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The Sounds of Poetry: A Brief Guide
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The Sounds of Poetry: A Brief Guide Paperback - 1999

by Robert Pinsky

Citing the work of 50 different poets--from Shakespeare and Donne to Elizabeth Bishop and Frank Bidart--the Poet Laureate explains the principles of the sounds of what is called poetry.


From the publisher

The Poet Laureate's clear and entertaining account of how poetry works. "Poetry is a vocal, which is to say a bodily, art," Robert Pinsky declares in The Sounds of Poetry. "The medium of poetry is the human body: the column of air inside the chest, shaped into signifying sounds in the larynx and the mouth. In this sense, poetry is as physical or bodily an art as dancing." As Poet Laureate, Pinsky is one of America's best spokesmen for poetry. In this fascinating book, he explains how poets use the "technology" of poetry--its sounds--to create works of art that are "performed" in us when we read them aloud. He devotes brief, informative chapters to accent and duration, syntax and line, like and unlike sounds, blank and free verse. He cites examples from the work of fifty different poets--from Shakespeare, Donne, and Herbert to W. C. Williams, Frost, Elizabeth Bishop, C. K. Williams, Louise Glck, and Frank Bidart. This ideal introductory volume belongs in the library of every poet and student of poetry.

First line

What determines the stress or accent in English words and sentences?

Details

  • Title The Sounds of Poetry: A Brief Guide
  • Author Robert Pinsky
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition [ Edition: Repri
  • Pages 144
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Gordonsville, Virginia, U.S.A.
  • Date September 1, 1999
  • ISBN 9780374526177 / 0374526176
  • Weight 0.32 lbs (0.15 kg)
  • Dimensions 7.52 x 5 x 0.46 in (19.10 x 12.70 x 1.17 cm)
  • Library of Congress subjects Oral interpretation of poetry
  • Dewey Decimal Code 808.54

About the author

Robert Pinsky is Poet Laureate of the United States. FSG published The Inferno of Dante in 1994 and The Figured Wheel in 1996. He teaches in the graduate writing program at Boston University and lives in Newton Corner, Massachusetts.

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