Product Description

A classic comparative study of poetry from Homer to the 20th century, reissued for today's readers.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1203911 in Books
• Published on: 2000-05-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 178 pages

Review
Wonderfully strange and covertly influential . . . the first volume of an essential series. -- Publishers Weekly

Review
"Wonderfully strange and covertly influential . . . the first volume of an essential series." --Publishers Weekly

"A Test of Poetry has changed over the years into something much more than a mere testing for information. It has become a signature examination, and expression, of the structure of meaning -- as intertextuality, as self. Confronting the test/text of his own life, Zukofsky passes with honors." --American Book Review

Review
"A necessary book for anyone interested in poetry." (Rosmarie Waldrop )

Customer Reviews

Give It All The Stars In The Sky
Poor poetry. Either it smothers under tons of academic pretension, or it is retailed as pop entertainment in poetry slams. It seems sometimes that Robert Pinsky is the only one with a good handle on the popular appeal of this emotional/intellectual art. But I bet you Pinsky has this book and refers to it regularly. This is the most hard-headed, economical poetry criticism, completely free of cant and pretension; equally free of stylishness. Zukovsky gives us, as Donald Barthelme once wrote, "the red meat on the rug." The form of the book is disarmingly simple: Selected quotes, side by side, with the occasional footnote. Zukovsky lets you figure things out yourself, and when you refer to his notes, you are nearly always rewarded with the notion that you and he are at least on the same planet when it comes to deciding what is good and what is not so good about poetry. Some of the selections in Middle English or Scots dialect are tough going, but you soon discover that it is as much sound as meaning that is important. In any event, there are plentiful and helpful footnotes. If you're lucky, you've never read any poetry criticism and can leap into this book unbiased and unafraid. If (like your reviewer) you had to read a lot of it in college, you'll feel positively liberated.