English Verse: Voice and Movement from Wyatt to Yeats, Volume 2Cambridge U.P., 1967 - 324 pages Every poet has a characteristic tone of voice, and his own rhythm. The author's chief interest is this 'sound poems make in the head', and his particular gift is to help us to hear what is going on in the individual poem, and to catch the poet's individuality. We also hear how each poet develops the forms his predecessors have used. In this way, we move from a consideration of single voices to the development of particular forms (like the couplet or blank verse) and the characteristics of whole periods. This book, then, has several uses. While verse as sound is its main concern, it can be read as an introductory history of English verse from the sixteenth to the twentieth century. Since the author quotes generously, he also provides as he goes along an unhackneyed anthology in chronological order. In addition, he comments in detail on many of the poems, so that the book is a demonstration of the methods and uses of practical criticism. |
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Page 9
... breath , Small keep took he whom Fortune frowned on Or whom she lifted up unto the throne Of high renown ; but as a living death , So , dead alive , of life he drew the breath . I Describe . This iambic beat now dominates English verse ...
... breath , Small keep took he whom Fortune frowned on Or whom she lifted up unto the throne Of high renown ; but as a living death , So , dead alive , of life he drew the breath . I Describe . This iambic beat now dominates English verse ...
Page 49
... breathing , but breathing in an incompetent , ludicrous manner , like the ' seld- shown flamens ' in Coriolanus who ' puff to gain a vulgar station ' ; puffing implies shortness of breath , in itself an image of the insignificant span ...
... breathing , but breathing in an incompetent , ludicrous manner , like the ' seld- shown flamens ' in Coriolanus who ' puff to gain a vulgar station ' ; puffing implies shortness of breath , in itself an image of the insignificant span ...
Page 221
... breath all make us feel the cold . Note too , the action , the movement . The hare limps , the Beadsman tells his rosary , his breath moves upwards , and the verse moves too , with slow fluent grace , through to the end of the stanza ...
... breath all make us feel the cold . Note too , the action , the movement . The hare limps , the Beadsman tells his rosary , his breath moves upwards , and the verse moves too , with slow fluent grace , through to the end of the stanza ...
Contents
Blank Verse | 25 |
The Seventeenth Century | 58 |
The Eighteenth Century | 117 |
Copyright | |
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Common terms and phrases
alliteration beauty become beginning breath bring called comes couplet dark dead death doth dream earth effect English example express eyes face fair fall feel flowers follow force give hand hear heart heaven human imagination interesting keep kind King lady language learned leaves light lines living look Lord meaning mind movement moves nature never night once pass passage perhaps play pleasure poem poet poet's poetry reader reason rest rhetoric rhyme rhythm romantic round seems sense sing sleep song sonnet sort soul sound speak speech spirit spring stand stanza stresses sweet symbol taste tell thee theme things thou thought trees truth turn verse voice whole wind writing young