An Exaltation of Forms: Contemporary Poets Celebrate the Diversity of Their ArtAnnie Finch, Kathrine Varnes At once handbook, reader, and guide to the literary tastes and wisdom of poets, An Exaltation of Forms is an indispensable resource certain to find a dedicated audience among poetry lovers. The editors invited over fifty contemporary poets to select a poetic meter, stanza, or form, describe it, recount its history, and provide favorite examples. The essays represent a remarkably diverse range of literary styles and approaches, and show how the forms of contemporary English-language poetry derive from a wealth of different traditions. The forms range from hendecasyllabics to prose poetry, haiku to procedural poetry, sonnets to blues, rap to fractal verse. The range of poets included is equally impressive--from Amiri Baraka to John Frederick Nims, from Maxine Kumin to Marilyn Hacker, from Agha Shahid Ali to Pat Mora, from W. D. Snodgrass to Charles Bernstein. Achieving this level of eclecticism is a remarkable feat, especially given the strong opinions held by members of the various camps (e.g., the New Formalists, LANGUAGE poets, feminist and multicultural poets) that exist within today's poetry community. Poets who might never occupy the same room here occupy the same pages, perhaps for the first time. The net effect is a book that will surprise, inform, and delight a wide range of readers, whether as reference book, pleasure reading, or classroom text. Poet, translator, and critic Annie Finch is director of the Stonecoast low-residency MFA program at the University of Southern Maine. She is author of The Ghost of Meter: Culture and Prosody in American Free Verse, Eve, and Calendars. She is the winner of the eleventh annual Robert Fitzgerald Prosody Award for scholars who have made a lasting contribution to the art and science of versification. Kathrine Varnes teaches English at the University of Missouri-Columbia. She is the author of the book of poems, The Paragon. Her poems and essays have appeared in many books and journals. |
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Page 199
... create or reinforce meaning . The stanza shape in William Carlos Williams's " The Red Wheelbarrow , " for instance , might suggest wheelbarrows ; clearly the poem's meaning does not depend on that shape , but the to- tality of the poem ...
... create or reinforce meaning . The stanza shape in William Carlos Williams's " The Red Wheelbarrow , " for instance , might suggest wheelbarrows ; clearly the poem's meaning does not depend on that shape , but the to- tality of the poem ...
Page 335
... create a sublime optimum through- out . Its high lyric passages might be juxtaposed with vulgar or parodic sections ; its diction can range from gorgeous to caustic . Complex systems tend to recycle their components . A rain forest ...
... create a sublime optimum through- out . Its high lyric passages might be juxtaposed with vulgar or parodic sections ; its diction can range from gorgeous to caustic . Complex systems tend to recycle their components . A rain forest ...
Page 400
... created forms that have been created for reasons as various and com- plex as the writers who have created them . Each poet was also asked to provide a short statement on the rationale and / or methodology of the particular form he or ...
... created forms that have been created for reasons as various and com- plex as the writers who have created them . Each poet was also asked to provide a short statement on the rationale and / or methodology of the particular form he or ...
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
Accentual Verse DANA GIOIA | 15 |
Sweeter Melodies MARGARET HOLLEY | 24 |
Copyright | |
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accent accentual verse accentual-syllabic aesthetic alcaic anapestic anthology ballade Bashō beats blues called Campion century classical contemporary Copyright dactylic décima dream English epigrams example excerpt eyes feel feet formal fractal Frankie free verse genre ghazal haiku hand heroic couplet hip-hop iambic pentameter John language light literary look Lord lyric Marilyn Hacker Mattie Groves meter metrical moon morning narrative never night opening Oulipo pantoum pantun Paradelle pattern permission poem's poetic form poetry prose poem prosody quatrain rappers reader refrain renku Reprinted rhyme scheme rhythm Robert rondeau sapphic seasons sestina shape sing Sir Patrick song sonnet sound stanza stress syllables terza rima tetrameter thee things thou tion traditional translated triolet trochaic trochees University Press villanelle Villon W. H. Auden William words writing written X. J. Kennedy York
References to this book
Discovering Patterns in Mathematics and Poetry Marcia Birken,Anne Christine Coon Limited preview - 2008 |