Meter And Meaning: Introduction To Rhythm In Poetry

In Meter and Meaning poet Thomas Carper and distinguished scholar Derek Attridge join forces to communicate a new, user-friendly way to explore the rhythms of poetry in English. Side-stepping the jargon that often runs through discussions of meter, the authors begin with the basic idea of poetry as a performance and suggest an entirely fresh approach to reading poetic texts. As they guide us through exercises and ideas, they equip us with a new understanding of the relationship between meter and meaning in poems of all periods. Assuming no previous knowledge of meter, the authors ensure a smooth passage to an advanced knowledge of poetic rhythms. Perhaps even more importantly, they make studying meter a pleasure and reading poetry a revelation. This is the only guide to meter you will ever need and a must-read for anyone who wants to study, write or better appreciate poetic texts. Review: 'This is far and away the most accessible, effective and enjoyable introduction to meter I have come across. I have nothing but admiration for what the writers have done.' - Rob Pope, Oxford Brookes University Table of Contents: Acknowledgments, Introduction, 1. Basic Rhythms, Further Practice, 2. Beats: B , b, [B], Further Practice, 3. Offbeats: o , O , -o- , [o] , o, Further Practice, 4. Scan-ning Poems, Further Practice, 5. Rhythmic Figures, 6. Names and Labels, 7. Meter and Meaning, 8. Identifying Meters and Stanza-forms, Where to Go from Here, Scansion Symbols, Afterword, Index