Poetry: Criticism & Instruction

Harold Bloom's The Anxiety of Influence has cast its own long shadow of influence since it was first published in 1973. Through an insightful study of Romantic poets, Bloom puts forth his central vision of the relations between tradition and the individual artist. Although Bloom was never theleader of any critical "camp," his argument that all literary texts are a response to those that precede them had an enormous impact on the practice of deconstruction and poststructuralist literary theory in this country. The book remains a central work of criticism for all students of literatureand has sold over 17,000 copies in paperback since 1984. Written in a moving personal style, anchored by concrete examples, and memorably quotable, Bloom's book maintains that the anxiety of influence cannot be evaded--neither by poets nor by responsible readers and critics.This second edition contains a new Introduction, which explains the genesis of Bloom's thinking and the subsequent influence of the book on literary criticism of the past twenty years.criticism of the past twenty years. Here, Bloom asserts that the anxiety of influence comes out of a complex act of strong misreading, a creative interpretation he calls "poetic misprision." The influence-anxiety does not so much concern the forerunner but rather is an anxiety achieved in and by the story, novel, play, poem, or essay. In other words, without Keats's reading of Shakespeare, Milton, and Wordsworth, we could not have Keats's odes and sonnets and his two Hyperions.

This book studies the interplay of theology and poetics in the three great epics of early modern England: the Faerie Queene, Paradise Lost, and Paradise Regained. Christopher Bond examines the relationship between the poems' primary heroes, who are godlike, virtuous, and powerful, and the secondary heroes, who are human, fallible, and weak. He looks back at the development of this pattern of dual heroism in classical, medieval, and Italian Renaissance literature, investigates the ways in which Spenser and Milton adapted the model, and demonstrates how the Jesus of Paradise Regained can be seen as the culmination of this tradition. Challenging the opposition between Calvinist, allegorical Spenser and Arminian, dramatic Milton, this book offers a new understanding of their doctrinal and literary affinities within the European epic tradition. Bond argues that Spenser influenced Milton in fundamental ways, establishing a firmer structural and thematic link between the two authors, and he shows how a strongly antifeminist genre was transformed by the addition of a crucial, although at times ambivalent, heroine. He proposes solutions to some of the most difficult and controversial theological cruxes posed by these poems, in particular Spenser's attitude to free will and Milton's to the Trinity. This work offers a deeper understanding of the literary agendas of these works and encourages a rapprochement between scholarly approaches that are too narrowly concerned with either theology or poetics.

The English translation of Homer's masterpiece matches the Greek line for line; no other translation is more faithful to the original. The result is a melodic version that preserves Homer's style. A glossary and a map of the Greek world accompany the text. The Odyssey in Antiquity provides contextual materials and commentary to increase readers' appreciation for literature and life in the Homeric age. A collection of nine assessments of The Odyssey by ancient and medieval writers, including Pindar, Aristotle, Seneca, and Scholia, is featured. Essays by G. S. Kirk and Martin P. Nilsson, respectively, discuss poetic conventions and the socioreligious order Homer depicts. Criticism provides sixteen wide-ranging interpretations of The Odyssey. Included are seminal essays by Jean Racine, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Ezra Pound, Cedric H. Whitman, and A. C. Goodson. Albert Cook, Elizabeth Storz, Norman Austin, and John Peradotto provide new perspectives on the poem. An updated Selected Bibliography is also included.

The success and popularity of creative writing courses at universities across the country belies the myth that writing can't be taught. The Creative Writing Coursebook, edited by Julia Bell and Paul Magrs, takes aspiring writers through three stages of essential practice: 'Gathering' - getting started, learning how to keep notes, making observations and using memory; 'Shaping' - looking at structure, point of view, character and setting; and 'Finishing' - being your own critic, joining workshops and finding publishers.Fully updated and including a foreword by Marina Warner and contributions from forty-five authors such as Kit de Waal and Amy Liptrot, this is the perfect book for people who are just starting to write as well as for those who want some help honing work already completed. Filled with a wealth of exercises and activities, it will inspire budding writers to develop and hone their skills. Whether writing for publication, in a group or just for pleasure this comprehensive guide is for anyone who is ready to put pen to paper.

A distinctive collection of more than 90 effective poetry-writing exercises combined with corresponding essays to inspire writers of all levels.

In Writing Poetry from the Inside Out, poet and national poetry workshop leader, Sandford Lyne, offers the writing exercises, guidance, and encouragement you need to find the poet inside you. Lyne's techniques, which he developed through twenty years of teaching poetry workshops, flow from an understanding that poetry is an art form open to everyone. We all can-and should-write poetry. In this enchanting and inspiring volume, Lyne will introduce you to the pleasures and surprises of writing poetry, and his methods and insights will help you tap into your own unique voice and perspective to compose poems of your own in as little as a few minutes. Whether you are an experienced writer looking for new techniques and sources of inspiration or a novice poet who has never written a poem in your life, Writing Poetry from the Inside Out will help you to craft the poems you've always longed to write.