Reading Poetry

Introduction: Close Reading and the Poetic System What is Poetry? How do we Read it? Poetry and Experience/The Experience of Poetry Rhetorical Strategies Figurative Language Theories of Metaphor History of Metaphor Hearing Voices Tone and Irony Ambiguity Closure, Pluralism, Indeterminacy Allusion and Intertextuality Interpreting Form Rhythm and Meter Interpreting Poetic Form Significant Form: Sound and Shape Contexts Introducing Contexts Genre: The Ballad The Sonnet Poetry and History: Production and Reception Poetry and Politics: Conservative and Radical Legislators Poetry and Politics: Class, Gender, Race, Nation Further Reading Index