Reviews for A linguistic guide to English poetry

The average rating for A linguistic guide to English poetry based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2016-01-19 00:00:00 Frank Sandoval I took almost 30 years to get to this book, which I have intended or desired to read properly ever since I bought it during my first year of college (the first time around). Why I finally got around to it is another story (or mystery). The book was not what I expected, or had grown to expect, and it was a much more enjoyable experience than I thought it would be. I expected to be introduced to the technicalities of a field, linguistics, unfamiliar to me. Instead, I was taken back to all those terms we learned in school and college for the devices of language found in literature, and beyond them to very precise, recognizable and applicable descriptions of those devices/characteristics. The ghostly argument lurked that the book is a technical restatement of the obvious, or common sense, but I don't think it would be fair. To identify and define what we see before us all the time when we read necessitates beginning with entities that we don't notice but know are present. Leech is aware of this and occasionally points out that it's hard to distinguish such characteristics. But for me, this was revision (English usage) extraordinaire, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I bought the book on the recommendation of an instructor in 1981, but it was first published in 1969, and a big part of my enjoyment was seeing it in its historical context. The back cover mentions the "new stylistics," but this book is close reading, analysis, technical appreciation--except where it points, perhaps unconsciously (I'd love to know enough to know), to the larger, interpretive approaches that Theory brought (or rode) to the field. I will yet again forget the correct or specific application of many of these terms, but my awareness of all the schemes and tropes for which "there's a word for that" has been pleasantly refreshed. What fun.

Review # 2 was written on 2015-02-03 00:00:00 JAMES E CARLOCK There's a name for every kind of style of poetry. Great for beginners looking for in depth explanations.