Poetry (Elements of Literature)

Poetry is an accessible and clearly written guide to the study of poetry. It aims to equip both students and the general reader with a body of technical information that will sharpen and deepen their engagement with individual poems. John Strachan and Richard Terry provide the reader with a lively route map through what might on first experience seem the most daunting aspects of poetry: poetic sound effects, rhythm and metre, the typographic display of poems on the page, the language of poetry and the use made by poets of techniques of comparison and association. The book's discussion of poetic terminology is allied throughout to illustrative readings that show the usefulness of the terminology in approaching particular poems. Its emphasis is always a practical one, demonstrating how poems actually work. Beginning with an historical overview of the development of English poetry from its earliest origins and finishing with an authoritative dictionary of poetical terms, Poetry is an indispensable guide to the understanding of poetry. Features * Gives concrete illustrations of the technical aspects of poetry * Contains detailed analyses of individual poems * Based on the authors' practical experience of teaching poetry * Includes a comprehensive dictionary of poetical terms * Contains a helpful system of cross-referencing and a detailed index Elements of Literature Series "It is a pleasure to be able to record that all four of these attractively produced books contribute, in very different ways, to the appreciation and enjoyment of the art of poetry ...If all the volumes in the series are as good as this one, the students for whom the series is intended will have been well served indeed ...their own exposition is consistently unpretentious and illuminating." (PQR Special Issue 2002)