How to Read a Poem

Acknowledgements.

1. The Functions of Criticism.

The End of Criticism?

Politics and Rhetoric.

The Death of Experience.

2. What is Poetry?

Poetry and Prose.

Poetry and Morality.

Poetry and Fiction.

Poetry and Pragmatism.

Poetic Language.

3. Formalists.

Literariness.

Estrangement.

The Semiotics of Yury Lotman.

The Incarnational Fallacy.

4. In Pursuit of Form.

The Meaning of Form.

Form Versus Content.

Form as Transcending Content.

Poetry and Performance.

Two American Examples.

5. How to Read a Poem.

Is Criticism Just Subjective.

Estrangement.

Tone, Mood and Pitch.

Intensity and Pace.

Texture.

Syntax, Grammar and Punctuation.

Ambiguity.

Punctuation.

Rhyme.

Rhythm and Metre.

Imagery.

6. Four Nature Poems.

‘Ode to Evening’.

‘The Solitary Reaper’.

‘God’s Grandeur’.

‘Fifty Faggots’.

Glossary.

Index.