Synopsis
This text provides a practical guide to the poet's craft. There are chapters on metre, form, layout, lineation, punctuation, rhyme, diction, syntax, history, biography, and gender, as well as one on exams which includes sample essays by undergraduates. At the end of every chapter each topic is applied to the same poem, Nobel-winner Derek Walcott's "Nearing Forty", building up a full technical reading. Critical and scholarly terms are italicized and clearly explained, both in the text and in glossaries. Notes and quotations are supplemented by detailed reference to both the Oxford Anthology of English Literature and the Norton Anthology of Poetry and there is a substantial "Suggestions for Further Reading" section.
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Review
Lennard succeeds in being as exhaustive as he can possibly be... (Caroline Bertoneche, Universite de Provence)
Very readable... gives and excellent overview of poetry in English and will explain rhythm, metre and style. (The Observer, February 2006)
About the Author
John Lennard is a Fellow and Director of Studies in English at Trinity Hall, Cambridge.
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