Fatemeh Keshavarz
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780748696925
- eISBN:
- 9781474408608
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748696925.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Literature
Lyrics of Life: Sa’di on Love, Cosmopolitanism, and care of the Self is an accessible study of the lyrical, humorous, and social and education aspects of classical Persian poetry through the ghazals ...
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Lyrics of Life: Sa’di on Love, Cosmopolitanism, and care of the Self is an accessible study of the lyrical, humorous, and social and education aspects of classical Persian poetry through the ghazals of Sa’di of Shiraz (d.1291) the poet, traveller, and ethicist. In six chapters and on epilogue, the author focuses on Sa’di’s worldly wisdom, his cosmopolitan perspectives, his sense of humour, his ethical legacy, and the lyrical quality that has made his work immune to the ravishes of time. The study provides hundreds of verses in English translation in order to enable the reader to experience Sa’di’s poetic art first hand. The discussions emphasize the relation between this poetry and lived experience, the central communicative role of poetry in the medieval Muslim world and the elegance of the poetic language as a social tool for ethical and political education. At the same time, it describes, in fine details, the lyrical strategies that the poet used in order to keep his poetry fresh, lyrical, humorous and entertaining.Less
Lyrics of Life: Sa’di on Love, Cosmopolitanism, and care of the Self is an accessible study of the lyrical, humorous, and social and education aspects of classical Persian poetry through the ghazals of Sa’di of Shiraz (d.1291) the poet, traveller, and ethicist. In six chapters and on epilogue, the author focuses on Sa’di’s worldly wisdom, his cosmopolitan perspectives, his sense of humour, his ethical legacy, and the lyrical quality that has made his work immune to the ravishes of time. The study provides hundreds of verses in English translation in order to enable the reader to experience Sa’di’s poetic art first hand. The discussions emphasize the relation between this poetry and lived experience, the central communicative role of poetry in the medieval Muslim world and the elegance of the poetic language as a social tool for ethical and political education. At the same time, it describes, in fine details, the lyrical strategies that the poet used in order to keep his poetry fresh, lyrical, humorous and entertaining.
Andrew Blades and Piers Pennington (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- January 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781789620566
- eISBN:
- 9781789629989
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3828/liverpool/9781789620566.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Poetry
Poetry is an ancient verbal art, which has its roots in the oral epics and fragments that survive from classical times. Dictionaries of English, by contrast, are a comparatively recent phenomenon, ...
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Poetry is an ancient verbal art, which has its roots in the oral epics and fragments that survive from classical times. Dictionaries of English, by contrast, are a comparatively recent phenomenon, beginning with the ‘hard words’ that Robert Cawdrey gathered in A Table Alphabeticall in 1604 and extending to the present edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, with its ongoing revisions. This innovative collection of essays is the first volume to explore the ways in which dictionaries have stimulated the imaginations of modern and contemporary poets from Britain, Ireland, and America, while also considering how poetry has itself been a rich source of material for lexicographers. As well as gauging the influence of major dictionaries like the OED, the essays single out encounters with more specialised works and broach uses of words that are not typically included in dictionaries. In doing so, the contributors not only cast familiar questions of ambiguity and etymology in a fresh light, but they also reveal a number of surprising and energising points of contact, from Hugh MacDiarmid’s rediscovery of Scots to Tina Darragh’s visual appropriations of dictionary pages. As such, Poetry & the Dictionary will prove an indispensable volume for all readers – academic or not – who find themselves fascinated by the language’s many involutions.Less
Poetry is an ancient verbal art, which has its roots in the oral epics and fragments that survive from classical times. Dictionaries of English, by contrast, are a comparatively recent phenomenon, beginning with the ‘hard words’ that Robert Cawdrey gathered in A Table Alphabeticall in 1604 and extending to the present edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, with its ongoing revisions. This innovative collection of essays is the first volume to explore the ways in which dictionaries have stimulated the imaginations of modern and contemporary poets from Britain, Ireland, and America, while also considering how poetry has itself been a rich source of material for lexicographers. As well as gauging the influence of major dictionaries like the OED, the essays single out encounters with more specialised works and broach uses of words that are not typically included in dictionaries. In doing so, the contributors not only cast familiar questions of ambiguity and etymology in a fresh light, but they also reveal a number of surprising and energising points of contact, from Hugh MacDiarmid’s rediscovery of Scots to Tina Darragh’s visual appropriations of dictionary pages. As such, Poetry & the Dictionary will prove an indispensable volume for all readers – academic or not – who find themselves fascinated by the language’s many involutions.
Brian M. Reed
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801451577
- eISBN:
- 9780801469589
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801451577.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, American, 20th Century Literature
Since the turn of the new millennium English-language verse has entered a new historical phase, but explanations vary as to what has actually happened and why. What might constitute a viable ...
