Reading Poetry: An Introduction

“Reading Poetry stands out from other introductions to poetry in its brilliant combination of practical guidance and theoretical savvy. Students who use this book will be helped to enjoy and discuss poems, introduced to some of the major varieties of poetic criticism, and invited to reflect on what makes poetry important today.”

Professor Derek Attridge, University of York

Reading Poetry is a comprehensive, accessible and extremely effective guide to the arts of reading, analysing and enjoying poetry. From the opening chapter, which examines assumptions about what poetry might be, successive chapters map a path that takes the reader from the basics of simple appreciation to an understanding of the often complex theoretical and historical contexts that enrich any appreciation of poetry.

While emphasising the importance of close textual analysis – or reading in slow motion – the authors clearly demonstrate how an understanding of form, language and context can combine to produce sophisticated and original responses to all types of poetry.

The second edition of this best-selling book includes a number of developments that make it more user-friendly for the individual reader and more suitable as a stand-alone textbook for university courses in poetry. The poetic examples have been increased to 150, ranging from the 14th to the 21st century, and clear guidance is provided on further reading in footnotes and an expanded bibliography. This edition includes a new chapter on Post-Colonial Poetry, a substantial increase in the number of end-of-chapter exercises, and a comprehensive Glossary of Poetic Terms. The aim of the book is preserved from that of the first edition, namely to enhance readers’ literary and scholarly competence, and to restore enjoyment to the reading of poetry.

Tom Furniss is Senior Lecturer in English Studies at the Universityof Strathclyde in Glasgow, where he has spent nearly twenty years teaching poetry, literary theory and Romanticism. Michael Bath taught English literature for more than 30 years at the University of Strathclyde, where his research interests centred on relations between literature and the visual arts, emblems and iconology. 

" Reading Poetrystands out from other introductions to poetry in its brilliant combination of practical guidance and theoretical savvy. Students who use this book will be helped to enjoy and discuss poems, introduced to some of the major varieties of poetic criticism, and invited to reflect on what makes poetry important today. Reading Poetry is, in my view, the best introductory book on the study of poetry available. "

Professor Derek Attridge, Universityof York

The essential introduction to the skills needed to read – and really enjoy – poetry.

• Includes almost 100 poems or substantial passages from poems, with full guides to further reading to help students with their study
• Exercises at the end of each chapter will help students practise and develop their skills in reading poetry

Reading Poetry offers a comprehensive and accessible guide to the art of reading poetry. Successive chapters introduce key skills and critical or theoretical issues, enabling users to read poetry with enjoyment, insight and an awareness of the implications of what they are doing.

This new edition includes a new chapter on ‘Post-colonial Poetry’, a substantial increase in the number of end-of-chapter interactive exercises, and a comprehensive Glossary of poetic terms. Not just an add-on, the Glossary works as a key resource for the structuring of particular topics in any individual teaching or learning programme. Many of the exercises and interactive discussions develop not only the skills of competent close reading but also the necessary confidence and experience in locating historical and other contextual information through library or internet searches. The aim is to enhance readers' literary and scholarly competence – and to make it fun!

 

Dr Tom Furniss is Senior Lecturer in English Studies at the Universityof Strathclyde in Glasgow, where he has spent nearly twenty years teaching poetry, literary theory and Romanticism. He is co-author of Ways of Reading, now in its third edition, and Edmund Burke's Aesthetic Ideology (1993).

Professor Michael Bath was also at the University of Strathclyde until his retirement, specialising in Renaissance emblem books, iconography, iconology and poetics. His publications include Speaking Pictures: English Emblem Books and Renaissance Culture (1994) and Decorative Painting in Scotland (2002).

 

 

Contents

 

Acknowledgements

Preface   

Part One Formal Introduction

  1   What Is Poetry? How Do We Read It?

  2   Rhythm and Metre

  3   Significant Form: Metre and Syntax

  4   Creative Form and the Arbitrary Nature of Language  

Part Two Textual Strategies

  5   Figurative Language  

  6   Poetic Metaphor

  7   Hearing Voices in Poetic Texts

  8   Voices with Attitude: Tone and Irony

  9   Ambiguity  

Part Three Texts in Contexts/Contexts in Texts

10    Introducing Contexts

11    Genre  

12    The Sonnet   

13    Allusion, Influence and Intertextuality

14    Poetry, Discourse, History  

15    The Locations of Poetry

16  Post-Colonial Poetry     

Part Four An Open-ended Conclusion

17    Closure, Pluralism and Undecidability   

Glossary

Key to Poems and Passages Discussed or Used for Exercises

Bibliography

Index