Poetry: The Basics
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £2.10
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in Poetry: The Basics for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £2.10, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
"Whether writing about Paradise Lost or the lyrics of Nick Cave, Jeffrey Wainwright is an inspiring and engaging critic of poetry. There are pleasures and insights to be found on every page of this immensely readable book.' - Stephen Regan, Royal Holloway, University of London"
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
Now in its second edition, Poetry: The Basics demystifies the traditions and forms of the world of poetry for all those who find it daunting or bewildering. Covering a wide range of poetic voices from Chaucer to children's rhymes, song lyrics and the words of contemporary poets, this book will help readers to appreciate poetry by examining:
- technical aspects such as rhythm and measures
- different tones of voice in poetry
- the relationship between 'everyday' and 'poetic' language
- how different types of poetry are structured
- how the form and 'space' of a poem contribute to its meaning
- some of the ways contemporary poets set to work.
A must-read for all those wishing to get to grips with reading and writing poetry, this book is a lively and inspiring introduction to its many styles and purposes right up to the present-day.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
First Sentence
Through evolution, the human vocal tract has become able to give voice to a variety of particular sounds and complex combinations of sounds. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
Through evolution, the human vocal tract has become able to give voice to a variety of particular sounds and complex combinations of sounds. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I have an interest in Romantic poetry but my knowledge and understanding of the `rules' of poetic composition date back to high school, so I was looking for a book pitched at undergraduate level to help me make sense of things. The fact that this book is published by Routledge was reassuring as they are one of the best known publishers for university undergraduate coursebooks.
This book is very easy to read and doesn't assume a great deal of knowledge of literature or poetry; in fact, it even uses popular music to illustrate a point - for example, it quotes the Nick Cave song `Into My Arms' to explain the concept of an author's `personal voice'. Jeffrey Wainwright starts the journey from the very beginning, with nursery rhymes and takes you through the entire spectrum of what we understand as `verse'.
I enjoyed reading this up until I was about three quarters into it; then I was struggling to follow. The problem is that that a instead of using one or two poems to explain a particular form (let's say, the sonnet), the author gives lots of examples, snippets from poems here and there; I found that too fragmentary and confusing. I would have liked to be taken through a whole reading of, say, a Blake poem - and to have analysed it thoroughly. By the time you get to the end of the book you feel as if you're in the middle of a poetic tornado, with names of poets being constantly thrown in and with one or two lines from poems to illustrate the point.
However there is one great feature in this book and that's the glossary at the end. I will definitely refer to it again and again, when I'm unsure about the difference between an enjambement or a caesura, or between iambic and trochaic. All in all, I'd say this is a useful book which will prove a useful reference tool for students of poetry and aspiring poets alike.
This book is very easy to read and doesn't assume a great deal of knowledge of literature or poetry; in fact, it even uses popular music to illustrate a point - for example, it quotes the Nick Cave song `Into My Arms' to explain the concept of an author's `personal voice'. Jeffrey Wainwright starts the journey from the very beginning, with nursery rhymes and takes you through the entire spectrum of what we understand as `verse'.
I enjoyed reading this up until I was about three quarters into it; then I was struggling to follow. The problem is that that a instead of using one or two poems to explain a particular form (let's say, the sonnet), the author gives lots of examples, snippets from poems here and there; I found that too fragmentary and confusing. I would have liked to be taken through a whole reading of, say, a Blake poem - and to have analysed it thoroughly. By the time you get to the end of the book you feel as if you're in the middle of a poetic tornado, with names of poets being constantly thrown in and with one or two lines from poems to illustrate the point.
However there is one great feature in this book and that's the glossary at the end. I will definitely refer to it again and again, when I'm unsure about the difference between an enjambement or a caesura, or between iambic and trochaic. All in all, I'd say this is a useful book which will prove a useful reference tool for students of poetry and aspiring poets alike.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
very pleased with the prompt arrival and the condition of the book. very helpful book as i am studying english literature and creative writing at university.
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