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Since the turn of the new millennium English-language verse has entered a new historical phase, but explanations vary as to what has actually happened and why. What might constitute a viable avant-garde poetics in the aftermath of such momentous developments as 9/11, globalization, and the financial crisis? Much of this discussion has taken place in ephemeral venues such as blogs, e-zines, public lectures, and conferences. This is the first book to treat the emergence of Flarf and Conceptual Poetry in a serious way. It argues that these movements must be understood in relation to the proliferation of digital communications technologies and their integration into the corporate workplace. Writers such as Andrea Brady, Craig Dworkin, Kenneth Goldsmith, Danny Snelson, and Rachel Zolf specifically target for criticism the institutions, skill sets, and values that make possible the smooth functioning of a post-industrial, globalized economy. Authorship comes in for particular scrutiny: how does writing a poem differ in any meaningful way from other forms of “content providing”? While often adept at using new technologies, these writers nonetheless choose to explore anachronism, ineptitude, and error as aesthetic and political strategies. The results can appear derivative, tedious, or vulgar; they can also be stirring, compelling, and even sublime. The book concludes that this new generation of writers is carrying on the Duchampian practice of generating antiart that both challenges prevalent definitions or art and calls into question the legitimacy of the institutions that define it.Less
Since the turn of the new millennium English-language verse has entered a new historical phase, but explanations vary as to what has actually happened and why. What might constitute a viable avant-garde poetics in the aftermath of such momentous developments as 9/11, globalization, and the financial crisis? Much of this discussion has taken place in ephemeral venues such as blogs, e-zines, public lectures, and conferences. This is the first book to treat the emergence of Flarf and Conceptual Poetry in a serious way. It argues that these movements must be understood in relation to the proliferation of digital communications technologies and their integration into the corporate workplace. Writers such as Andrea Brady, Craig Dworkin, Kenneth Goldsmith, Danny Snelson, and Rachel Zolf specifically target for criticism the institutions, skill sets, and values that make possible the smooth functioning of a post-industrial, globalized economy. Authorship comes in for particular scrutiny: how does writing a poem differ in any meaningful way from other forms of “content providing”? While often adept at using new technologies, these writers nonetheless choose to explore anachronism, ineptitude, and error as aesthetic and political strategies. The results can appear derivative, tedious, or vulgar; they can also be stirring, compelling, and even sublime. The book concludes that this new generation of writers is carrying on the Duchampian practice of generating antiart that both challenges prevalent definitions or art and calls into question the legitimacy of the institutions that define it.
Michael Golston
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780231164306
- eISBN:
- 9780231538633
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231164306.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
Through a survey of American poetry and poetics from the end of World War II to the present, Michael Golston traces the proliferation of these experiments to a growing fascination with allegory in ...
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Through a survey of American poetry and poetics from the end of World War II to the present, Michael Golston traces the proliferation of these experiments to a growing fascination with allegory in philosophy, linguistics, critical theory, and aesthetics, introducing new strategies for reading American poetry while embedding its formal innovations within the history of intellectual thought. Beginning with Walter Benjamin’s explicit understanding of Surrealism as an allegorical art, Golston defines a distinct engagement with allegory among philosophers, theorists, and critics from 1950 to today. Reading Fredric Jameson, Angus Fletcher, Roland Barthes, and Craig Owens, and working with the semiotics of Charles Sanders Pierce, Golston develops a theory of allegory he then applies to the poems of Louis Zukofsky and Lorine Niedecker, who, he argues, wrote in response to the Surrealists; the poems of John Ashbery and Clark Coolidge, who incorporated formal aspects of filmmaking and photography into their work; the groundbreaking configurations of P. Inman, Lyn Hejinian, Myung Mi Kim, and the Language poets; Susan Howe’s “Pierce-Arrow,” which he submits to semiotic analysis; and the innovations of Craig Dworkin and the conceptualists. Revitalizing what many consider to be a staid rhetorical trope, Golston positions allegory as a creative catalyst behind American poetry’s postwar avant-garde achievements.Less
Through a survey of American poetry and poetics from the end of World War II to the present, Michael Golston traces the proliferation of these experiments to a growing fascination with allegory in philosophy, linguistics, critical theory, and aesthetics, introducing new strategies for reading American poetry while embedding its formal innovations within the history of intellectual thought. Beginning with Walter Benjamin’s explicit understanding of Surrealism as an allegorical art, Golston defines a distinct engagement with allegory among philosophers, theorists, and critics from 1950 to today. Reading Fredric Jameson, Angus Fletcher, Roland Barthes, and Craig Owens, and working with the semiotics of Charles Sanders Pierce, Golston develops a theory of allegory he then applies to the poems of Louis Zukofsky and Lorine Niedecker, who, he argues, wrote in response to the Surrealists; the poems of John Ashbery and Clark Coolidge, who incorporated formal aspects of filmmaking and photography into their work; the groundbreaking configurations of P. Inman, Lyn Hejinian, Myung Mi Kim, and the Language poets; Susan Howe’s “Pierce-Arrow,” which he submits to semiotic analysis; and the innovations of Craig Dworkin and the conceptualists. Revitalizing what many consider to be a staid rhetorical trope, Golston positions allegory as a creative catalyst behind American poetry’s postwar avant-garde achievements.
