Breath Lines

<p><i>Breath Lines</i> takes a fresh and down-to-earth approach to encounters with poetry. In these accessible non-technical essays Jan Schreiber offers insightful strategies for reading and understanding works that many people have found challenging. The essays address critical areas of poetic craft and interpretation: the content of poems including narrative techniques and the voices a poet creates; the character and power of verse lines and the problems attending the translation of metrical poems; challenges of interpretation including complex philosophies and obscure references; and a look at the future of the art hinted by the competing styles and allegiances of contemporary writers. <p/> Each essay offers pertinent verse examples to illustrate metrical rhetorical and stylistic issues. Schreiber's commentaries explain how a reader's careful attention can be rewarded with a deeper understanding of the multiple meanings embedded in apparently simple poems--and how readers can thereby experience an emotional impact not always perceived on a first reading. <p/> Designed for writers students and passionate readers <i>Breath Lines: How Poems Work and Why They Matter</i> offers guidance into some of the art form's more arcane mysteries written by a distinguished poet and critic.</p>