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. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 51
Page 2
... readers to consider for themselves the depth and degree of the contrast between the formal devices of avant - garde and traditional poetics . Having devoted many years to constructing what we believe to be the most comprehensive ...
... readers to consider for themselves the depth and degree of the contrast between the formal devices of avant - garde and traditional poetics . Having devoted many years to constructing what we believe to be the most comprehensive ...
Page 3
... reader of poetry , this anthology will serve as a supplement and as a way of gaining guidance from many poets in one volume . But we also provide a simple primer of prosody at the end of this introduction , so that beginners can hold ...
... reader of poetry , this anthology will serve as a supplement and as a way of gaining guidance from many poets in one volume . But we also provide a simple primer of prosody at the end of this introduction , so that beginners can hold ...
Page 4
... reader of the ghazal , which demands formal adherence alongside a substantive " disunity " ; Vince Gotera reinvests the pantoum with its Malay origins and asserts that , together , the two halves of the quatrain " portray ineffable ...
... reader of the ghazal , which demands formal adherence alongside a substantive " disunity " ; Vince Gotera reinvests the pantoum with its Malay origins and asserts that , together , the two halves of the quatrain " portray ineffable ...
Page 6
... readers will follow their leads . THE BASIC TERMS OF PROSODY USED IN THIS BOOK If you have a shelf of books on prosody , or even one dog - eared poetics handbook , this section is probably not for you . However , if a good number of the ...
... readers will follow their leads . THE BASIC TERMS OF PROSODY USED IN THIS BOOK If you have a shelf of books on prosody , or even one dog - eared poetics handbook , this section is probably not for you . However , if a good number of the ...
Page 7
... readers may not produce identical results , especially if one empha- sizes a particular word in favor of an alternative meaning . In order to guard against too much mushiness , most poets and readers agree on the following principles ...
... readers may not produce identical results , especially if one empha- sizes a particular word in favor of an alternative meaning . In order to guard against too much mushiness , most poets and readers agree on the following principles ...
Contents
VI | 15 |
VII | 24 |
VIII | 32 |
IX | 39 |
X | 46 |
XI | 52 |
XII | 59 |
XIII | 66 |
XLI | 238 |
XLII | 242 |
XLIV | 247 |
XLVI | 254 |
XLVII | 262 |
L | 272 |
LI | 279 |
LII | 290 |
XIV | 73 |
XV | 81 |
XVI | 86 |
XVII | 95 |
XIX | 107 |
XX | 116 |
XXII | 122 |
XXIV | 132 |
XXV | 141 |
XXVI | 148 |
XXVII | 156 |
XXVIII | 165 |
XXIX | 167 |
XXX | 180 |
XXXI | 188 |
XXXII | 198 |
XXXIV | 206 |
XXXVI | 210 |
XXXVII | 217 |
XXXVIII | 223 |
XL | 228 |
LIII | 297 |
LIV | 308 |
LV | 314 |
LVI | 323 |
LVII | 325 |
LVIII | 334 |
LIX | 341 |
LX | 352 |
LXI | 359 |
LXII | 366 |
LXIII | 379 |
LXIV | 385 |
LXV | 391 |
LXVI | 394 |
LXVIII | 396 |
LXIX | 400 |
LXX | 413 |
LXXI | 417 |
LXXII | 435 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
accent accentual verse accentual-syllabic aesthetic alcaic anapestic anthology ballade Bashō beats blank verse blues called century classical contemporary Copyright counted verse dactylic décima dream English enjambment epigram example excerpt eyes feel feet formal fractal free verse genre ghazal haiku hendecasyllabic heroic couplet hip-hop iambic pentameter J. V. Cunningham John language light literary look Lord lyric Marilyn Hacker meter metrical moon morning narrative never night opening Oulipo pantoum pantun Paradelle pattern permission poem's poems quoted poetic form poetry prose poem prosody published quatrain reader refrain renku Reprinted rhyme scheme rhythm Robert rondeau sapphic sestina sing song sonnet sound stanza stress syllables terza rima tetrameter thee things Thomas thou thought tion traditional translated triolet trochaic trochees University Press villanelle W. H. Auden William words writing written York
References to this book
Discovering Patterns in Mathematics and Poetry Marcia Birken,Anne Christine Coon Limited preview - 2008 |