The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics

Praise for previous editions: An extraordinarily helpful volume that will save untold hours of reference time for the student, the general reader, and the literary scholar. Modern Language Journal Praise for previous editions: The standard source for information on the history and criticism of poetry and poetic technique and theory. Booklist Praise for previous editions: Should delight browsers and scholars alike. A must for all libraries. Choice Praise for previous editions: As essential for any working poet as a good dictionary. Writer's Digest Praise for previous editions: A reference work of distinction which all who work in the field of literary studies will find extremely useful if not, indeed, indispensable. Classical Journal Praise for previous editions: Provides one-stop shopping for the needs that formerly demanded a round of reference roulette among a handbook of poetic forms, a dictionary of literary terms, and a manual of rhetoric. Yale Review Praise for previous editions: It is all it sets out to be, accurate, informative, inclusive, illuminating, invaluable, with entries on Estonian Poetry, Poulter's Measure, Poetic Madness, and even OULIPO--and I thought I could catch them out there. -- Thom Gunn Threepenny Review Praise for previous editions: This is one book that genuinely deserves to be called 'essential.' MultiCultural Review Ever since the first edition of this work, in 1965, The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics has been a comprehensive and authoritative reference work valued by students, teachers, and poets... This edition will be welcomed by all readers of poetry. It provides so many new essays and updates, and, finally, has an index, which is useful as the Encyclopedia does not include entries on individual poets, but rather discusses them in the context of the larger topics to which they are related. Also beneficial is the new page layout that is easier to read and more conducive to browsing. Highly recommended. Library Journal This is a huge reference work, and the publicity people at Princeton are justifiably proud of it. Even though this book is about poetry, it is surprisingly complete. For example; I love how the book discusses the poetry of a people and ties it to their history--I mean, I could read this book for the historical context of a particular body of ethnic or linguistic poetry alone, but of course, there is plenty of poetry in here, too. If you are a poet, a student of poetry or if you (like me) love reading poetry, then this is, without any doubt, the book for you! It certainly would make an excellent gift for the poet, scholar or poetry lover in your life. -- Devorah Bennu GrrlScientist [W]orthy... [M]onumental. -- Stuart Mitchner Town Topics [I]f you're a student of poetry, you'll want to own a copy... The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics goes far beyond a beginner's guide to poetry, and the new Fourth Edition is a worthy update to an already excellent encyclopedia series. Poetry International The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics is a stupendous work... What makes it unique and extremely valuable is the exhaustive entries... Running into 1639 pages, in single volume, this is a huge contribution to the study of poetry and poetics. Any student of literature and linguistics should have a copy as it introduces the reader to every nuance of poetry, in its finest. A marvelous work indeed. -- Vaidehi Nathan Organiser [O]ne of the greatest literary reference works in all of poetry... The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics is an excellent, worthy addition to anyone's collection. -- John Cowans BookPleasures This belongs on the desk of anyone teaching creative writing or literature, and anyone over the age of twelve who is serious about poetry. -- Barbara Berman Rumpus You can't say enough about The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, because it has already said just about everything. It is an encyclopedia, after all, but more than that, it is a thoroughly illuminating text that contains everything a poet or critic might need to know, from Accentual-Syllabic Verse to Zulu poetry. To put it simply, it is the most fascinating book on poetics published this year. -- Stephan Delbos Body [T]his encyclopedia is a bargain for anyone seriously interested in poetry... This Princeton Encyclopedia, for all its contemporaneity, has the bonus of several hundred years' scholarship behind it... The entries ... are scholarly and extremely wide-ranging. All kinds of poetry are ... taken seriously and the traditions of all major languages--and many minor ones--are treated in considerable detail. -- Geoff Page Age Roland Greene and associates have done a tremendous job in revising Terry Brogan's and Alex Preminger's magisterial 3d edition of this classic work. It's a vast compendium of poetic lore, terminology, technique, and history with an astutely chosen set of contributors. At 1664 pages, I am still cruising the book and wishing I had the digital edition as well. This is a work to dip into at any page for a wealth of detailed and often absorbingly arcane information. PEPP is up to date, with entries for new poetic developments right up to the present (yes, Lavinia, Conceptual poetry, Kootenay school, and Flarf have entries, along with my own precis on 'absorption,' and new entries on antropofagia, codework, cognitive poetics, Xul, Sanskrit poetry, and many more). The index alone is worth the price of admission... As a kid (and as the kid I still am) I read through dictionaries and encyclopedias, a to z; this book holds that same kind of transfixing fascination. It also shows how new encyclopaedias (I prefer that spelling) can remain relevant in the wake of Wiki. Each of the entries is signed and bears the stamp of its author. While scholarly and descriptive in tone, the book has a thousand different points of view of what poetry is and how it works, hundreds of contradictory, or at least competing, programs. As with the best compendia of odd facts and magical formulae, the wild swerve from one entry to the next offers delight upon delight. -- Charles Bernstein Lemon Hound With 1,000-plus entries (some 250 of which are new), this edition expands and updates the New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, with a more detailed focus on international traditions not often included in English-language reference tools... This volume will be a valuable addition for universities, and for colleges with MFA programs in creative writing. Choice [I]t is a browser's gem. This fully indexed Encyclopedia is user friendly and of immense interests to poets, editors, scholars and everyone interested in poetry. With the wealth of information it contains it is great value for money and in my opinion is far more reliable than researching on line. -- Les Merton Poetry Cornwall There is a wealth of interest and debate in this impressive book. It is pretty hefty and not for reading on a train but can be dipped into or the specific topics studied in individual detail. -- Stella Stocker Weyfarers