Reviewer John Cowans: John lives in
retirement in Chester, NS ,where he has been an Instructor with
Seniors College Association of Nova Scotia.
He is currently working on a personal memoir, Other People’s Children, and his first poetry collection, Hope.
Roldand Greene, Editor in
Chief, Cushman, Stephen, General Editor,
Publisher: Princeton, N.J, Princeton
University Press, 2012,
ISBN: 13-9780691154916
Roldand Greene, Editor in
Chief, Cushman, Stephen, General Editor,
Publisher: Princeton, N.J, Princeton
University Press, 2012,
ISBN: 13-9780691154916
Anyone interested in literature and
reading has eagerly awaited the 4th Edition of one of the greatest
literary reference works in all of poetry: The Princeton
Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics recognized since its first
publication in 1965 as a standard source for information on all
things poetical. Roland Greene is the Editor in Chief and Stephen
Cushman is the General Editor of this extraordinary work. Roland
Greene is the Mark Pigott, OBE, Professor in the School of Humanities
and Sciences and Professor of English and Comparative Literature at
Stanford University, and Stephen Cushman is the Robert C.
Taylor Professor of English at the University of Virginia.
Priced
in paperback at less than 3 cents per page and containing over 1100
entries of astonishing detail, this volume is a must for every
public and private collection. Consider these examples: the entry on
‘Metaphor’ is 15 (8” x 3”) columns in length divided into 6
sections: Critical Views, History, Recent Views, Current Debates, and
Summary. At the end of the article there are three extensive
bibliographies listing Anthologies, Histories, and Texts. The
article on ‘The Poetry of Canada’ in 12 columns is divided into
English and French Poetry sections and concludes with substantial
lists of Anthologies and Criticism and History. The article on ‘Gay
Poetry’, 6 columns, while somewhat shorter, concludes with lists of
Anthologies and Criticism as well. Slightly more esoteric, the brief
article on ‘The Nativity Poem’ refers the reader to the sections
on Devotional Poetry, Liturgical Poetry, and Religion and Poetry but
also concludes with a short bibliography.
Of the 1100 entries, 250
are new, we are told, and many of the major entries from past
editions have been ‘re-conceived’. Of the new entries, for
example, one finds comments on the poetries of African, Latin
American, East and South Asian and Eastern European countries. as
well as notations on topics of recent times, for example, electronic
poetry and comments on movements such as hip-hop poetics.
Bibliographies have been updated, page designs are easier to use, and
for the first time there is a full General Index and well as an index
of contributors as all articles are signed, and also a Topical List
of Entries.
Price is always a consideration, especially for
students, and this Encyclopedia seems very affordable at $49-50 for
the Paperback which is well bound and can survive the years well.
When one compares this reference book to other standard literature
student purchases, the ‘Princeton’ fairs well considering that a
new Riverside Shakespeare costs $82.59 and a Riverside Chaucer
$136.34.
When all is said and done, The Princeton Encyclopedia of
Poetry and Poetic is an excellent, worthy addition to anyone’s
collection.