Samia Mehrez (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9789774165337
- eISBN:
- 9781617971303
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- American University in Cairo Press
- DOI:
- 10.5743/cairo/9789774165337.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Middle Eastern Studies
This unique interdisciplinary collective project is the culmination of research and translation work conducted by AUC students of different cultural and linguistic backgrounds who continue to witness ...
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This unique interdisciplinary collective project is the culmination of research and translation work conducted by AUC students of different cultural and linguistic backgrounds who continue to witness Egypt's ongoing revolution. This historic event has produced an unprecedented proliferation of political and cultural documents and materials, whether written, oral, or visual. Given their range, different linguistic registers, and referential worlds, these documents present a great challenge to any translator. The contributors to this volume have selectively translated chants, banners, jokes, poems, and interviews, as well as presidential speeches and military communiqués. Their practical translation work is informed by the cultural turn in translation studies and the nuanced role of the translator as negotiator between texts and cultures. The chapters focus on the relationship between translation and semiotics, issues of fidelity and equivalence, creative transformation and rewriting, and the issue of target readership. This mature collective project is in many ways a reenactment of the new infectious revolutionary spirit in Egypt today.Less
This unique interdisciplinary collective project is the culmination of research and translation work conducted by AUC students of different cultural and linguistic backgrounds who continue to witness Egypt's ongoing revolution. This historic event has produced an unprecedented proliferation of political and cultural documents and materials, whether written, oral, or visual. Given their range, different linguistic registers, and referential worlds, these documents present a great challenge to any translator. The contributors to this volume have selectively translated chants, banners, jokes, poems, and interviews, as well as presidential speeches and military communiqués. Their practical translation work is informed by the cultural turn in translation studies and the nuanced role of the translator as negotiator between texts and cultures. The chapters focus on the relationship between translation and semiotics, issues of fidelity and equivalence, creative transformation and rewriting, and the issue of target readership. This mature collective project is in many ways a reenactment of the new infectious revolutionary spirit in Egypt today.
Edith Hall (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- September 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780197266519
- eISBN:
- 9780191884238
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197266519.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Poetry
This volume of essays arose from a conference which marked the 80th birthday of prizewinning British poet Tony Harrison on 30 April 2017 and with his agreement constitutes his ‘official’ Festschrift. ...
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This volume of essays arose from a conference which marked the 80th birthday of prizewinning British poet Tony Harrison on 30 April 2017 and with his agreement constitutes his ‘official’ Festschrift. The contributors include practising poets, playwrights, specialists in Classics, Theatre, Translation Studies, English and World Literature, and professionals in media (radio, newspapers, TV and film) where Harrison’s extensive work has been least researched. The aim of the volume is to open up new approaches to the understanding of the work of one of our most important poets.
Although it is indeed intended to provide the substantial and sufficiently comprehensive contribution to Harrison scholarship that his official eight-decades-alive merit, and the Editor’s Introduction to the volume is sensitive to the needs of the reader in terms of bibliographical signposts, the four sections focus primarily on areas that have been hitherto little explored: (1) his more recent poems; (2) the continuation of his relationship with ancient theatre after the landmark Oresteia and Trackers of the 1980–1990 decade, his evolving dramatic relationship with Euripides, and with French authors (Hugo, Molière, Racine); (3) the international angle. This entails both the profound contribution made to his work by his periods of residence abroad, in Africa, North America, Moscow and Prague, and his popularity in French and Italian translation (both European translators have agreed to speak); (4) his extensive body of poems (about which almost nothing has been published) written specifically for delivery in the media of film, television and radio.Less
This volume of essays arose from a conference which marked the 80th birthday of prizewinning British poet Tony Harrison on 30 April 2017 and with his agreement constitutes his ‘official’ Festschrift. The contributors include practising poets, playwrights, specialists in Classics, Theatre, Translation Studies, English and World Literature, and professionals in media (radio, newspapers, TV and film) where Harrison’s extensive work has been least researched. The aim of the volume is to open up new approaches to the understanding of the work of one of our most important poets.
Although it is indeed intended to provide the substantial and sufficiently comprehensive contribution to Harrison scholarship that his official eight-decades-alive merit, and the Editor’s Introduction to the volume is sensitive to the needs of the reader in terms of bibliographical signposts, the four sections focus primarily on areas that have been hitherto little explored: (1) his more recent poems; (2) the continuation of his relationship with ancient theatre after the landmark Oresteia and Trackers of the 1980–1990 decade, his evolving dramatic relationship with Euripides, and with French authors (Hugo, Molière, Racine); (3) the international angle. This entails both the profound contribution made to his work by his periods of residence abroad, in Africa, North America, Moscow and Prague, and his popularity in French and Italian translation (both European translators have agreed to speak); (4) his extensive body of poems (about which almost nothing has been published) written specifically for delivery in the media of film, television and radio.
Lucy Collins
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781781381878
- eISBN:
- 9781781382271
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9781781381878.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Poetry
This book examines the intersection of private and public spheres through the representation of memory in contemporary poetry by Irish women. It explores how memory shapes creativity in the work of ...
