Phenomenal Reading: Essays on Modern and Contemporary Poetics [Paperback]

The essays inPhenomenal Readingentice readers to cross accepted barriers, and highlight the work of poets who challenge language-as-usual in academia and the culture at large.

 

Phenomenal Readingis comprised of essays that are central to how best to read poetry. This book examines individually and collectively poets widely recognized as formal and linguistic innovators. Why do their words appear in unconventional orders? What end do these arrangements serve? Why are they striking? Brian Reed focuses on poetic form as a persistent puzzle, using historical fact and the views of other key critics to clarify how particular literary works are constructed and how those constructions lead to specific effects.

 

Understanding that explication and contextualization do not always sufficiently harness the power of poetry, Reed pursues phenomenological methods that take into account each reader’s unique perception of the world. This collection of twelve essays values narrative as a tool for conveying the intricacy, contingency, and richness of poetic experience.

Brian M. Reedis the author ofHart Crane: After His Lightsand coeditor ofSituating El Lissitzky: Vitebsk, Berlin, Moscow.

 “Offering a diverse and lively conversation around some of the key topics in innovative poetry,Phenomenal Readingconfirms Reed’s authority on the subjects of modern and contemporary poetry and poetics.”—Craig Dworkin, author ofReading the Illegibleand coeditor ofThe Sound of Poetry, the Poetry of Sound