For three centuries grammarians have argued about the necessity of parentheses. While some consider them subordinate, additional, irrelevant, and even damaging to the clarity of argument, Lennard's history explores how writers such as Marlowe, Swift, Coleridge, Browning, Derek Walcott, and e.e. cummings used them in their work as vehicles for pointing dramatic gesture, controlling tone, adding humor, and intensifying satire, in addition to contributing to the clarity of argument. Lennard offers both a new history of the poetic use of parentheses from their first appearance in England in 1494 to the present day, and detailed case-studies of five major poets who exploited them. He reveals how in each period the patterns of literary use have reflected, and continue to reflect, technological, philosophical, and political developments.

But I Digress: The Exploitation of Parentheses in English Printed Verse

Literature & Fiction

Lennard, John

British & Irish

Clarendon Press

This book provides an accessible guide to drama, its craft, and its technique using extensive examples from the major dramatists' most frequently studied plays. It aims to make students familiar with technical vocabulary and critical concepts that will deepen their reading of drama. With a special section on exam technique and a glossary of terms, this is an ideal introduction to the concepts and issues students will find useful when reading drama.

The Drama Handbook: A Guide to Reading Plays

Luckhurst, Mary

Dramas & Plays

Oxford University Press

The Poetry Handbook offers a lucid and practical guide to the poet's craft. In addition to the varied examples that accompany chapters on meter, form, layout, lineation, punctuation, rhyme, diction, syntax, history, biography, and gender, at the end of every chapter, Lennard applies each topic to the same poem, Nobel Prize-winner Derek Walcott's "Nearing Forty," building, incrementally, a full technical reading. Lennard italicizes and clearly explains critical and scholarly terms, both in the text and in glossaries. He supplements notes and quotations with detailed references to both the Oxford and Norton poetry anthologies, and includes substantial Suggestions for Further Reading. Designed with the undergraduate as well as the general reader in mind, The Poetry Handbook will fascinate and reward anyone interested in how poems work.

The Poetry Handbook: A Guide to Reading Poetry for Pleasure and Practical Criticism

History & Criticism

The Poetry Handbook is a lucid and practical guide to the poet's craft. There are chapters on metre, form, layout, lineation, punctuation, rhyme, diction, syntax, history, biography, and gender, as well as one on exams which includes sample essays by undergraduates. At the end of every chapter each topic is applied to the same poem, Nobel-winner Derek Walcott's `Nearing Forty', building up a full technical reading. Critical and scholarly terms are italicized and clearly explained, both in the text and in glossaries; notes and quotations are supplemented by detailed reference to both the Oxford Anthology of English Literature and the Norton Anthology of Poetry; and there is a substantial `Suggestions for Further Reading' section. Designed particularly for A-level and undergraduate students facing exams in Practical Criticism, The Poetry Handbook will fascinate and reward anyone interested in how poems work.

This volume is a lucid and entertaining guide to the poet's craft, and an invaluable introduction to practical criticism for students. Chapters on each element of poetry offer a wide-ranging general account and end by looking at different poems, to build up sustained analytical readings. The second edition-fully revised, expanded, updated, and supported by a new companion website-confirm The Poetry Handbook as the best guide to poetry available in English.

The Poetry Handbook

Taking up where Of Modern Dragons (2007) left off, these essays continue Lennard's investigation of the praxis of serial reading and the best genre fi ction of recent decades, including work by Bill James, Walter Mosley, Lois Mcmaster Bujold, and Ursula K. Le Guin. There are groundbreaking studies of contemporary paranormal romance, and of Hornblower's transition to space, while the fi nal essay deals with the phenomenon and explosive growth of fanfi ction, and with the increasingly empowered status of the reader in a digital world. There is an extensive bibliography of genre and critical work, with eight illustrations.

Of Sex and Faerie: further essays on Genre Fiction (Genre Fiction Monographs)

Humanities-Ebooks

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Lennard, John. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Lennard, John

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Lennard, John. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

But I Digress: The Exploitation of Parentheses in English Printed Verse

The Drama Handbook: A Guide to Reading Plays

The Poetry Handbook: A Guide to Reading Poetry for Pleasure and Practical Criticism

The Poetry Handbook: A Guide to Reading Poetry for Pleasure and Practical Criticism

The Poetry Handbook

Of Sex and Faerie: further essays on Genre Fiction (Genre Fiction Monographs)