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This book examines the intersection of private and public spheres through the representation of memory in contemporary poetry by Irish women. It explores how memory shapes creativity in the work of well-known poets such as Eavan Boland, Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin and Medbh McGuckian as well as in that of an exciting group of younger poets. Literary memory highlights the relationship between poet and reader, as well as the larger critical contexts that support or challenge the production of creative work. This book analyses, for the first time, the complex responses to the past recorded by contemporary women poets in Ireland and the implications these have for the concept of a national tradition.Less
This book examines the intersection of private and public spheres through the representation of memory in contemporary poetry by Irish women. It explores how memory shapes creativity in the work of well-known poets such as Eavan Boland, Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin and Medbh McGuckian as well as in that of an exciting group of younger poets. Literary memory highlights the relationship between poet and reader, as well as the larger critical contexts that support or challenge the production of creative work. This book analyses, for the first time, the complex responses to the past recorded by contemporary women poets in Ireland and the implications these have for the concept of a national tradition.
Andrew McNeillie
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781784992781
- eISBN:
- 9781526104427
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9781784992781.003.0016
- Subject:
- Sociology, Culture
The collection ends appropriately with a poem by Andrew McNeillie that he wrote about Robinson. Furthering the creative process, McNeillie, who is both a literary critic and creative writer, diverges ...
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The collection ends appropriately with a poem by Andrew McNeillie that he wrote about Robinson. Furthering the creative process, McNeillie, who is both a literary critic and creative writer, diverges from the critical essay form and offers a creative reflection of Robinson’s relationship with the landscape and mapping upon his arrival to Ireland through poetic form.Less
The collection ends appropriately with a poem by Andrew McNeillie that he wrote about Robinson. Furthering the creative process, McNeillie, who is both a literary critic and creative writer, diverges from the critical essay form and offers a creative reflection of Robinson’s relationship with the landscape and mapping upon his arrival to Ireland through poetic form.
Nick Groom
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198184591
- eISBN:
- 9780191674310
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198184591.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, 18th-century Literature, 19th-century Literature and Romanticism
This chapter examines the origins of Thomas Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry. It suggests that serious work on Percy's collection started after his September 1760 meeting with poet William ...
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This chapter examines the origins of Thomas Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry. It suggests that serious work on Percy's collection started after his September 1760 meeting with poet William Shenstone and publisher Robert Dodsley. This meeting inspired Percy and Shenstone to produce two books within five years. The first was Five Pieces of runic Poetry published in 1763 and the second, Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, in 1765. Both books were published by Dodsley's publishing company.Less
This chapter examines the origins of Thomas Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry. It suggests that serious work on Percy's collection started after his September 1760 meeting with poet William Shenstone and publisher Robert Dodsley. This meeting inspired Percy and Shenstone to produce two books within five years. The first was Five Pieces of runic Poetry published in 1763 and the second, Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, in 1765. Both books were published by Dodsley's publishing company.
Daniel Westover and Thomas Alan Holmes (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- January 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781942954361
- eISBN:
- 9781786944375
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3828/liverpool/9781942954361.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
The Fire that Breaks traces Gerard Manley Hopkins’s continuing and pervasive influence among writers of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Not only do the essays explore responses to Hopkins ...
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The Fire that Breaks traces Gerard Manley Hopkins’s continuing and pervasive influence among writers of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Not only do the essays explore responses to Hopkins by individual writers—including, among others, Virginia Woolf, Ivor Gurney, T. S. Eliot, Elizabeth Bishop, Seamus Heaney, Geoffrey Hill, Derek Walcott, Denise Levertov, John Berryman, Charles Wright, Maurice Manning, and Ron Hansen—but they also examine Hopkins’s substantial influence among Caribbean poets, Appalachian writers, modern novelists, and contemporary poets whose work lies at the intersection of ecopoetry and theology. Combining essays by the world’s leading Hopkins scholars with essays by scholars from diverse fields, the collection examines both known and unexpected affinities. The Fire that Breaks is a persistent testimony to the lasting, continuing impact of Hopkins on poetry in English.Less
The Fire that Breaks traces Gerard Manley Hopkins’s continuing and pervasive influence among writers of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Not only do the essays explore responses to Hopkins by individual writers—including, among others, Virginia Woolf, Ivor Gurney, T. S. Eliot, Elizabeth Bishop, Seamus Heaney, Geoffrey Hill, Derek Walcott, Denise Levertov, John Berryman, Charles Wright, Maurice Manning, and Ron Hansen—but they also examine Hopkins’s substantial influence among Caribbean poets, Appalachian writers, modern novelists, and contemporary poets whose work lies at the intersection of ecopoetry and theology. Combining essays by the world’s leading Hopkins scholars with essays by scholars from diverse fields, the collection examines both known and unexpected affinities. The Fire that Breaks is a persistent testimony to the lasting, continuing impact of Hopkins on poetry in English.
