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How to Read a Poem: And Fall in Love with Poetry
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How to Read a Poem: And Fall in Love with Poetry Paperback - 2000

by Edward Hirsch

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One of America's brightest stars in the field explains the meaning of poetry in everyday life, shows how to read it, and tells readers why poetry is important.

Summary

How to Read a Poem is an unprecedented exploration of poetry and feeling. In language at once acute and emotional, distinguished poet and critic Edward Hirsch describes why poetry matters and how we can open up our imaginations so that its message can make a difference. In a marvelous reading of verse from around the world, including work by Pablo Neruda, Elizabeth Bishop, Wallace Stevens, and Sylvia Plath, among many others, Hirsch discovers the true meaning of their words and ideas and brings their sublime message home into our hearts. A masterful work by a master poet, this brilliant summation of poetry and human nature will speak to all readers who long to place poetry in their lives.

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From the publisher

"Read a poem to yourself in the middle of the night. Turn on a single lamp and read it while you're alone in an otherwise dark room or while someone sleeps next to you. Say it over to yourself in a place where silence reigns and the din of culture-the constant buzzing noise that surrounds you-has momentarily stopped. This poem has come from a great distance to find you."

So begins this astonishing book by one of our leading poets and critics. In an unprecedented exploration of the genre, Hirsch writes about what poetry is, why it matters, and how we can open up our imaginations so that its message-which is of vital importance in day-to-day life-can reach us and make a difference.

For Hirsch, poetry is not just a part of life, it is life, and expresses like no other art our most sublime emotions. In a marvelous reading of world poetry, including verse by such poets as Wallace Stevens, Elizabeth Bishop, Pablo Neruda, William Wordsworth, Sylvia Plath, Charles Baudelaire, and many more, Hirsch discovers the meaning of their words and ideas and brings their sublime message home into our hearts.

A masterful work by a master poet, this brilliant summation of poetry and human nature will speak to all readers who long to place poetry in their lives but don't know how to read it.

First line

Read these poems to yourself in the middle of the night.

Details

  • Title How to Read a Poem: And Fall in Love with Poetry
  • Author Edward Hirsch
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition [ Edition: First
  • Pages 384
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Ecco Press, Orlando, Florida, U.S.A.
  • Publication date 2000-04-01
  • Features Glossary, Index, Table of Contents
  • ISBN 9780156005661 / 0156005662
  • Weight 0.96 lbs (0.44 kg)
  • Dimensions 9.01 x 6.03 x 1.01 in (22.89 x 15.32 x 2.57 cm)
  • Age range 14 to UP years
  • Grade levels 9 - UP
  • Reading level 1210
  • Themes
    • Cultural Region: British
    • Cultural Region: French
    • Theometrics: Secular
  • Category Poetry
  • Library of Congress subjects Poetics, Poetry - History and criticism
  • Library of Congress Catalogue Number 98050065
  • Dewey Decimal Code 808.1

Media reviews

"A lovely book, full of joy and wisdom."-The Baltimore Sun
"Hirsch's contribution is significant, [grounded] in the obvious pleasure he has experienced through words. . . . Who could resist the wiles of this poetry-broker-a writer rapidly becoming the baby boomers' preeminent man of letters?"-Detroit Free Press
"Laudable . . . The answer Hirsch gives to the question of how to read a poem is: Ecstatically."-The Boston Book Review

Citations

  • Books & Culture, 11/01/2000, Page 33
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How to Read a Poem: And Fall in Love with Poetry
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How to Read a Poem: And Fall in Love with Poetry

by Hirsch, Edward

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How to Read a Poem: And Fall in Love with Poetry
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How to Read a Poem: And Fall in Love with Poetry

by Hirsch, Edward

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How to Read a Poem : And Fall in Love with Poetry

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How to Read a Poem : And Fall in Love with Poetry

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How to Read a Poem : And Fall in Love with Poetry

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How to Read a Poem : And Fall in Love with Poetry

by Edward Hirsch

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How to Read a Poem : And Fall in Love with Poetry

by Edward Hirsch

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