But I Digress: The Exploitation of Parentheses in English Printed Verse - Hardcover

Lennard, John

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0198112475 ISBN 13: 9780198112471

Publisher: Clarendon Press, 1992

Synopsis

For three centuries grammarians have argued about the necessity of parentheses. While some consider them subordinate, additional, irrelevant, and even damaging to the clarity of argument, Lennard's history explores how writers such as Marlowe, Swift, Coleridge, Browning, Derek Walcott, and e.e. cummings used them in their work as vehicles for pointing dramatic gesture, controlling tone, adding humor, and intensifying satire, in addition to contributing to the clarity of argument. Lennard offers both a new history of the poetic use of parentheses from their first appearance in England in 1494 to the present day, and detailed case-studies of five major poets who exploited them. He reveals how in each period the patterns of literary use have reflected, and continue to reflect, technological, philosophical, and political developments.

About this title

About the Author

John Lennard is at Trinity Hall, Cambridge.

Edition details

• Publisher: Clarendon Press
• Publication date: 1992
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0198112475
• ISBN 13: 9780198112471
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 340