The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics

Book Overview

The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics is a comprehensive reference work dealing with all aspects of its subject: history, types, movements, prosody, and critical terminology. Prepared by recognized authorities, its articles treat their topics in sufficient depth and with enough lucidity to satisfy the scholar and the general reader alike. Entries vary in length from relatively brief notices to substantial articles of about 20,000 words. The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics , published in 1965, established itself as a standard work in the field. Among the 215 contributors were Northrop Frye writing on allegory, Murray Krieger on belief in poetry, Philip Wheelwright on myth, John Hollander on music, and William Carlos Williams on free verse. In 1974, the Enlarged Edition increased the entries with dozens of new subjects, including rock lyric, computer poetry, and black poetry, to name just a few. The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics accounts for the extraordinary change and explosion of knowledge within literary and cultural studies since the 1970s. This edition, completely revised, preserves what was most valuable from previous editions, while subjecting each existing entry to revision. Over 90 percent of the entries have been extensively revised and most major ones entirely rewritten. Completely new entries number 162, including those by new contributors Camille Paglia, Barbara Herrnstein Smith, Elaine Showalter, Houston Baker, Andrew Ross, and many more. New entries include those on cultural criticism, discourse, feminist poetics, and Chicano poetry. Improvements cover several areas: All the recent developments in theory that bear on poetry are included; bibliographies of secondary sources are extended; cross-references among entries and through blind entries have been expanded for greater ease of use; and coverage of emergent and non-Western poetries is dramatically increased. Indeed, a hallmark of the encyclopedia is its world-wide orientation on the poetry of national and cultural groups.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0691021236
• ISBN13: 9780691021232
• Release Date: April 1993
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Length: 1434 Pages
• Weight: 3.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 2.5" x 6.3"

Customer Reviews

Comprehensively Impressive

Want to know what a 'priamel' is? Look it up here, "The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics." Not only will you see 'priamel' defined, but a short history of the use of the concept, examples of priamelic poetry, and a other resources to learn more. How about Hungarian poetry, what makes a hymn (as opposed to a carol), a discussion on line usage and techniques? It is all here. Exemplum? Septenarius? Metalepsis? What's an iambe? It isn't an iamb, and from their respective entries, you'll see why. Every student of poetry, whether in college, teaching or writing, needs this book. All the major terms and styles are covered here, but also every country producing poetry. This is useful to the poet who wants to learn more about what has been done through the years, and how and why a particular style was used. The book is certainly for the intelligent reader, but won't be bogged down with overblown, hard to understand explanations. This an encyclopedia, not a dissertation. Professors and students can use this book as a reference point as they research poetry. Ever read a literary critique and not have a clue what term Dr. Iam Smart just referred to? I sure have. This book helps me know what I am reading. The entries are well-structured, and give plenty to get started, and then point you where you can learn more. I fully recommed "The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics" by Alex Preminger. Anthony Trendl editor, HungarianBookstore.com

An Indispensable Reference for Poets and Poetasters

This stunningly comprehensive volume truly merits the title "encyclopedia." Nearly 1,400 pages, two columns to a page, with small print (the size of the print being one of the few shortcomings of the book). Over 700 entries, each including a brief bibliography. Detailed discussions of 106 national poetries. Entries on all varieties of poetic schools and movements, including Dada, Surrealism, Beat Poets, and . . . Fyrtiotalisterna (a group of Swedish modernist poets). Definitions of every imaginable poetic term, from anacoluthon to chiasmus to vers libre. Entries written by recognized authorities, from A. B. Lord writing on "Oral Poetry" to M. H. Abrams discussing "Theories of Poetry" to Elaine Showalter on "Feminist Poetics." "The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics" is simply the best single volume on poetry and poetics available, an indispensable reference for anyone seriously interested in poetry, as well as anyone interested in literature, literary history and prosody.

An Indispensable Reference for Poets and Poetasters

This stunningly comprehensive volume truly merits the title "encyclopedia". Nearly 1,400 pages, two columns to a page, with small print (the size of the print being one of the few shortcomings of the book). Over 700 entries, each including a brief bibliography. Detailed discussions of 106 national poetries. Entries on all varieties of poetic schools and movements, including Dada, Surrealism, Beat Poets, and . . . Fyrtiotalisterna (a group of Swedish modernist poets). Definitions of every imaginable poetic term, from anacoluthon to chiasmus to vers libre. Entries written by recognized authorities, from A. B. Lord writing on "Oral Poetry" to M. H. Abrams discussing "Theories of Poetry" to Elaine Showalter on "Feminist Poetics". "The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics" is simply the best single volume on poetry and poetics available, an indispensable reference for anyone seriously interested in poetry, as well as anyone interested in literature, literary history and prosody.

The ulimate reference work for poetics

I love huge, exhaustive books like this. I hate not being able to find the answer to a question in under five minutes, and my library has dozens of books like this that make such searches easy (the internet is another fast tool, but very few websites have more than the most basic knowledge.) If you want to learn how to write poetry and learn prosody by hands-on examples, go read John Hollander's little masterpiece, "Rhyme's Reason." If you want fast biographical and literary references, go check out "Benet's Reader's Encyclopedia." But if you want the absolute last word on poetic forms and meters, with absolutely thorough histories of each subject, use this book. It's saved my critic's keister more than once in the classroom. As one of my professors said, a scholar is not somebody who knows all the answers: a scholar is somebody who knows how to find all the answers. This book is an indispensable reference tool for anybody seriously interested in poetry.

A Must-have easy-reference tool.

Basically, it has abstracts that touch on just about any topic you would conceivably want to look up in the course of doing any analysis of poetry. Not only does it provide fully adequate, concise definitions, but it includes a bibliography for each entry, providing loads of sources for further inquiry if you aren't satisfied with the book's definitions.