Part 1 | The Nature of Poetry | |
1. | Why Poetry? | 1 |
| An Approach to Poetry | |
| Is Poetry Peculiar? | |
| Is Poetry Effeminate? | |
| Is Poetry "Obscure"? | |
| Is Poetry Difficult? | |
| Poetry and Youth | |
| The Reading of Poetry | |
| What Do We Bring? | |
2. | Prose or Poetry | 20 |
| Some of the Questions | |
| The Basis of Poetry | |
| How Imagination Works | |
| Tests for the Imaginative Sense | |
| Range of the Imagination | |
| Prose and Poetry | |
| The Basic Distinctions | |
| Seeing with Our Imagination | |
3. | Hurdles to Enjoyment--and How to Take Them | 36 |
| The Way Poetry is Printed | |
| The Rhythm | |
| Unusual Words and Word-Order | |
| The Image | |
| The Image Analyzed | |
| Defining Poetry | |
| The Final Effect | |
| Taking the Hurdles | |
4. | Music, Meaning, and Memory | 54 |
| Music and Meaning | |
| Singing and Talking | |
| Speed and Strength | |
| Music and Memory | |
| The Ideal Combination | |
| Re-Making Music and Meaning | |
5. | Rhythm | 69 |
| Source of Rhythm | |
| Rhythm and Repetition | |
| Thinking in "Time" | |
| Defining Rhythm | |
| Following the Movement | |
| Analysis of "the Highwayman" | |
| Tests of Rhythm | |
| Contrasting Rhythms | |
| Follow the Rhythm! | |
6. | Rhyme | 94 |
| What it is--and Why | |
| Kinds of Rhyme | |
| Comic and Serious | |
| Arrangement of Rhyme | |
| Internal Rhyme | |
| A Variation of Rhyme: Assonance | |
| The Power of Rhyme | |
| Experiments in Rhymes | |
7. | Comparison, Exaggeration, and Sound-Effects | 115 |
| The Comparison Stated: the Simile | |
| The Comparison Implied: the Metaphor | |
| The Comparison Dramatized: Personification | |
| The Direct Address: Apostrophe | |
| Exaggeration | |
| Repetition of Letters | |
| Imitation of Sounds | |
| Summary | |
| Creating Images and Sound-Effects | |
8. | The Material of Poetry | 138 |
| The Three "Powers" | |
| The Power of Suggestion | |
| Comparing Effects | |
| The Power of Observation | |
| The Powers of Idea and Emotion | |
| The Use of Poetry | |
| Applying the Powers of Poetry | |
Part 2 | The Diction of Poetry | |
9. | The Words of Poetry | 157 |
| The Choice of Words | |
| Epithet | |
| Allusion | |
| Poetic Diction | |
| Selecting the Epithet | |
| Studying the Words of Poetry | |
10. | Words as Sounds | 168 |
| Eye and Ear | |
| Words as Music | |
| Vowel and Consonant Sounds | |
| Sound and Color | |
| Sound and Silence | |
| Tests for Effect | |
| Training the Ear | |
11. | Words as Pictures | 182 |
| Observation and Imagination | |
| Subjects--and Objects | |
| Kinds and Contrasts | |
| Places and People | |
| Stopping to Look Back | |
12. | Words as Sensations | 196 |
| Heat and Cold | |
| Motion and Emotion | |
| Studies in Emotion | |
| The Strangeness of Words | |
| Practice in Words as Sensations | |
13. | Words in New Settings | 209 |
| Poems to Sing | |
| The Speaking Choir | |
| Psalms and Ballads for Groups | |
| Suggestions for Reading and Singing | |
Part 3 | The Kinds of Poetry | |
14. | Telling a Story in Verse | 216 |
| The Old Ballads | |
| Characteristics of the Ballad | |
| Ballads of Real Events | |
| Modern Ballads | |
| Ballad Range and Variety | |
| Working with Ballads | |
15. | In the First Person | 239 |
| How Characters Reveal Themselves | |
