Kategoria BISAC: Literary Criticism >> Subjects & Themes - General

First published in 1977, this book provides a clear and well-illustrated analysis of modern verse drama. It studies the work of its chief exponents, T. S. Eliot and Christopher Fry, as well as the genre’s place in the development of modern theatre. It particular focuses on the effect that verse drama has had on an audience’s awareness of language in the theatre, paving the way for dramatists like Pinter, Beckett and Wesker.

This book will be of particular interest to those studying modern poetry and drama.

First published in 1972, this book examines the sonnet, one of the most complex yet accessible of verse forms. It traces its history, concentrating primarily on its technical development, and fully explains the differences between the Italian and English sonnet. The study looks at several different kinds of sonnet, including condensed and expanded sonnets, inverted and tailed sonnets and irregularities of metre and rhyme, and concludes with a survey of the sonnet sequence.

This book will be useful to students of prosody and English poetry as well as those concerned with the...

First published in 1972, this book provides a helpful overview of the grotesque and its use in a number of literary genres including novels, drama and poetry. After providing a historical summary of the term, the book discusses the various defining aspects of the grotesque and its relationship to other terms and modes of literature, such as satire, the comic and parody. The final chapter presents the functions and purpose of the grotesque in literature.

This book will be a useful resource for those studying literary theory and literary works which include an element of the...

First published in 1976, this book provides a helpful introduction to the study of myth as a concept and its relationship to literature. It examines historically some of the leading theories concerning the nature and origins of myth and, with reference to a wide variety of texts, illustrates the relevance of these theories to literature. It also considers the different ways in which myths have been perceived over time, both positive and negative, and the effect this has had on the production of new mythologies. It concludes with an assessment if the problems created by the presence of myth...

First published in 1977, this book examines the short story, which is one of the most widely read of all modern genres. The study begins by examining some preliminary problems of definition before going on to trace the emergence of what is usually meant by ‘the modern short story’ and examine the various kinds of narrative from which it derives, such as the sketch, the yarn, Märchen, parable and fable. The final chapter considers the possibility that there are certain structural properties belonging distinctively to the short story.

This book will be of interest to those...

First published in 1970, this book examines the use of allegory in religious, philosophical and literary texts. It traces the development of the device over time from the Classical period through to the early modern and modern periods, demonstrating its evolution from the transmission of myths and religious beliefs to a literary device.

First published in 1974, this book provides a helpful overview to the ode. After introducing the reader to classical odes, it goes on to trace the development of two major types: the Pindaric ode and the Horatian ode. The book concludes with a study of odes from the nineteenth and twentieth-centuries.

This book will be of particular interest to those studying poetry, verse form and literature more generally.