Exploring the Language of Poems, Plays and Prose

by Michael H. Short

Exploring the Language of Poems, Plays and Prose examines how readers interact with literary works, how they understand and are moved by them. Mick Short considers how meanings and effects are generated in the three major literary genres, carying out stylistic analysis of poetry, drama and prose fiction in turn. He analyses a wide range of extracts from English literature, adopting an accessible approach to the analysis of literary texts which can be applied easily to other texts in English and in other languages.

Genres: Nonfiction, Academic, Language, Education, Literary Criticism, Poetry

399 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1996

Reviews

[Lidewij · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finished it just in time for my exam!

This is such a useful and easy to grasp book on how to approach the language of - as the title gives away - poems, plays and prose, as well as non-literary texts, day to day conversation and communication and everything in between. I never took a course in linguistics, because it is not my cup of tea, but with my knowledge of literary studies, this is a wonderful addition. It helps to grasp why we make an assumption about a text, about how we come to the interpretation that kwe do and it explains why literary texts, because of their use of certain language, are good. The exercises are useful, however, I think it is even more useful to look for exercises elsewhere (say, a teacher ;)) built on the checksheets at the end of each chapter.

And it reads like a train, even if you do not have any previous knowledge. I might miss out on some shortcomings because of this lack I have, but I would definitely recommend!

[Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book I studied as part of my English degree. I got on with this a LOT better than other, drier volumes. I found this educational and refreshing: written in an easy-to-grasp style, and yet covering plenty of complex issues. This has a lot of depth and you can get a lot out of it.

[Carolina Almeida · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐️

[Kyo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty interesting, but at times not really surprising stuff.

[Ghada · Rating 4 out of 5]

That is an excellent book for English learners. It has helped me a lot with many difficulties in learning English literature.

[Rubina Rahman]

good books for beginners

[Jill]

Recommended by Mariane Cronin - “changed the way I write”

[Lynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book for those who want to know how to deeply analyze writing, using linguistics methodology for the process. Short is one of the early luminaries in the field of Stylistics. However, this book is not for the casual reader.