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804748636
- eISBN:
- 9780804779395
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804748636.003.0039
- Subject:
- Literature, World Literature
According to Shinkei, some skilled poets reject the idea of studying poetry in their old age. He argues that the Way of Poetry is intended to be cultivated by the calm and liberated spirit, and that ...
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According to Shinkei, some skilled poets reject the idea of studying poetry in their old age. He argues that the Way of Poetry is intended to be cultivated by the calm and liberated spirit, and that it can be practiced properly and with the keenest discernment only after one has passed middle age. He cites some of the famous personalities who subscribed to this principle, including Lord Ietaka, Ning Yue, Confucius, and Zong Shi. Shinkei's belief that one can make a verse that is truly his own only in old age is a natural consequence of his view that poetry is a spiritual discipline in which worldly desires and illusions are gradually shed until the original mind or mind-ground (shinji) is achieved in all its purity. He envisions an unencumbered mind that can produce the kind of poetry characterized as “chill and meager” (hie yase).Less
According to Shinkei, some skilled poets reject the idea of studying poetry in their old age. He argues that the Way of Poetry is intended to be cultivated by the calm and liberated spirit, and that it can be practiced properly and with the keenest discernment only after one has passed middle age. He cites some of the famous personalities who subscribed to this principle, including Lord Ietaka, Ning Yue, Confucius, and Zong Shi. Shinkei's belief that one can make a verse that is truly his own only in old age is a natural consequence of his view that poetry is a spiritual discipline in which worldly desires and illusions are gradually shed until the original mind or mind-ground (shinji) is achieved in all its purity. He envisions an unencumbered mind that can produce the kind of poetry characterized as “chill and meager” (hie yase).
Jennifer Ferriss-Hill
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780691195025
- eISBN:
- 9780691197432
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691195025.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Ancient History / Archaeology
For two millennia, the Ars Poetica (Art of Poetry), the 476-line literary treatise in verse with which Horace closed his career, has served as a paradigmatic manual for writers. Rarely has it been ...
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For two millennia, the Ars Poetica (Art of Poetry), the 476-line literary treatise in verse with which Horace closed his career, has served as a paradigmatic manual for writers. Rarely has it been considered as a poem in its own right, or else it has been disparaged as a great poet's baffling outlier. Here, this book fully reintegrates the Ars Poetica into Horace's oeuvre, reading the poem as a coherent, complete, and exceptional literary artifact intimately linked with the larger themes pervading his work. Arguing that the poem can be interpreted as a manual on how to live masquerading as a handbook on poetry, the book traces its key themes to show that they extend beyond poetry to encompass friendship, laughter, intergenerational relationships, and human endeavor. If the poem is read for how it expresses itself, moreover, it emerges as an exemplum of art in which judicious repetitions of words and ideas join disparate parts into a seamless whole that nevertheless lends itself to being remade upon every reading. This book is a logical evolution of Horace's work, which promises to inspire a long overdue reconsideration of a hugely influential yet misunderstood poem.Less
For two millennia, the Ars Poetica (Art of Poetry), the 476-line literary treatise in verse with which Horace closed his career, has served as a paradigmatic manual for writers. Rarely has it been considered as a poem in its own right, or else it has been disparaged as a great poet's baffling outlier. Here, this book fully reintegrates the Ars Poetica into Horace's oeuvre, reading the poem as a coherent, complete, and exceptional literary artifact intimately linked with the larger themes pervading his work. Arguing that the poem can be interpreted as a manual on how to live masquerading as a handbook on poetry, the book traces its key themes to show that they extend beyond poetry to encompass friendship, laughter, intergenerational relationships, and human endeavor. If the poem is read for how it expresses itself, moreover, it emerges as an exemplum of art in which judicious repetitions of words and ideas join disparate parts into a seamless whole that nevertheless lends itself to being remade upon every reading. This book is a logical evolution of Horace's work, which promises to inspire a long overdue reconsideration of a hugely influential yet misunderstood poem.
Jonathan Sachs
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195376128
- eISBN:
- 9780199871643
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195376128.003.0005
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
Shelley's later writing, despite its obvious fascination with Greece, represents Romanticism's most complicated engagement with Rome. Though considerable attention has been given to Shelley's ...
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Shelley's later writing, despite its obvious fascination with Greece, represents Romanticism's most complicated engagement with Rome. Though considerable attention has been given to Shelley's Hellenism, scholars have little to say about Shelley's use of Rome. This chapter argues that such critical oversight has left us with an incomplete understanding of the meaning and importance of Shelley's Hellenism, one which cannot be remedied without a sharper sense of Shelley's appreciation of antiquity more broadly and of the relationship between Greece and Rome in particular. To watch the changing fortunes of Athens and Rome in such later works as The Philosophical View of Reform, the “Ode to Liberty,” The Defence of Poetry, and Hellas reveals the critical role that Rome plays in Shelley's historicism and his strategies for understanding the past, which, in turn, exposes the relationship of these techniques to the deeply political functions of Shelley's classicism and his historiography.Less
Shelley's later writing, despite its obvious fascination with Greece, represents Romanticism's most complicated engagement with Rome. Though considerable attention has been given to Shelley's Hellenism, scholars have little to say about Shelley's use of Rome. This chapter argues that such critical oversight has left us with an incomplete understanding of the meaning and importance of Shelley's Hellenism, one which cannot be remedied without a sharper sense of Shelley's appreciation of antiquity more broadly and of the relationship between Greece and Rome in particular. To watch the changing fortunes of Athens and Rome in such later works as The Philosophical View of Reform, the “Ode to Liberty,” The Defence of Poetry, and Hellas reveals the critical role that Rome plays in Shelley's historicism and his strategies for understanding the past, which, in turn, exposes the relationship of these techniques to the deeply political functions of Shelley's classicism and his historiography.
