Poetical Dictionary (Abridged)

By Lohren Green

Poetry. Lohren Green's POETICAL DICTIONARY concludes with chaos and begins with acrobatics. In between these he presents us with "both a book of words and a cosmos"; a linguistic gas cloud bounded by the universal and the particular. Green's project departs from the traditional dictionary, a peculiar contraption of sense and order. In the preface, he reviews the architectures of these teetering, teeming, linguistic edifices. His attitude towards words is almost that of a material scientist, exploding an individual specimen of language-"bulwark" "heft" "oyster" "purple" "torpid" "foreplay"--in order to ascertain its "synthesis of body and concept." Organized into SUBJECT WORD, PRONUNCIATION, ETYMOLOGY, and DEFINITION, each entry in the POETICAL DICTIONARY makes the traditional dictionary hiccup, divulging the stanza within the standard definition and the wiggle of wit in the pronunciation key. "addressable / glow unit of / information"--from "pixel."

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1891190172
• ISBN13: 9781891190179
• Release Date: September 2003
• Publisher: Atelos
• Length: 104 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.3" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

funnylicious

Heard about this book while listening to a Daniel Coffeen Rhetoric lecture on the UC Berkeley Podcast site. I recommend them both. :)

A surprising lightness

This is a surprisingly light book of poetry. I would have expected any other 'poetical dictionary' to be unmeasured, overly heady, weighty. In Lohren Green's book it is clear however that the writer has an uncanny, exhilirating knowledge of words and of what he calls their 'cosmos'. This makes it delightfully easy and light to read, like putting on a summer dress for the first time after a long English winter.

A great book of poetry for non-poetry readers

Not being used to reading poetry I found the Poetical Dictionary really amazing and approachable. Poems are structured in the form of a dictionary (pronunciation, etymology, and definition), so you always have a general idea of what the poem is trying to convey. And the best thing is that you get to experience words in a totally new way that makes complete sense but that you hadn't thought about before. Reading this book feels like being at a cool party surrounded by interesting people.

a word-lover's delight

With great wit and intelligence, this book refreshes the traditional dictionary by revealing the interior life of words--the distinctive styles and contours that lie beneath their denotative meanings. Regular dictionaries tell you what words mean; this one shows you how they feel, and, particularly, how they delight. Rising to the challenge when the going gets toughest (e.g., abstract entries like "affect" and "concurrence"), the author is completely at home in crafting this alternate lexical universe. Front and back matter, including an illuminating preface (not to mention marvellous illustrations), complete the dazzling effect. Keep it next to your Webster's and OED.

sumptuous, hilarious, thorough

This small but potent tome is pure joy, a delight through and through and through once more for good measure. Each entry proffers an apropos universe: liquid flows; bleak is a bit barren; bulwark, rather difficult to navigate; oyster is, well, briny; etc. This is a dictionary as it should be, meaning and sense seamlessly wed. Startlingly smart, thorough throughout (etymologies, pronunciations, charts and tables all included), at times quite beautiful, always joyful: this book offers language lovers a supreme luxury.