Introduction to Literature

Contains over 1,600 entries on the devices, techniques, history, theory, and terminology of poetry from the Classical period to the present.

Tells the stories behind the world's greatest poems, from the oldest surviving one written nearly four thousand years ago to those being written today. Shines a light on the richness and variation of the world's poems-and the elusive quality that makes them all the more enticing.

A spellbinding work of literary history, it reveals how poets engaged with the most important issues and events of the twentieth century. Bringing together poets from times and places as diverse as Tsarist Russia, 1960s Harlem, and Ireland at the height of the Troubles, Burnside reveals how poetry responded to the dramatic events of the century while shaping our impressions of them.

This reference provides biographical information on poets of the 20th century and succinct critical accounts of their work.