Brian Baker
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- July 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780719069048
- eISBN:
- 9781781700891
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719069048.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century and Contemporary Literature
This book is a comprehensive critical introduction to one of the most original contemporary British writers, providing an overview of all of Iain Sinclair's major works and an analysis of his vision ...
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This book is a comprehensive critical introduction to one of the most original contemporary British writers, providing an overview of all of Iain Sinclair's major works and an analysis of his vision of modern London. It places Sinclair in a range of contexts, including: the late 1960s counter-culture and the British Poetry Revival; London's underground histories; the rise and fall of Thatcherism; and Sinclair's writing about Britain under New Labour and Sinclair's connection to other writers and artists, such as J.G. Ballard, Michael Moorcock and Marc Atkins. The book contributes to the growing scholarship surrounding Sinclair's work, covering in detail his poetry, fiction, non-fiction (including his book on John Clare, Edge of the Orison), and his film work. Using a generally chronological structure, it traces the on-going themes in Sinclair's writing, such as the uncovering of lost histories of London, the influence of visionary writings, and the importance of walking in the city, and more recent developments in his texts, such as the focus on spaces outside of London and his filmic collaborations with Chris Petit. The book provides a critically informed discussion of Sinclair's work using a variety of approaches.Less
This book is a comprehensive critical introduction to one of the most original contemporary British writers, providing an overview of all of Iain Sinclair's major works and an analysis of his vision of modern London. It places Sinclair in a range of contexts, including: the late 1960s counter-culture and the British Poetry Revival; London's underground histories; the rise and fall of Thatcherism; and Sinclair's writing about Britain under New Labour and Sinclair's connection to other writers and artists, such as J.G. Ballard, Michael Moorcock and Marc Atkins. The book contributes to the growing scholarship surrounding Sinclair's work, covering in detail his poetry, fiction, non-fiction (including his book on John Clare, Edge of the Orison), and his film work. Using a generally chronological structure, it traces the on-going themes in Sinclair's writing, such as the uncovering of lost histories of London, the influence of visionary writings, and the importance of walking in the city, and more recent developments in his texts, such as the focus on spaces outside of London and his filmic collaborations with Chris Petit. The book provides a critically informed discussion of Sinclair's work using a variety of approaches.
Michael Kirkham
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780853235439
- eISBN:
- 9781786945396
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9780853235439.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Poetry
In Passionate Intellect: The Poetry of Charles Tomlinson, Michael Kirkham provides a critical reading of the poetry of Charles Tomlinson. Within the text, Kirkham addresses readers already interested ...
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In Passionate Intellect: The Poetry of Charles Tomlinson, Michael Kirkham provides a critical reading of the poetry of Charles Tomlinson. Within the text, Kirkham addresses readers already interested in Tomlinson’s poetry, but also those who are unfamiliar with it. Kirkham aims to open up the understanding of the poet’s work by providing a contextual commentary on the poems and by advising ways to read them. The text is split into six chapters that follow the progression of Tomlinson’s poetry from his early career to the his work in the 1980s, and make a comment on the historical context as well as the meaning, quality and value contained in each poem. The text also goes to great length to explain the distinction between a ‘nature’ poem and a ‘human’ poem, and uses Tomlinson’s work as examples of each.Less
In Passionate Intellect: The Poetry of Charles Tomlinson, Michael Kirkham provides a critical reading of the poetry of Charles Tomlinson. Within the text, Kirkham addresses readers already interested in Tomlinson’s poetry, but also those who are unfamiliar with it. Kirkham aims to open up the understanding of the poet’s work by providing a contextual commentary on the poems and by advising ways to read them. The text is split into six chapters that follow the progression of Tomlinson’s poetry from his early career to the his work in the 1980s, and make a comment on the historical context as well as the meaning, quality and value contained in each poem. The text also goes to great length to explain the distinction between a ‘nature’ poem and a ‘human’ poem, and uses Tomlinson’s work as examples of each.
Nick Groom
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198184591
- eISBN:
- 9780191674310
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198184591.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, 18th-century Literature, 19th-century Literature and Romanticism
This chapter examines the early history and the preparations made by Thomas Percy for his Reliques of Ancient English Poetry. It suggests Percy's putative anthology was influenced by two original ...
