Telling Rhythm : Body and Meaning in Poetry

Rating:
Summary: This book is your key to the pleasant world of poetry.
Review: Excellent Book. It presents a turning point in how to read a poem. Rhythm does not exist only in the physical material of the poem or the metrical structure, it is "a state of being itself." It is a paradox, "where speech and images are attempting to address the experience of rhythm, which is, prcisely, the state of being in which there is neither imagery nor speech" (Aviram, 270). That is the main message of this book. Let me suggest that you read first "Cases for Interpretation" chapter, on pages 247-286, in which another kind of surprise will motivate you and encourage you to ask for more surprises until you come to the end of this book! The interpretation of several ballads, 'Lord Randal' for instance, and 'Emily Dickinson's 'Because I could not stop for Death -' are just examples through which the poet Aviram demonstrates his new approach in how a poem can be read or rather looked at.