Introduction: ‘One small step’READING THE LINES 1. Meaning 2. Imagery 3. Diction 4. Metre 5. Form READING BETWEEN THE LINES6. Close and distant reading 7. Feeling and sentiment 8. Text and context 9. Poems and pictures 10. Sequences and clusters READING BEYOND THE LINES11. Place and time 12. Poetry with theory 13. Minimalism and micro-poetry 14. Concrete canticles 15. Textual genesis End-noteList of poems discussed Glossary Further readingIndex

This book is about reading and studying poetry. Using fully-worked examples and complete poems wherever possible, it shows all the key elements of poetry ‘at work’ in poems, rather than in artificial isolation. It covers many different kinds of verse, from traditional and mainstream forms which have been in existence for hundreds of years, to innovative and experimental versions of the art, such as ‘concrete’ poetry, various kinds of minimalism, and poems which contain no words at all. The emphasis is on responding to meanings rather than just to words, and the reader is encouraged to look beyond technical devices such as alliteration and assonance, so that poems are understood and enjoyed as dynamic structures geared towards the creation of specific ends and effects. The three sections of the book cover progressively expanding areas of concern – ‘Reading the lines’ deals with basic matters, such as imagery, diction, metre, and form; ‘Reading between the lines’ concerns broader matters, such as poetry and context, and the reading of sequences and groups of poems, while ‘Reading beyond the lines’ looks at ‘theorised’ readings, at how place and time in poetry are never quite what they seem, and at the ‘textual genesis’ of poems from manuscript to print. The book is aimed at those studying poetry on university-level literature courses, and at lecturers and teachers who are looking for new ways of imagining, presenting, and discussing poetry. It is also for all those seriously interested in poetry, whether as readers or writers, or both.

Peter Barry's Reading poetry succeeds in the most difficult of tasks: it is at once introductory, sure to help novice students of poetry find their way through what may seem a bewildering maze of "poetic" features, and yet advanced enough to challenge the most sophisticated reader. It moves outward from the poetry building blocks - line, meter, image - to questions of poetry and visuality, poetry and space-time, poetry and theory. Commonsensical, wise, witty and open-minded, Reading poetry draws on an impressively wide set of examples, from Thomas Wyatt to such experimentalists as Tom Raworth. This wonderfully unpretentious book is a classic of its kind. Professor Marjorie Perloff, Stanford University 'Lingering over poems rather than excerpting them to define terms, Peter Barry's Reading poetry discusses a range of strategies for reading and interpreting poetry, quietly making a strong case for the value of reading poetry while leaving behind the methods and terminological overload that put off many readers. Reading poetry works as an introduction to poetry but has much to offer more practiced readers too. Barry's short chapters on diction, concrete poetry, text and context, reading with theory and other subjects probe poems beyond the standard fare, and the humility of his approach to his subjects will surely encourage readers.' Professor Keith Tuma, Miami University -- .