The Figure of Echo: A Mode of Allusion in Milton and After (Volume 18)

Quantum Books

by John Hollander

In this essay on "what the imagination has made of the phenomenon of echo,” John Hollander examines aspects of the figure of echo in light of their significance for poetry. Looking at echo in its literal, acoustic sense, echo in myth, and echo as literary allusion, Hollander concludes with a study of the rhetorical status of the figure of echo and an examination of the ancient and newly interesting trope of metalepsis, or transumption, which it appears to embody.
 
Centered on ways in which Milton's poetry echoes, and is echoed by, other texts, The Figure of Echo also explores Spenser and other Renaissance writers; romantic poets such as Keats, Shelley, and Wordsworth; and modern poets including Hardy, Eliot, Stevens, Frost, Williams, and Hart Crane.
 
This book has implications for literary theory and holds great practical interest for students and teachers of American and English literature of all periods.
 
This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1981.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science

165 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

Reviews

[Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of those little well-written books that covers an astonishing amount of literary and historical territory. Hollander's brief is simply to trace 'Echo' in literature, first as a character and then as a literary device. The Preface poor mouths his abilities in Latin and Greek; the rest of the text suggests that Hollander's mastery of tropes extends to these languages as thoroughly as it does to English. Essentially a long essay, Hollander's book is a phenomenally stylish and belle-lettristic tour of echo in English poetry. His range of allusions is massive, but certain authors crop up repeatedly: Spenser, Milton, Wordsworth, Whitman, Stevens, Eliot. Hollander's local readings of particular moments in these authors are especially illuminating. Not a book with a thesis and argument so much as an enjoyable guided walk through thickets of English poetry and prosody led by a spirited and witty guide whose prose can be as engaging as the verse flowers he stops to admire from time to time.

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

You really need to read this as background before reading any books by Richard B Hays.