Poetry Handbook: A Dictionary of Terms [Paperback]

Babette Deutsch (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 20, 1982

The classic reference work—an invaluable sourcebook for poets and readers

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

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

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial; 4 edition (January 20, 1982)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0064635481
• ISBN-13: 978-0064635486
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #300,741 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent starting point for new students of poetry, February 1, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Poetry Handbook: A Dictionary of Terms (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.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb reference/guide for serious poets., January 13, 2008

By 

D. C. Weiser (Kansas City, MO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Poetry Handbook: A Dictionary of Terms (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.

4.0 out of 5 stars Informative, but uninspiring, January 5, 2010

By 

Shalom Freedman "Shalom Freedman" (Jerusalem,Israel) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Poetry Handbook: A Dictionary of Terms (Paperback)

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. It gives illustrations and examples for many of the most important terms. My problem with it was that I had hoped to be inspired by some of the Poetry, some of the examples. And I found her examples to be not very inspiring at all.
There too is the problem that many of the entries are very skimpy. I also was bothered by her not giving significant weight to Biblical poetry and its importance for English Literature.
Still I learned what 'chiasmus' is , and was reminded again of the difference between a trochee and a anapest and a dactyl. I did too learn that Free Verse has its origin in nineteenth century French poetry and French poetry is syllabic, as words all tend to be equally accented. I learned that Free verse is a poetry of 'cadence' and not of 'syllable' and 'stress'. i.e. This book was useful to me in helping me refresh my knowledge of certain poetic terms and learn new terms and meanings I do not know.
I suspect that any and everyone who takes a real interest in Poetry will be able to learn something from it.