Poetry

A Very Short Introduction

Bernard O'Donoghue

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English

Oxford University Press
10 October 2019

Series: Very Short Introductions

Poetry, arguably, has a greater range of conceptual meaning than perhaps any other term in English. At the most basic level everyone can recognise it--it is a kind of literature that uses special linguistic devices of organization and expression for aesthetic effect. However, far grander claims have been made for poetry than this--such as Shelley's that the poets 'are the unacknowledged legislators of the world', and that poetry is 'a higher truth'. In this Very Short Introduction, Bernard O'Donoghue provides a fascinating look at the many different forms of writing which have been called 'poetry'--from the Greeks to the present day. As well as questioning what poetry is, he asks what poetry is for, and considers contemporary debates on its value. Is there a universality to poetry? And does it have a duty of public utility and responsibility? ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

By: Bernard O'Donoghue
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 174mm, Width: 111mm, Spine: 10mm
Weight: 132g
ISBN: 9780199229116
ISBN 10: 0199229112
Series: Very Short Introductions
Pages: 160
Publication Date: 10 October 2019
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Bernard O'Donoghue is an Emeritus Fellow of Wadham College, where he taught Medieval English and Modern Irish Poetry. Also a poet and a literary critic, his poetry collection Gunpowder (Chatto & Windus, 1995) was awarded the 1995 Whitbread Poetry Award. He has authored and edited several titles, including The Cambridge Companion to Seamus Heaney (CUP, 2008) and Reading Chaucer's Poems: A Guided Selection (Faber, 2015). In 2006, his translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was published by Penguin.

Reviews for Poetry: A Very Short Introduction

...achieves an air of indispensability, as both a guidebook for the enquiring beginner, and as a handbook of poetic values for the determined practitioner. * Simon Armitage * Everyone near the beginning of their life in poetry will want to have this book, and everyone further down the track will value it as a stimulation. * Andrew Motion * A bold encounter with the questions that make his subject so compelling. * Professor Stephen Regan, Durham University *