Poetry Detective: How to Read and Write Poetry Past Fear
Apr 2027 · Princeton University Press
Ebook
304
Pages
family_home
Eligible
info
infoThis book will become available on April 27, 2027. You will not be charged until it is released.
About this ebook
From the first National Poet of Wales, a down-to-earth, investigative approach to unraveling the mystery of reading and writing poetry
Have you ever thought that poetry is a mystery designed to baffle you or even make you feel inadequate? In Poetry Detective, Gwyneth Lewis helps readers get beyond this misconception—and the paralyzing dread that can go with it—by providing straightforward, practical tools for reading and writing poetry with confidence and pleasure. As Lewis shows, becoming a poetry detective can not only demystify poems but also illuminate our lives in profoundly enriching ways.
Lewis presents the reading of a poem as an investigation, not a test of innate brilliance or sensitivity. Readers shouldn’t expect to “get” a poem immediately any more than detectives expect to solve a case the minute they arrive on the crime scene. Instead, Lewis shows how to follow clues such as rhythm, sound, and metaphor to first figure out what’s happening at the most literal level of a poem, from its speaker to its “plot.” Each chapter examines a range of poems, from the classic to the contemporary, and provides writing exercises that help readers develop poems of their own.
Whether you’re a new reader or writer of poetry, or a more experienced reader or poet seeking fresh insight and inspiration, Poetry Detective is an original and compelling guide to this timeless art.
Have you ever thought that poetry is a mystery designed to baffle you or even make you feel inadequate? In Poetry Detective, Gwyneth Lewis helps readers get beyond this misconception—and the paralyzing dread that can go with it—by providing straightforward, practical tools for reading and writing poetry with confidence and pleasure. As Lewis shows, becoming a poetry detective can not only demystify poems but also illuminate our lives in profoundly enriching ways.
Lewis presents the reading of a poem as an investigation, not a test of innate brilliance or sensitivity. Readers shouldn’t expect to “get” a poem immediately any more than detectives expect to solve a case the minute they arrive on the crime scene. Instead, Lewis shows how to follow clues such as rhythm, sound, and metaphor to first figure out what’s happening at the most literal level of a poem, from its speaker to its “plot.” Each chapter examines a range of poems, from the classic to the contemporary, and provides writing exercises that help readers develop poems of their own.
Whether you’re a new reader or writer of poetry, or a more experienced reader or poet seeking fresh insight and inspiration, Poetry Detective is an original and compelling guide to this timeless art.
From the first National Poet of Wales, a down-to-earth, investigative approach to unraveling the mystery of reading and writing poetry
Have you ever thought that poetry is a mystery designed to baffle you or even make you feel inadequate? In Poetry Detective, Gwyneth Lewis helps readers get beyo...
About the author
Gwyneth Lewis is an award-winning poet and memoirist and was the first National Poet of Wales. Her poetry collections include First Rain in Paradise, and her third memoir, Nightshade Mother, won the Wales Book of the Year Award for creative nonfiction. She is artist in residence at Balliol College, Oxford, and has taught at the Middlebury Bread Loaf School of English and the Cedar Crest College Pan-European MFA program.
Gwyneth Lewis is an award-winning poet and memoirist and was the first National Poet of Wales. Her poetry collections include First Rain in Paradise, and her third memoir, Nightshade Mother, won the Wales Book of the Year Award for creative nonfiction. She is artist in residence at Balliol Colleg...
Reading information
Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can listen to audiobooks purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
eReaders and other devices
To read on e-ink devices like Kobo eReaders, you'll need to download a file and transfer it to your device. Follow the detailed Help Center instructions to transfer the files to supported eReaders.
