The key words of poetry 8 1
1 What is poetry? 9 1
2 The key words of English poetic history 14 1
The shape of poetry 24 2
1 The aesthetics of print 24 2
2 Pictograms and concrete poems 25 2
3 Visible but unreadable 29 2
4 Layout and punctuation 32 2
5 The poetic stanza and stanzaic form 35 2
The sound of poetry 49 3
1 Poetic sound effects:an overview 49 3
2 Onomatopoeia 53 3
3 Sound/patterning 57 3
4 Rhyme 59 3
5 The 'orthodox' rhyme 62 3
6 Some 'unorthodox' rhymes 63 3
7 Some indeterminacies of rhyme 69 3
8 Rhyme and meaning 72 3
Metre and rhythm 75 4
1 Complexities in the study of metre 76 4
2 The key metrical units 77 4
3 Metrical regularity and variance 81 4
4 'Missing' and 'extra' syllables 82 4
5 Feet 84 4
6 Iambic metre 84 4
7 Trochaic metre 93 4
8 Dactylic metre 98 4
9 Anapaestic metre 99 4
10 Occasional feet 101 4
11 Metrical verse lines 102 4
12 Free verse 111 4
Comparisons and associations 115 5
1 Literal v.figurative 115 5
2 Metaphor and simile 116 5
3 Metonymy and synecdoche 119 5
4 Tenor,vehicle and ground 123 5
5 Conceits and extended similes 128 5
6 Dead and dying metaphors 133 5
7 Riddle poems 138 5
The words of poetry 142 6
1 Linguistic diversity 142 6
2 Poetic diction 146 6
3 Poetry of the everyday language 151 6
4 Creating your own language 153 6
5 Diction and argots 156 6
6 Poems about language 160 6
7 The Queen's(and other people's)English 163 6