Studying poetry - Stephen Matterson

Studying Poetry is a fun, concise and helpful guide to understanding poetry which is divided into three parts, form and meaning, critical approaches and interpreting poetry, all of which help to illuminate the beauty and validity of poetry using a wide variety of examples, from Dylan Thomas to Bob Dylan.

Stephen Matterson is Professor of English and Head of the School of English at Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland.Stephen Matterson is Professor of English Studies and a Fellow of the College at Trinity College, University of Dublin, Ireland. He is the author or editor of nine books and over sixty articles, essays and reviews on aspects of US literature. His past publications include Herman Melville, The Confidence-Man (edited with an Introduction and Notes; Penguin Classics, 1990); American Literature: The Essential Glossary (Oxford University Press, 2003); The Complete Poems of Walt Whitman (edited with an introduction and notes, Wordsworth, 2006); and Studying Poetry (with Darryl Jones; 1st edition 2000; Oxford University Press; updated and enlarged second edition, Bloomsbury Academic, 2011).

Its great virtue lies in the amount of questions it raises. [The authors'] enthusiasm, engagement and occasional knowingly facetious asides should appeal to, and enlighten, bright [students]. They will also find the glossary of technical and theoretical terms very useful.
The Times Educational Supplement (Website)