I need to know how to do a close reading of some poems. I was told that there was a web site giving instructions. Unfortunately I have the wrong address or something (www.poems.org). Any help would be greatly appreciated, my time is running out!

-- di christopherson (dchristo@smith.edu), December 08, 1998

Answers

John Frederick Nims has a book "Western Wind" (sorry, don't know the complete title but you should be able to find it under WW). He covers EVERYTHING--it was one of my textbooks for a literary interpretation course (focusing on poetry) a few years back.

-- Nonnie (Nonnie@switchboardmail.com), April 28, 1999.

Robert Penn Warren and Cleanth Brooks wrote a textbook called Understanding Poetry. Warren used it in a class I took from him at Univ. of Minnesota in 1950. When I first saw it I groaned, too analytical, I thought. By the end of the course I was able to read poetry much more deeply than when I began. Of course Warren knew his trade.

I see that Amazon has the 4th ed. (1976) at $46.00!!! Look for a used copy.

-- Tom Carey (tomcarey@mindspring.com), April 23, 1999.

Di,

I did'nt know myself but I found out in a poetry chat. here is your answer. CMarlowe93: Dave--close reading: a careful analysis of the language of a poem or phrase

hope it helps

-- David Doherty (Dave@poem.org), December 10, 1998.