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The discovery of poetry : a field guide to reading and writing poems / Frances Mayes.
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Mayes, Frances.
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Poetics.
- English poetry--Appreciation.
- English poetry.
- American poetry--Appreciation.
- American poetry.
- English poetry--History and criticism.
- American poetry--History and criticism.
- Physical Description:
- xviii, 494 pages ; 23 cm
- Edition:
- First Harvest edition.
- Place of Publication:
- San Diego : Harcourt, 2001.
- Summary:
- Long before she fell in love with Tuscany, Frances Mayes fell in love with poetry. The author of five poetry collections, she was a professor of creative writing at San Francisco State University until last year. In this accessible field guide, Mayes invites readers to share her lifelong passion. Beginning with basic terminology and techniques, The Discovery of Poetry reveals how focusing on each aspect of a poem can help you to better understand, appreciate, and enjoy the whole reading and writing experience. In addition to creative composition ideas, lyrical and lively discussions are followed by a thoughtful selection of poems. With its distinguished anthology of work from Shakespeare to Jamaica Kincaid, The Discovery of Poetry is an insightful, invaluable guide to what Mayes calls "the natural pleasures of language -- a happiness we were born to have."
- Contents:
- 1. Sources and Approaches 1
- The Origin of a Poem 1
- The Art of Reading 5
- Poems 14
- 2. Words: Texture and Sound 24
- Texture of Language 24
- Choosing Words 29
- The Muscle of Language 32
- Sound Patterns 33
- The Surprise of Language 38
- The Kinship of Words 39
- Poems 48
- 3. Images: The Perceptual Field 64
- Three Image Poems 66
- Images and Perception 70
- Literal Images 72
- Poems 75
- Figurative Images 82
- Symbols 97
- Poems 105
- 4. The Speaker: The Eye of the Poem 132
- The Invented "I" 134
- The Personal "I" Speaker 139
- The Public Voice 144
- The Invisible Speaker 146
- Poems 148
- 5. Rhyme and Repetition 158
- Rhyme 162
- Poems 171
- Repetition 176
- Poems 191
- 6. Meter: The Measured Flow 207
- What Is Meter? 209
- Scansion 211
- Iambic Pentameter 213
- More Key Meters 221
- Two Other Metrical Options 234
- Rhythm and Meaning 239
- Poems 242
- 7. Free Verse 255
- The Genesis of Free Verse 257
- The Free Verse Craft of the Line 260
- Voice 272
- Free Verse, the Tradition and Beyond 272
- Poems 274
- 8. Traditional and Open Forms 287
- Looking at Forms 289
- Traditional Forms 293
- Poems 313
- Open Forms 325
- Prose Poems 329
- Open Forms Poems 331
- 9. Subject and Style 346
- Types of Poems 347
- Style 357
- Poems on Four Subjects 364
- Poems 386
- 10. Interpretation: The Wide Response 402
- What Is Meaning? 408
- Gaps and Holes 409
- Power Sources 416
- Critical Discriminations 433
- Poems 440
- 11. A Poet's Handbook 457
- Invoking Your Muse 457
- Beginning with a White Page 459
- Suggestions for Writing and Revising 459
- Your Poems out the Door 471.
- Notes:
- "A Harvest original."
- Includes indexes.
- ISBN:
- 0156007622
- OCLC:
- 46918453
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