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Loading... But I Digress: The Exploitation of Parentheses in English Printed Verseby John Lennard
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Dr Johnson disapproved of parentheses and wouldn't use them; and for three centuries grammarians have argued that they are subordinate, additional, unnecessary, irrelevant, and damaging to the clarity of argument. But for Marlowe, Marvell, Swift, Coleridge, Byron, Browning, Eliot, GeoffreyHill, and Derek Walcott (to name only poets) parentheses have been emphatic, original, necessary, relevant, and essential to the clarity of argument. They also intensify satire. Dr Lennard offers both a new history of the poetic use of lunulae (the marks of parenthesis) from their first appearancein England in 1494 to the present day, and detailed case-studies of individual poets who exploited lunulae. In combination the historical development of use and the individual's practice in a given period reveal the impact on literary composition of technological, philosophical, and politicalpressures, and the importance for the reader of regarding punctuation as a resource. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)821.009Literature English English poetry English poetry {by more than one author} Modified standard subdivisions History, description, critical appraisal of English poetry not limited by time period or kind of formLC ClassificationRatingAverage: No ratings.Is this you?Become a LibraryThing Author. |