A little history of poetry

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14.99

A vital guide to poetry from ancient times to the present

Poetry is language made special, so that it will be remembered and valued. It does not always work – over the centuries countless thousands of poems have been forgotten. This Little History is about some that have not.

John Carey tells the stories behind the world’s greatest poems, from the oldest surviving one written nearly 4,000 years ago to those being written today. Carey looks at poets whose works shape our view of the world – such as Shakespeare, Whitman and Yeats – and more recent poets like Sylvia Plath, Seamus Heaney, and Marianne Moore who have started to question what makes a poem ‘great’ in the first place.

Little Histories – Inspiring Guides for Curious Minds

ISBN: 9780300283426

In stock

What is poetry? If music is sound organised in a particular way, poetry is a way of organising language. It is language made special so that it will be remembered and valued. It does not always work – over the centuries countless thousands of poems have been forgotten. This little history is about some that have not. John Carey tells the stories behind the world’s greatest poems, from the oldest surviving one written nearly four thousand years ago to those being written today. Carey looks at poets whose works shape our views of the world, such as Dante, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Whitman, and Yeats.

Additional information

Dimensions19.7 × 12.7 cm
Author

Publisher

Imprint

Cover

Paperback

Pages

320

Language

English

Edition
Dewey

809.1 (edition:23)

Readership

General – Trade / Code: K

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