and a new appendix of suggestions for further reading, The Art of Poetry is a rich source of inspiration.
Trade ReviewThe Art of Poetryi is both a superb technical manual and an authentic guide to the art of reading poetry. With brilliance and extraordinary lucidity, Wolosky illuminates such essential matters as metaphor, poetic voice, and the crucial relation of rhetoric to poetic meaning. I cannot imagine a more useful and distinguished book of this kind. * Harold Bloom, author of The Anxiety of Influence *
Shira Wolosky's comprehensive and lucid practical introduction to what makes poems poetic also provides a sophisticated and informative look at theoretical poetics in all its aspects. It is rare that an elementary study can also be as useful for advanced students and teachers of poetry as this well-worked-out exposition, clearly written and free of pseudo-theoretical jargon. * John Hollander, Yale University *
This book is a welcome gift, an arresting vade mecum for student and teacher, reader and writer alike. * Robert Fagles, Princeton University *
Table of ContentsPreface ; 1. Word Choice ; 2. Syntax and the Poetic Line ; 3. Images: Simile and Metaphor ; 4. Metaphor and the Sonnet ; 5. The Sonnet ; 6. Poetic Conventions ; 7. More Verse Forms ; 8. Personification ; 9. Poetic Voice ; 10. Gender and Poetic Voice ; 11. Poetic Rhythm: Metric ; 12. Poetic Rhythm: Sound and Rhyme ; 13. Rhetoric: More Tropes ; 14. Incomplete Figures and the Art of Reading ; Appendix ; Glossary ; Bibliographical Backgrounds ; Index of Poems ; Index of Poets ; Index of Terms and Topics
