Reading Poetry

This book provides a structured introduction to ideas and techniques which are designed to enable students to produce informed and dramatic readings of poetry. The emphasis throughout is on recognizing the multi-dimensional qualities of the poetic text. Readers are encouraged to become self-conscious and self-critical in their reading strategies. The book takes into account the wealth of theoretical speculation about poetry, and literature in general, which has been produced in the 20th century. The poetic examples examined in the book draw on a wide spectrum of poetry in English, ranging from 15th-century lyrics and ballads to contemporary poetry in the English-speaking world.