![]() ![]() In a chapter on meter, for instance, Leithauser starts by discussing the concept of relative stress (that is, the idea that a stressed syllable isn’t really stressed in an absolute sense, just more or less stressed than its neighbors), then moves to the difference between meter and rhythm, then to what he perceives as a distressing lack of good books on poetic form, then to the annoying way in which scholars allegedly “obsess narrowly over what the poem says,” until finally, after 10 pages, we wind up here: “The message of most poetry, including the greatest poetry, is usually commonplace or even banal. Individual sections likewise hop quickly from stone to stone, sometimes haphazardly. So after a cruise through some basic English verse devices to start the book, we get a swerve into Tin Pan Alley songwriting, then a chapter on Gerard Manley Hopkins, a disquisition on the nature of wordplay and so on. “Rhyme’s Rooms” is loosely arranged as a guide to poetry’s structures and devices - stanzas, slant rhyme and so forth - along the lines of such warhorses as John Hollander’s “Rhyme’s Reason: A Guide to English Verse.” But Leithauser’s approach is essayistic rather than procedural this book is not a how-to so much as a how-about. In the interest of completeness, I should also note that Leithauser once figured in a dispute between a group of poets who favored rhyme and meter and other groups who thought rhyme and meter were bad and these two groups had many arguments in many journals and as I type this I find my attention wandering, is that a fire truck parked on my street? Anyway, he’s fully qualified to tell you about iambic pentameter. This is the dilemma that haunts Brad Leithauser’s admirable, flawed new book, “Rhyme’s Rooms: The Architecture of Poetry.” Leithauser is a veteran of the poetry world a capable poet who excels at traditional forms a shrewd editor (his selected volume of Randall Jarrell’s criticism is a lightning storm in a Mason jar) a professor, naturally and a critic over the years for places like The New Yorker and The New York Review of Books. The second is that for the typical reader, even some of poetry’s most basic tools are unfamiliar, if not entirely alien. The first is that what many readers want from poetry - fireworks, wisdom - is not necessarily what poetry will give them. “If only more people understood how worthwhile it really is.” So you will collect your thoughts, make a couple of outlines, and then do your best to nudge our country’s most recalcitrant cultural practice just slightly closer to the audiences whose attention might - what? Help it? Help them? Surely both, you will think, even if only a little.īut you will face a couple of problems. “Poetry is so wonderful and yet so unpopular,” you will say to yourself. If you write about poetry, you will at some point consider putting together a book introducing the art to general readers. ![]() Perfect for Mobile Chats, Girls Chat, Stranger Chats - a great one-on-one chats alternative to Omegle text. 372-1901.RHYME’S ROOMS The Architecture of Poetry By Brad Leithauser Chat with strangers and meet new friends in modern, free and random chat rooms, anonymous & No Registration Required. French-style bedchambers and furnishings were adopted all over Europe, though not all courts used their bedchambers in the French manner.ĭesk, about 1700, France. ![]() For women, the daily ceremony of the toilette prompted the creation of elaborate toilette or dressing sets, equipped with mirrors, brushes and small pots and vessels, often in silver. Our 240 rooms, including 40 suites, are arranged hacienda-style around a beautifully landscaped fountain courtyard. The silver fire equipment and upholstered furniture found in the Baroque bedchamber were marks of high status. The state bed was the most expensive piece of furniture in the building and, in a custom that began in France, it was given a throne-like setting, raised on a platform or placed behind a balustrade. At Versailles, Louis XIV's actual sleeping chamber was the setting for elaborate court ceremonies, including the daily rising (the lever) and going to bed (the coucher), as well as special public occasions. State bedchambers were often just symbolic of the royal presence, the ruler sleeping elsewhere. At the terminus of the state apartment was the bedchamber – the most richly furnished room of the Baroque palace.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |