Description
By (author) George Dai
:
An entertaining guide to history”s most influential and inspiring poets – from Homer and Sappho to Shakespeare and Frank O”Hara – and how they can teach us to better understand the world around us.How did the greatest poets in history make the world anew? And what can we learn from the magic, wisdom and humour of their poetry? From the genius of the Ancient Greeks through to the love poetry and metaphysics of the Renaissance, through to the New York poets of the 20th century, this is the ultimate guide to the greatest writers of the human age.Through short, biographical portraits, poet and writer Dai George provides an entertaining introduction to the great works of poetry, and a welcoming guide to how we can read them. He addresses questions poets have grappled with: How can we truly describe the world? How can we express love, grief or friendship? How can poetry help us to understand justice, dreams or anger?This book paints vivid pictures of a global selection of renowned poets throughout history: from Sappho, Li Bai and Rumi, to William Shakespeare and John Donne, to Frank O Hara, Pablo Neruda and Sylvia Plath. George also seeks to re-examine the canon, traditionally dominated by Western, white and male poets, and bring to light major figures from other important cultures and communities, including China, India and the Caribbean.
Table of contents:
Introduction1 How to Think Like Homer2 How to Think Like Sappho3 How to Think Like Li Bai4 How to Think Like Jalal al-Din Rumi5 How to Think Like Dante Alighieri6 How to Think Like Geoffrey Chaucer7 How to Think Like William Shakespeare8 How to Think Like John Donne9 How to Think Like John Milton10 How to Think Like Matsuo Basho11 How to Think Like William Wordsworth12 How to Think Like Walt Whitman13 How to Think Like Emily Dickinson14 How to Think Like Rabindranath Tagore15 How to Think Like T. S. Eliot16 How to Think Like Langston Hughes17 How to Think Like Pablo Neruda18 How to Think Like Elizabeth Bishop19 How to Think Like Aimé Césaire20 How to Think Like Dylan Thomas21 How to Think Like Frank O’Hara22 How to Think Like Sylvia Plath23 How to Think Like Audre Lorde24 How to Think Like a Contemporary PoetAcknowledgementsPermissionsIndex
Review quote:
This is a wonderfully lucid and compelling account of how poetry works and why it matters. In 24 exhilarating chapters, George guides us from Homer’s Iliad to the Instapoetry of today. A triumph in both concept and execution, How to Think Like a Poet fizzes almost audibly with intellectual energy and excitement.
Review quote:
With an infectious delight in his material, Dai George is a sure and skilful guide through some of poetry’s most significant waters, opening our eyes to its everyday wonders. Thanks to its consciously global canvas,
How to Think Like a Poet does something rather different to your usual poetic history or handbook, opening up fresh connections and avenues of thought across its chapters. George”s agile, luminous, refreshing readings of individual poets down the centuries reveal just how much they have to offer us today.
Review quote:
Poetry haters will fall in love with poetry and the poetry lover will walk away refreshed after reading just a few pages of this
authoritative, wide-ranging and witty book that is persistently fascinating and always an easy read!
Biographical note:
Dai George is a poet, novelist, critic and academic. His first poetry collection, The Claims Office, was an Evening Standard book of the year. He is the former reviews editor of Poetry London and has taught creative writing for many years at various universities. He is currently Lecturer in Creative Arts and Humanities at UCL.His poetry has appeared widely in magazines and anthologies. His
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