A History of Free Verse - Softcover

Chris Beyers

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1557287023 ISBN 13: 9781557287021

Publisher: University of Arkansas Press, 2001

Synopsis

This book examines the most salient and misunderstood aspect of twentieth-century poetry, free verse. Although the form is generally approached as if it were one indissoluble lump, it is actually a group of differing poetic genres proceeding from much different assumptions. Separate chapters on T.S. Eliot, Wallace Stevens, H.D., and William Carlos Williams elucidate many of these assumptions and procedures, while other chapters address more general theoretical questions and trace the continuity of Modern poetics in contemporary poetry. Taking a historical and aesthetic approach, this study demonstrates that many of the forms considered to have been invented in the Modern period actually extend underappreciated traditions. Not only does this book examine the classical influence on Modern poetry, it also features discussions of the poetics of John Milton, Abraham Cowley, Matthew Arnold, and a host of lesser-known poets. Throughout it is an investigation of the prosodic issues that free verse foregrounds, particularly those focusing on the reader's part in interpreting poetic rhythm.

About this title

About the Author

Chris Beyers is currently an assistant professor at Assumption College in Massachusetts where he teaches literature, composition, and poetry. A History of Free Verse is Beyers's first published book.

From the Inside Flap

A History of Free Verse examines the most salient and misunderstood aspect of twentieth-century poetry: free verse. Although the form is generally approached as if it were one indissoluble lump, it is actually a group of differing poetic genres proceeding from much different assumptions. Separate chapters on T. S. Eliot, Wallace, Stevens, H. D., and William Carlos Williams elucidate many of these assumptions, while other chapters address more general theoretical questions and trace the continuity of Modern poetics in contemporary poetry. Taking a historical and aesthetic approach, the book demonstrates that many of the forms considered to have been invented in the Modern period actually extend underappreciated traditions. Not only does the book examine the classical influence on Modern poetry, but it also discusses the poetics of John Milton, Abraham Cowley, Matthew Arnold, and a host of lesser-known poets. Throughout, A History of Free Verse is an investigation of the prosodic issues that free verse foregrounds, particularly those focusing on the reader s part in interpreting poetic rhythm.

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From Chapter One:

In his standard bibliography of versification, T. V. F. Brogan comments that the term free verse is "useful" just "so long as one does not inquire further into what it means" (English 402). The sense of exasperation in Brogan's remark stems from the fact that, while defining free verse was a persistant theoretical occupation of the twentieth century, free-verse practice remains poorly understood. My argument is that most have been so stimulated by free-verse theory (and the accompanying polemics) that they have underappreciated the essential fact that free verse is a lineal form--in fact, a group of differing lineal forms. Still, the theory of free verse is "useful" because it helps show how Modern free-verse poets developed their forms into full-fledged genres. Further, later poets have generally followed the contours of the debate as articulated in the teens and twenties, so that the arguments of the Moderns are still potent today. In all, this chapter begins by discussing the defnitions of "free verse" and ends by detailing the genres of free verse and some of the main tenets of free-verse theory as developed in the Modern period.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Arkansas Press
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1557287023
• ISBN 13: 9781557287021
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 296