The Poetry Handbook
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Book Overview
The Poetry Handbook offers a lucid and practical guide to the poet's craft. In addition to the varied examples that accompany chapters on meter, form, layout, lineation, punctuation, rhyme, diction, syntax, history, biography, and gender, at the end of every chapter, Lennard applies each topic to the same poem, Nobel Prize-winner Derek Walcott's "Nearing Forty," building, incrementally, a full technical reading. Lennard italicizes and clearly explains critical and scholarly terms, both in the text and in glossaries. He supplements notes and quotations with detailed references to both the Oxford and Norton poetry anthologies, and includes substantial Suggestions for Further Reading. Designed with the undergraduate as well as the general reader in mind, The Poetry Handbook will fascinate and reward anyone interested in how poems work.
Format:Paperback
Language:English
ISBN:0198711492
ISBN13:9780198711490
Release Date:August 1996
Publisher:Oxford University Press, USA
Length:238 Pages
Weight:0.70 lbs.
Dimensions:0.5" x 5.4" x 8.5"
Related Subjects
Criticism & Theory Education & Reference Foreign Language Study & Reference History & Criticism Humanities Language Arts Linguistics Literary Criticism Literary Criticism & Collections Literature Movements & Periods Poetry Reference Science Science & Math Science & Scientists Science & Technology Textbooks Words, Language & Grammar Writing Writing, Research & Publishing GuidesCustomer Reviews
2 ratings
An extraordinary book
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 26 years ago
I am a teacher of English literature at the UNAM, in Mexico City. I have been working with Lennard's book for two or three years and it is amazing the way my students have reacted to it. They have learned a lot and are so enthusiastic about poetry now that I can only thank Mr. Lennard for his book. I recommend it strongly if you are interested in poetry.
An innovative approach to teaching poetry
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 28 years ago
Many books have been written about poetry and how to read it, but this one I have found to be particularly well conceived. It is written for British students who wish to sit for exams, and caters to their needs, but anyone, including seasoned poetry readers, will find it instructive. Lennard breaks the book down into chapters devoted to meter, form, layout, punctuation, lineation, rhyme, diction, syntax, history, biography, and gender. Each chapter covers various poems by various authors, but they all end with a detailed reading of one poem, 'Nearing Forty' by Nobel Prize Laureate Derek Walcott. This is a fascinating approach and quite successful, because the understanding that one gains of this poem from these eleven readings, each with a different emphasis, is quite exhaustive. The benefits do not apply only to this one poem, however, because one now has a model of close reading that can be applied to any poem, anywhere. This is an excellent book for use both in the classroom and by oneself.
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