An account of the performance of poetry from late Antiquity to the Renaissance that explores the role and importance of poetry in western culture.

"The novelist and poet Ben Lerner argues that our hatred of poetry is ultimately a sign of its nagging relevance"--

'This book should be required reading for anyone thinking of having a baby, or even anyone who knows someone who is thinking of having a baby' Scotland on Sunday 'Fascinating and honest' Mumsnet 'Like talking to a friend' Observer Winner of the Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry There were many things that Hollie McNish didn't know before she was pregnant. How her family and friends would react; that Mr Whippy would be off the menu; how quickly ice can melt on a stomach. These were on top of the many other things she didn't know about babies: how to stand while holding one; how to do a poetry gig with your baby as a member of the audience; how drum'n'bass can make a great lullaby. And that's before you even start on toddlers. But Hollie learned. And she's still learning, slowly. Nobody Told Me is a collection of poems and stories; Hollie's thoughts on raising a child in modern Britain, of trying to become a parent in modern Britain, of sex, commercialism, feeding, gender and of finding secret places to scream once in a while.

An analysis of the historical position of Paul Celan's poetry, this book addresses the question of a lyric language that would not be the expression of subjectivity. Lacoue-Labarthe defines the subject as the principle that founds, organizes, and secures both cognition and action, a figure not only of domination but of the extermination of everything other than itself.

EXPERIENCE POEMS AND PICTURES combines original poetry, pictures of artwork by diverse teens and adults from the United States and Sri Lanka, with prompts for viewing and writing about artwork and exploring poetry to create new art. The poems, written from a faith perspective, address topics of family, friendships, life, death and hope. The artwork includes paintings in multiple mediums, quilting, and manipulated photos on a range of topics in a range of styles. Appealing to students of all ages, the book can become a mentor text for teachers wanting to publish student writing and art.

An impassioned call for a return to reading poetry and an incisive argument for poetry’s accessibility to all readers, by critically acclaimed poet Matthew Zapruder In Why Poetry, award-winning poet Matthew Zapruder takes on what it is that poetry—and poetry alone—can do. Zapruder argues that the way we have been taught to read poetry is the very thing that prevents us from enjoying it. In lively, lilting prose, he shows us how that misunderstanding interferes with our direct experience of poetry and creates the sense of confusion or inadequacy that many of us feel when faced with it. Zapruder explores what poems are, and how we can read them, so that we can, as Whitman wrote, “possess the origin of all poems,” without the aid of any teacher or expert. Most important, he asks how reading poetry can help us to lead our lives with greater meaning and purpose. Anchored in poetic analysis and steered through Zapruder’s personal experience of coming to the form, Why Poetry is engaging and conversational, even as it makes a passionate argument for the necessity of poetry in an age when information is constantly being mistaken for knowledge. While he provides a simple reading method for approaching poems and illuminates concepts like associative movement, metaphor, and negative capability, Zapruder explicitly confronts the obstacles that readers face when they encounter poetry to show us that poetry can be read, and enjoyed, by anyone.