How Does a Poem Mean?Examines the value and nature of poetry, using examples of English and American poetry of the past 6 centuries. |
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I have experienced this book in several editions. The operative word in the title is "how." As an amateur poet for whom finding the technical construction of a "poem," or even something so prosaic as the very definition of poetry, this book over the past 40 years has been vital. Ciardi takes the word craft down to basic tools of craftsmanship, such as a pinter wild word with such basic as palate, paint, canvas, easel, brushes, etc. Probably his best chapter is that taht tells why a much beloved poem like
"Invictus" isa very bad poem, changed my whole way of looking at my own work. The example poems in the book, which have changed some from one edition to the next, are themselves very important. This is is a must book for both writers and readers.
Contents
Walter De la Mare The Listeners | 720 |
Edwin Arlington Robinson Mr Floods Party | 738 |
John Keats The Eve of St Agnes | 744 |
Copyright | |
19 other sections not shown
Common terms and phrases
Bibliographic information
| Title | How Does a Poem Mean? Part 3 of An introduction to literature / by Herbert Barrows ... [et al.] |
| Author | John Ciardi |
| Contributor | John Ciardi |
| Edition | 7, reprint |
| Publisher | Houghton Mifflin, 1960 |
| Original from | the University of Michigan |
| Digitized | Jul 17, 2007 |
| Length | 366 pages |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |