The classic reference work—an invaluable sourcebook for poets and readers
| ||||||||||||||||||
Browse our Bookshelf Favorites store for big savings on popular fiction, nonfiction, children's books, and more. |
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Editorial Reviews
Review
"...full of vitality, knowledge, and its own poetry." -- --Edmund Keeley
"...truly a handbook...both for beginner and expert." -- --Marianne Moore
"Excellent, both in its accuracy and its clarity." -- --W. H. Auden
"It could be read right through, to our infinite enjoyment." -- --William Carlos Williams
"...truly a handbook...both for beginner and expert." -- --Marianne Moore
"Excellent, both in its accuracy and its clarity." -- --W. H. Auden
"It could be read right through, to our infinite enjoyment." -- --William Carlos Williams
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
[ A ]
abstract poem A term used by Dame Edith Sitwell for verse that depends chiefly upon its auditory values for its meaning. Such poetry is analogous to abstract painting in which the arrangement of colors and shapes is significant though no physical objects are represented. Words are employed with little regard for their usual connotations, but rather for their aural effectiveness in a pattern of full and approximate rhymes and in the manipulation of rhythm. Her own poems in the collection called Facade exemplify the type, which may be illustrated by three lines from her lively "Hornpipe" where, we hear, the dumb
Sky rhinoceros-glum
Watched the courses of the breakers' rocking-horses and with Glaucis
Lady Venus on the settee of the horsehair sea!
acatalectic See catalectic.
acatalexis The use of an acatalectic line.
accent Emphasis on a syllable. Some prosodists distinguish between the terms "stress" and "accent" in order to clarify the different kinds of emphasis. These writers use "stress" when referring to metrical stress and reserve "accent" for the emphasis demanded by the language. Such emphasis is called etymological, grammatical, or more simply word accent. The emphasis that in normal speech falls on a heavily stressed syllable is the primary accent (' ). The emphasis that in normal speech falls on a lightly stressed syllable is the secondary accent ( `). Shelley's line "Ah, sister! Desolation is a delicate thing:" exhibits both primary and secondary accents in the word "de's o la tion." Usually, as here, a primary accent coincides with the metrical stress. An even accent or level stress is one which falls with equal emphasis on two syllables in a dissyllabic or polysyllabic word, as in man'kind' and wa'ter-worn' and sometimes occurs when two monosyllabic words are closely associated, such as old' man'. In verse it has the effect of DISTRIBUTED STRESS. See also recessive accent.
accentual verse See metre, pages 9I-92.
accentual-syllabic verse See metre, page 94.
acephalous line A headless line. See catalectic.
acrostic A poem in which the initial letters of the lines spell a name or a title. Thus, Ben Jonson prefaces The Alchemist with
THE ARGUMENT
T he sickness hot, a master quit, for fear,
H is house in town, and left one servant there.
E ase him corrupted, and gave means to know
A cheater and his punk; who, now brought low,
L eaving their narrow practice, were become
C oz'ners at large; and, only wanting some
H ouse to set up, with him they here contract,
E ach for a share, and all begin to act.
M uch company they draw, and much abuse,
I n casting figures, telling fortunes, news,
S elling of flies, flat bawdry, with the Stone
T ill it, and they, and all in fume are gone.
See also alphabet poem.
aesthetic distance The effect produced when an experience, removed from other irrelevant, haphazard experiences, is organized and framed by the formal limits of a poem, so that it can be contemplated and more fully understood.
alba See troubadour, page 186.
alcaics A stanza in the metre invented by the Greek poet Alcaeus, and later used in a slightly altered form by the Roman poet Horace. The original metre was imitated by Tennyson thus:
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images? |
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
Share your thoughts with other customers
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
25 of 26 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
I have to confess that I haven't read this edition of the Poetry Handbook, but I still have the 1962 edition I had to buy in high school -- battered and rebound, but still highly useful. Whereas books like the Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics are wonderful for those already familiar with the subject and looking to deepen their knowledge, Babette Deutsch's dictionary of terms is perfect for those students whose experience of poetry is limited to Hallmark cards and whose understanding of poetics is nil.
Having just discovered that the book is still in print and now in its fourth edition, and, better yet, available through Amazon, I will recommend it to all my Freshman Comp II students (and, for that matter, to my literature students) as an approachable and useful starting point for the study of poetry.
Having just discovered that the book is still in print and now in its fourth edition, and, better yet, available through Amazon, I will recommend it to all my Freshman Comp II students (and, for that matter, to my literature students) as an approachable and useful starting point for the study of poetry.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This little book is useful for students and practicing poets. It is arranged alphabetically, and contains listings for everything concerned with poetry in English, but doesn't forget the influence of poems from other cultures on English poetry. Poets quoted to demonstrate or illustrate the item under discussion range from classical to modern, from seventh century Japanese to Navajo. The author cross-references a lot, perhaps a bit much; but in this one little book, you can find the true definition of haiku (not only the line and syllable requirements, but the necessity to "rouse the emotion and suggest a spiritual insight", something often overlooked in definitions of the form; a discussion of "fancy", distinguishing it from fantasy and further distinguishing the latter from phantasy; and a definition of the "Monk's Tale Stanza" within a larger discussion of stanza. (This is where the cross-referencing is actually quite helpful). I lost my copy of this book for a while and was quite distraught. While I wouldn't go so far as to say I couldn't write without it, doing so was like eating a fine meal alone. I missed a dear friend at the table.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a text I used as an undergrad and for several years during my apprentice-novice stage as a writer. Selected by my teacher, one of two Iowa Writers Workshop M.FAs, who advanced my skills through formal training in poetry and fiction.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Poetry Hanbook. This is a must for ANY poet!
Five stars! This Poetry Handbook is certainly a MUST, for anyone who loves to write poetry, from the beginner to the award winners of writing poetry. Read more
Published 12 days ago by Sally
4.0 out of 5 stars
Informative, but uninspiring
Information is not everything, and especially today when there is so much Information to be freely had. This guide to Poetic terms is for the most part simple and clear. Read more
Published on January 5, 2010 by Shalom Freedman
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Listmania!
|
|
