Pound, Frost, Moore, and Poetic Precision : Science in Modernist American Poetry

Barry Ahearn

ISBN 10: 3030365468 / ISBN 13: 9783030365462

Published by Springer, 2021

About this Item

Druck auf Anfrage Neuware - Printed after ordering - Pound, Frost, Moore and Poetic Precision: Science in American Modernist Poetry examines three major poets in light of the demand that poetry aspire to scientific precision. The critical insistence that poetry be precise affected every one of these poets, and looking at how they responded to this insistence offers a new perspective on their achievements and, by extension, twentieth-century poetry in general. Ezra Pound sought to associate poetry with the precision of modern science, technology and mathematics as a way to eliminate or reduce error. Robert Frost, however, welcomed imprecision as a fundamental aspect of existence that the poet could use. Marianne Moore appreciated the value of both precision and imprecision, especially with respect to her religious perspective on human and natural phenomena. By analyzing these particular poets' reaction to the value placed on precision, Barry Ahearn explores how that emphasis influenced the broader culture, literary culture and twentieth-century Modernist American poetry.

Seller Inventory # 9783030365462

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Pound, Frost, Moore, and Poetic Precision : Science in Modernist American Poetry
• Publisher: Springer
• Publication Date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 3030365468
• ISBN 13: 9783030365462
• Binding: Taschenbuch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 210W x 148H x 19D millimeters 210 millimeters width by 148 millimeters height by 19 millimeters depth
• Weight: 446 grams

About this title

Synopsis

Pound, Frost, Moore and Poetic Precision: Science in American Modernist Poetry examines three major poets in light of the demand that poetry aspire to scientific precision. The critical insistence that poetry be precise affected every one of these poets, and looking at how they responded to this insistence offers a new perspective on their achievements and, by extension, twentieth-century poetry in general. Ezra Pound sought to associate poetry with the precision of modern science, technology and mathematics as a way to eliminate or reduce error.  Robert Frost, however, welcomed imprecision as a fundamental aspect of existence that the poet could use.  Marianne Moore appreciated the value of both precision and imprecision, especially with respect to her religious perspective on human and natural phenomena. By analyzing these particular poets’ reaction to the value placed on precision, Barry Ahearn explores how that emphasis influenced the broader culture, literary culture and twentieth-century Modernist American poetry.

About the Author

Barry Ahearn is Professor Emeritus of English at Tulane University, USA.  He is the author of Zukofsky’s “A”: An Introduction (1983) and William Carlos Williams and Alterity (1994).  He has also edited the correspondence of Cummings, Pound, Williams and Zukofsky.