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This chapter examines the early history and the preparations made by Thomas Percy for his Reliques of Ancient English Poetry. It suggests Percy's putative anthology was influenced by two original materials: Samuel Pepys' collection of 17th century broadsides and Percy's own collection of 18th century broadsides. Percy started transcribing Pepys' broadside ballads in August 1761 and the following month he began to plan the publication of the Reliques. His editorial method was based on the relationship between oral and literary sources. This chapter also discusses the problems encountered by Percy in the printing of the Reliques.Less
This chapter examines the early history and the preparations made by Thomas Percy for his Reliques of Ancient English Poetry. It suggests Percy's putative anthology was influenced by two original materials: Samuel Pepys' collection of 17th century broadsides and Percy's own collection of 18th century broadsides. Percy started transcribing Pepys' broadside ballads in August 1761 and the following month he began to plan the publication of the Reliques. His editorial method was based on the relationship between oral and literary sources. This chapter also discusses the problems encountered by Percy in the printing of the Reliques.
Virginia F. Smith
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781942954484
- eISBN:
- 9781786945099
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3828/liverpool/9781942954484.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Poetry
Mention Robert Frost and people instantly think of snowy woods and less-traveled paths and rural neighbors meeting to fix their stone fence. But what does Robert Frost have to do with science? You ...
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Mention Robert Frost and people instantly think of snowy woods and less-traveled paths and rural neighbors meeting to fix their stone fence. But what does Robert Frost have to do with science? You might be surprised. Born in 1874, Frost lived through a remarkable period of scientific progress, including the development of quantum mechanics and the theory of relativity, the Big Bang theory, the discovery of the structure of DNA and the beginnings of space travel. Possessing a powerful intellect driven by keen curiosity, Frost was highly knowledgeable about the science of his time and infuses his poetry with imagery and language borrowed from science. Frost not only uses the language of science to enrich his poetry in the same way he uses classical, historical, biblical and literary allusions, but he also uses ordinary language to create sophisticated metaphors based on scientific concepts such as evolution and entropy. A Scientific Companion to Robert Frost represents the first systematic attempt to catalogue and explain all of the references to science and natural history in Frost’s poetry. The book, which is organized chronologically, uses language that is accessible to laymen and is supplemented by numerous illustrations, and appendices that should make it a valuable resource for teachers and scholars.Less
Mention Robert Frost and people instantly think of snowy woods and less-traveled paths and rural neighbors meeting to fix their stone fence. But what does Robert Frost have to do with science? You might be surprised. Born in 1874, Frost lived through a remarkable period of scientific progress, including the development of quantum mechanics and the theory of relativity, the Big Bang theory, the discovery of the structure of DNA and the beginnings of space travel. Possessing a powerful intellect driven by keen curiosity, Frost was highly knowledgeable about the science of his time and infuses his poetry with imagery and language borrowed from science. Frost not only uses the language of science to enrich his poetry in the same way he uses classical, historical, biblical and literary allusions, but he also uses ordinary language to create sophisticated metaphors based on scientific concepts such as evolution and entropy. A Scientific Companion to Robert Frost represents the first systematic attempt to catalogue and explain all of the references to science and natural history in Frost’s poetry. The book, which is organized chronologically, uses language that is accessible to laymen and is supplemented by numerous illustrations, and appendices that should make it a valuable resource for teachers and scholars.
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804748636
- eISBN:
- 9780804779395
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804748636.003.0021
- Subject:
- Literature, World Literature
This chapter is often cited as evidence that Shinkei identified the Way of Poetry with the Way of Buddhism, but Kidō rejects this notion because the two activities differ in terms of aims. While the ...
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This chapter is often cited as evidence that Shinkei identified the Way of Poetry with the Way of Buddhism, but Kidō rejects this notion because the two activities differ in terms of aims. While the aim of Buddhism is to “discover the ultimate source of the mind” (kokoro no minamoto o akiramemu), that of Poetry is to “gain insight into the deeply moving power of things” (aware fukaki koto o satoran). That is to say, Poetry apparently seeks to move human beings to the consciousness of the tragic character of mundane existence, whereas Buddhism wants to uncover the truth that lies beyond the tragedy of mundane existence. The distinction between Buddhism and Poetry that Kidō mentions is largely valid for Sasamegoto I but not for Sasamegoto II. Ultimately, the religious justification for poetry that can be found in the works of Teika, Shunzei, Saigyō, and Shinkei himself is based on nondualism and grounds the medieval Japanese sense of praxis (michi, the Way).Less
This chapter is often cited as evidence that Shinkei identified the Way of Poetry with the Way of Buddhism, but Kidō rejects this notion because the two activities differ in terms of aims. While the aim of Buddhism is to “discover the ultimate source of the mind” (kokoro no minamoto o akiramemu), that of Poetry is to “gain insight into the deeply moving power of things” (aware fukaki koto o satoran). That is to say, Poetry apparently seeks to move human beings to the consciousness of the tragic character of mundane existence, whereas Buddhism wants to uncover the truth that lies beyond the tragedy of mundane existence. The distinction between Buddhism and Poetry that Kidō mentions is largely valid for Sasamegoto I but not for Sasamegoto II. Ultimately, the religious justification for poetry that can be found in the works of Teika, Shunzei, Saigyō, and Shinkei himself is based on nondualism and grounds the medieval Japanese sense of praxis (michi, the Way).
