How to read poetry like a professor : a quippy and sonorous guide to verse / Thomas C. Foster.

Title :

How to read poetry like a professor : a quippy and sonorous guide to verse

Author:

Foster, Thomas C.,

Format:

Books

Summary:

"No literary form is as admired and feared as poetry. Admired for its lengthy pedigree--a line of poets extending back to a time before recorded history--and a ubiquitous presence in virtually all cultures, poetry is also revered for its great beauty and the powerful emotions it evokes. But the form has also instilled trepidation in its many admirers mainly because of a lack of familiarity and knowledge. Poetry demands more from readers--intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually--than other literary forms. Most of us started out loving poetry because it filled our beloved children's books from Dr. Seuss to Robert Louis Stevenson. Eventually, our reading shifted to prose, and later when we encountered poetry again, we had no recent experience to make it feel familiar. But reading poetry doesn't need to be so overwhelming. In an entertaining and engaging voice, Thomas C. Foster shows readers how to overcome their fear of poetry and learn to enjoy it once more."--Back cover.

Language:

English

ISBN - ISSN:

006211378X

9780062113788

Physical Description:

212 pages ; 21 cm

Contents:

What is poetry? Introduction: A (slightly) alien life-form ; The sounds of sense ; Sounds beyond sense ; Interlude: What the heck is it? -- How is poetry? Redeeming the time ; The rhythm(s) of the Saints ; The long (or short) gray line ; Our word is our bond ; Rhyme thyme ; Look who's talking ; If it's square, it's a sonnet ; A haiku, a rondeau, and a villanelle walk into a bar ; Shapes of things to come ; Interlude: Is verse ever really free? ; Images, symbols, and their friends ; Right out loud ; Bards and Beatles -- Why is poetry? Wanted: a few good Martians ; Conclusion: Supreme fictions.

Subject:

Poetry -- Explication.

Poetry -- Appreciation.

Poetry -- Analysis.

LITERARY CRITICISM / Poetry.

POETRY / Subjects & Themes.

Poetry.

First Title value, for Searching:

How to read poetry like a professor : a quippy and sonorous guide to verse / Thomas C. Foster.

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Library	Audience	Home Location	Material Type	Shelf Number	Status
Searching... Central	Adult	Open Stacks Non-Fiction	Open Stacks book	808.1 F757	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Heights	Adult	Non-fiction	Book	808.1 F757	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

From the bestselling author of How to Read Literature Like a Professor comes this essential primer to reading poetry like a professor that unlocks the keys to enjoying works from Lord Byron to the Beatles.

No literary form is as admired and feared as poetry. Admired for its lengthy pedigree--a line of poets extending back to a time before recorded history--and a ubiquitous presence in virtually all cultures, poetry is also revered for its great beauty and the powerful emotions it evokes. But the form has also instilled trepidation in its many admirers mainly because of a lack of familiarity and knowledge.

Poetry demands more from readers--intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually--than other literary forms. Most of us started out loving poetry because it filled our beloved children's books from Dr. Seuss to Robert Louis Stevenson. Eventually, our reading shifted to prose and later when we encountered poetry again, we had no recent experience to make it feel familiar. But reading poetry doesn't need to be so overwhelming. In an entertaining and engaging voice, Thomas C. Foster shows readers how to overcome their fear of poetry and learn to enjoy it once more.

From classic poets such as Shakespeare, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and Edna St. Vincent Millay to later poets such as E.E. Cummings, Billy Collins, and Seamus Heaney, How to Read Poetry Like a Professor examines a wide array of poems and teaches readers:

How to read a poem to understand its primary meaning. The different technical elements of poetry such as meter, diction, rhyme, line structures, length, order, regularity, and how to learn to see these elements as allies rather than adversaries. How to listen for a poem's secondary meaning by paying attention to the echoes that the language of poetry summons up. How to hear the music in poems--and the poetry in songs!

