Meter in English: A Critical Engagement

by David Baker (Editor)

Renowned poets and experts in metrics respond to Robert Wallace's pivotal essay which clarifies and simplifies methods of studying poetry. Former United States Poet Laureate Robert Hass has called Wallace's essay a paradigm shift in our understanding of English prosody.

Genres: Poetry, Literary Criticism

396 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1996

About the author

David Baker is a poet, critic, and educator. He has received honors from the Guggenheim Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Poetry Society of America, and more. Baker lives in Granville, Ohio, where he is emeritus professor of English at Denison University.

Reviews

[Denis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Robert Wallace's essay "Meter in English" is admirable for its ambitious goal of creating harmony out of the chaos that clings to contemporary prosody, and while he makes many excellent points and should be praised for being willing to jump start a very important discussion, the same ambitious scope that makes his essay so thought-provoking is also responsible for the flaws in some of his arguments.

A significant part of the value of Wallace's essay is the way in which he tries to simplify that system and purge it over some of the unnecessary elements that create a great deal of confusion because they do not accurately reflect the nature of poetry in English. The discussion that Wallace has begun has already been fruitful, but it is important to recognize that it must continue, for as long as poetry continues to develop and grow, our prosody must grow with it.

[Nathan Eilers · Rating 4 out of 5]

You definitely have to be a lit nerd to appreciate this book, as it deals with several technicalities of prosody. However, I enjoyed its critical debate thoroughly and learned a lot about poetry by reading it.

[Benjamin Vogt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely arguments of arguments. required reading for a serious poetry class studying form, genre, and the contemporary issues of prosody.