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804748636
- eISBN:
- 9780804779395
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804748636.003.0025
- Subject:
- Literature, World Literature
Perceptivity plays a crucial role, not only in evaluating another's work, but also when it comes to master-disciple relationship. While an excellent teacher constitutes “the great cause and ...
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Perceptivity plays a crucial role, not only in evaluating another's work, but also when it comes to master-disciple relationship. While an excellent teacher constitutes “the great cause and condition” that helps individual talent to flourish, not even the greatest master can help a student who is not perceptive, either due to insufficient wit or lack of artistic sensibility. One example of a student's receptivity is Shinkei's emphasis on an inquiring attitude, or the desire to seek out the deepest truths in the Way of Poetry. In Sasamegoto II he illustrates the importance of this attitude by saying that “it is far better to criticize the Dharma and fall into hell than merely to make offerings to numberless Buddhas.” Hence, discipleship is a process of active penetration and “appropriation,” fueled by desire. In the medieval pedagogy of the Way, however, this process is less an appropriation than the mutuality of understanding suggested by the Zen slogan “by mind transmit the mind.”Less
Perceptivity plays a crucial role, not only in evaluating another's work, but also when it comes to master-disciple relationship. While an excellent teacher constitutes “the great cause and condition” that helps individual talent to flourish, not even the greatest master can help a student who is not perceptive, either due to insufficient wit or lack of artistic sensibility. One example of a student's receptivity is Shinkei's emphasis on an inquiring attitude, or the desire to seek out the deepest truths in the Way of Poetry. In Sasamegoto II he illustrates the importance of this attitude by saying that “it is far better to criticize the Dharma and fall into hell than merely to make offerings to numberless Buddhas.” Hence, discipleship is a process of active penetration and “appropriation,” fueled by desire. In the medieval pedagogy of the Way, however, this process is less an appropriation than the mutuality of understanding suggested by the Zen slogan “by mind transmit the mind.”
Aaron Pelttari
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801452765
- eISBN:
- 9780801455001
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801452765.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
When we think of Roman Poetry, the names most likely to come to mind are Vergil, Horace, and Ovid, who flourished during the age of Augustus. The genius of Imperial poets such as Juvenal, Martial, ...
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When we think of Roman Poetry, the names most likely to come to mind are Vergil, Horace, and Ovid, who flourished during the age of Augustus. The genius of Imperial poets such as Juvenal, Martial, and Statius is now generally recognized, but the final years of the Roman Empire are not normally associated with poetic achievement. Recently, however, classical scholars have begun reassessing a number of poets from Late Antiquity—names such as Ausonius, Claudian, and Prudentius—understanding them as artists of considerable talent and influence. This book offers the first systematic study of these fourth-century poets since Michael Robert's foundational The Jeweled Style. It is the first to give equal attention to both Christian and Pagan poetry and the first to take seriously the issue of readership. Like the Roman Empire, Latin literature was in a state of flux during the fourth century. As the book shows, the period marked a turn towards forms of writing that privilege the reader's active involvement in shaping the meaning of the text. In the poetry of Ausonius, Claudian, and Prudentius we can see the increasing importance of distinctions between old and new, ancient and modern, forgotten and remembered. The strange traditionalism and verbalism of the day often concealed a desire for immediacy and presence. We can see these changes most clearly in the expectations placed upon readers. The space that remains is the space that the reader comes to inhabit, as would increasingly become the case in the literature of the Latin Middle Ages.Less
When we think of Roman Poetry, the names most likely to come to mind are Vergil, Horace, and Ovid, who flourished during the age of Augustus. The genius of Imperial poets such as Juvenal, Martial, and Statius is now generally recognized, but the final years of the Roman Empire are not normally associated with poetic achievement. Recently, however, classical scholars have begun reassessing a number of poets from Late Antiquity—names such as Ausonius, Claudian, and Prudentius—understanding them as artists of considerable talent and influence. This book offers the first systematic study of these fourth-century poets since Michael Robert's foundational The Jeweled Style. It is the first to give equal attention to both Christian and Pagan poetry and the first to take seriously the issue of readership. Like the Roman Empire, Latin literature was in a state of flux during the fourth century. As the book shows, the period marked a turn towards forms of writing that privilege the reader's active involvement in shaping the meaning of the text. In the poetry of Ausonius, Claudian, and Prudentius we can see the increasing importance of distinctions between old and new, ancient and modern, forgotten and remembered. The strange traditionalism and verbalism of the day often concealed a desire for immediacy and presence. We can see these changes most clearly in the expectations placed upon readers. The space that remains is the space that the reader comes to inhabit, as would increasingly become the case in the literature of the Latin Middle Ages.
