Poetic Diction

Download or read book Poetic Diction written by Owen Barfield and published by Wesleyan University Press. This book was released on 1973 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Barfield discusses poetry's meaning in terms of both his personal experience and objective standards of criticism. Poetic Diction, first published in 1928, begins by asking why we call a given grouping of words "poetry" and why these arouse "aesthetic imagination" and produce pleasure in a receptive reader. Returning always to this personal experience of poetry, Owen Barfield at the same time seeks objective standards of criticism and a theory of poetic diction in broader philosophical considerations on the relation of world and thought. His profound musings explore concerns fundamental to the understanding and appreciation of poetry, including the nature of metaphor, poetic effect, the difference between verse and prose, and the essence of meaning. CONTRIBUTOR: Howard Nemerov.