With How to Read Poetry Like a Professor, readers can rediscover poetry and reap its many rewards.

Author Notes

Thomas C. Foster is a professor of English at the University of Michigan-Flint. He teaches contemporary fiction, drama, poetry, creative writing, and composition. He is the author of several books including Twenty-Five Books That Shaped America: How White Whales, Green Lights, and Restless Spirits Forged Our National Identity, How to Read Literature Like a Professor: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines, and How to Read Novels Like a Professor: A Jaunty Exploration of the World's Favorite Literary Form.

(Bowker Author Biography)

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Literary critic Foster (How to Read Literature Like a Professor) explicates the fundamentals of reading and understanding poetry in this accessible guide designed for the lay audience. He addresses the common anxieties expressed by readers unfamiliar with poetry (i.e., "I don't understand it"), and responds with patient and frequently witty explanation. In addition to breaking down essential terminology, the different types of meter, stanzas, sonnets, and so forth, Foster offers insight into the definition of poetry, "an exploration of language" that is simultaneously "the experiment and the laboratory where it takes place." Foster has chosen his citations well, exploring Langston Hughes's use of dialect and jazz in a discussion on rhythm, pointing out T.S. Eliot's ingenious enjambment in "The Waste Land," and using Frost's "The Road Not Taken" as a catalyst for differentiating a poem's author from its speaker. His discussion of symbolism is particularly effective and may help readers learn to actually enjoy the experience of interpreting a poem. He does not reference many contemporary poets, however, with the exception of former U.S. poet laureate Billy Collins, and female poets are underrepresented. However, students struggling to understand poetry, or even English instructors struggling to teach it, could benefit immensely from Foster's guidance. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Library Journal Review

Pleasant and sometimes very charming, this book (the third in a series by Foster that started with How To Read Literature Like a Professor) is sure to inspire both the curious general reader and the scholar. Written for the former, it strives to open readers' eyes to the pleasures of the poet's art, and packs enough insight to engage and excite audiences of almost any level. Foster (English emeritus, Univ. of Michigan) has a gift for introducing such daunting topics as meter, form, and enjambment with skill and humor, and does a capable job of taking the pain out of symbolism and imagery by emphasizing the importance of reading the words on the page and trusting your own intuition. What is most admirable in this work is the way Foster sets the reader free to embrace the text, to question the text, and finally to make the text their own. Though the book isn't always successful, it is stuffed with helpful advice, comes with a nice selection of poems and passages from longer works, and could open the doors and windows of poetry wide for readers who have too long avoided some of the world's greatest writers. VERDICT Recommended for high school and public library collections.-Herman Sutter, St. Agnes Acad., Houston © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

What Is Poetry?	p. 1
Introduction: A (Slightly) Alien Life-Form	p. 3
1 The Sounds of Sense	p. 10
2 Sounds Beyond Sense	p. 21
Interlude: What the Heck Is It?	p. 29
How Is Poetry?	p. 35
3 Redeeming the Time	p. 37
4 The Rhythm(s) of the Saints	p. 49
5 The Long (or Short) Gray Line	p. 62
6 Our Word Is Our Bond	p. 72
7 Rhyme Thyme	p. 83
8 Look Who's Talking	p. 92
9 If It's Square, It's a Sonnet	p. 101
10 A Haiku, a Rondeau, and a Villanelle Walk into a Bar	p. 111
11 Shapes of Things to Come	p. 126
Interlude: Is Verse Ever Really Free?	p. 133
12 Images, Symbols, and Their Friends	p. 138
13 Right Out Loud	p. 147
14 Bards and Beatles	p. 157
Why Is Poetry?	p. 169
15 Wanted: A Few Good Martians	p. 171
Conclusion: Supreme Fictions	p. 181
Poems Cited	p. 189
Critical Works for Reference	p. 191
Acknowledgments	p. 195
Index	p. 197
Permissions	p. 211

Available:*

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

Summary

Author Notes

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Library Journal Review

Table of Contents