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Auden's Syllabic Verse

Richard Hillyer

Much of the poetry written by W. H. Auden between 1939 and the time of his death consists of syllabic verse, or lines arranged in accordance with a predetermined syllable-count but no fixed number or distribution of stresses. This book presents a comprehensive, in-depth analysis of his many and widely varied syllabics, grouping them primarily by the formal sub-categories to which they belong (as measured by line-length, stanza-type, or some other aspect of their overall design). With this approach the book clarifies the dynamic range and technical inventiveness of Auden’s syllabics. It also shows how his work of compares with that of Robert Bridges and Marianne Moore, two pioneers in the writing of English syllabic whose verse he was familiar with.

Lexington Books

Pages: 318 • Trim: 6¼ x 9

978-1-4985-9146-1 • Hardback • December 2019 • $142.00 • (£109.00)

978-1-4985-9147-8 • eBook • December 2019 • $134.50 • (£104.00)

Subjects: Literary Criticism / Poetry, Literary Criticism / American / General, Literary Criticism / European / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Literary Criticism / Modern / 20th Century

Auden's Syllabic Verse

Hardback

eBook

Summary

Much of the poetry written by W. H. Auden between 1939 and the time of his death consists of syllabic verse, or lines arranged in accordance with a predetermined syllable-count but no fixed number or distribution of stresses. This book presents a comprehensive, in-depth analysis of his many and widely varied syllabics, grouping them primarily by the formal sub-categories to which they belong (as measured by line-length, stanza-type, or some other aspect of their overall design). With this approach the book clarifies the dynamic range and technical inventiveness of Auden’s syllabics. It also shows how his work of compares with that of Robert Bridges and Marianne Moore, two pioneers in the writing of English syllabic whose verse he was familiar with.

Details

Lexington Books

Pages: 318 • Trim: 6¼ x 9

978-1-4985-9146-1 • Hardback • December 2019 • $142.00 • (£109.00)

978-1-4985-9147-8 • eBook • December 2019 • $134.50 • (£104.00)

Subjects: Literary Criticism / Poetry, Literary Criticism / American / General, Literary Criticism / European / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Literary Criticism / Modern / 20th Century

Author

Richard Hillyer is professor of English at the University of South Alabama.

Table of Contents

Preface. “Ur-Syllabic Verse”

Part I : Auden’s Syllabic Forerunners

Chapter 1. “Any Definite Uniform Propriety”: Bridges and Moore as Metrical Innovators

Chapter 2. “Pompous Old Gentleman” and “Marxist Enfant Terrible”: Bridges and Auden as Strange Bedfellows

Part II: Auden’s Syllabic Forms

Chapter 3. “Games and Grammar and Metres”: Alcaic Quatrains

Chapter 4. “New Problems of Form”: Sapphic Quatrains

Chapter 5. “A Sober Perspective”: Asclepiadean Quatrains

Chapter 6. “Unmythical Mortals”: Quasi-Elegiac Couplets

Chapter 7. “As Structures Go”: Varieties of Rhyme

Chapter 8. “Symmetries and Asymmetries”: Adaptations of Haiku and Tanka

Chapter 9. “Making a . . . Line”: Related Stanzas and Couplets

Chapter 10. “Contradictory Dialect”: Alliterative Lines

Chapter 11. “Some Prosodic Discipline”: Miscellaneous Lines, Couplets, and Stanzas

Works Cited

Index

About the Author

Auden's Syllabic Verse

Richard Hillyer

Auden's Syllabic Verse

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