| The Dramatic Monolog | |
| Character and Background | |
| The Monolog of Protest | |
| The Mood of Meditation | |
| Knowing People by What They Say | |
16. | The Long Story-Poem | 251 |
| Natural and Supernatural | |
| "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" | |
| Analyzing the Effects | |
| Further Guides | |
17. | The Singing Word | 278 |
| The Lyric | |
| Characteristics of the Lyric | |
| Different Kinds of Lyrics | |
| The Simple Emotional Lyric | |
| The Pictorial Lyric | |
| The Meditative Lyric | |
| The Dramatic Lyric | |
| Misusing the Lyric | |
| Comparing the Lyrics | |
| Exploring the Music and Ideas | |
18. | Pointed Arrows | 298 |
| The Epigram | |
| Epigrams Old and New | |
| The Epitaph | |
| Twentieth Century Epitaphs of Wit | |
| Enjoying the Point | |
Part 4 | The Mind of Poetry | |
19. | The World of Ideas | 309 |
| Thought in Poetry | |
| Transformation of the Idea | |
| Idea and Emotion | |
| Man and Nature | |
| "The Art of Living" | |
| Sermons in Rhyme | |
| The Unconquerable Soul | |
| Tracing the Thought | |
| Emotions Which Have Inspired Poetry | |
20. | Dream of a Better World | 329 |
| Toward the Vision | |
| The New Voices | |
| Praise and Protest | |
| A Social Conscience | |
| Looking at Our Fellow Men | |
21. | Peaks of Joy and Anger | 345 |
| Intensity: The Ode | |
| Beauty and Truth | |
| Sorrow: The Elegy | |
| Scorn and Anger: Satire | |
| Comment and Mockery | |
| Understanding the Poet's Mood | |
22. | Wit and the Sense of Nonsense | 359 |
| Fun and Fantasy | |
| Cart-Wheels and Hand-Springs | |
| Light Verse Today | |
| The Sense of Nonsense | |
| Just for Fun | |
Part 5 | The Forms of Poetry | |
23. | How Poetry is Built | 373 |
| Feet and Meters | |
| Pattern and Variation | |
| The Prevailing Accent | |
| Examining the Structure of Verse | |
24. | Shapes and Stanzas | 385 |
| Units of Verse | |
| The Couplet | |
| The Tercet | |
| The Quatrain | |
| The Quintet | |
| The Cinquain | |
| Defining Stanza Lengths | |
25. | The Sonnet | 397 |
| Varieties of the Sonnet | |
| The Shakespearian Sonnet | |
| The Petrarchan Sonnet | |
| The Composite Sonnet | |
| Sonnet Types for Comparison | |
| Theme and Treatment | |
| Understanding the Sonnet | |
26. | Forms Fixed and Free | 410 |
| Blank Verse | |
| Blank Verse Good and Bad | |
| Free Verse | |
| Free Verse and Rhyme | |
| The Borderland Between Verse and Prose | |
| The Limerick | |
| Analyzing Poetic Forms | |
Part 6 | The Appreciation of Poetry | |
27. | Local and Universal Appeal | 429 |
| The Common Material | |
| What is Commonplace? | |
| Local and Universal | |
| Much in Little | |
| The Ugly Duckling | |
| Understanding with all the Senses | |
28. | True and False Emotion | 447 |
| What Makes A Poem Good | |
| What Makes a Poem Bad | |
| Exaggerated and Inflated Language | |
| Flat and Dull Phrases | |
| Poorly Chosen Words | |
| Unfulfilled Expectations | |
| False Sentiment | |
| Choosing Good and Bad | |
| Using Our Critical Ability | |
29. | Studying the Poet: His Life and Works | 473 |
| Two Modern Pioneers | |
| Rudyard Kipling | |
| Robert Frost | |
30. | Re-Creating Poetry | 489 |
| A Few Don't's | |
| The Question of Taste | |
| The Poetic Values | |
| The Poet in You | |
| Acknowledgments | 497 |
| Index | 501 |