Includes bibliographical references and index.

Machine generated contents note: 1. Introduction; 2. Meter and the syllable; 3. Rhyme; 4. Onomatopoeia and sound symbolism; 5. Unusual word order and other syntactic quirks in poetry; 6. The meaning of a poem; 7. Metaphor; 8. Translating poetry; Appendix: on quantity and pitch; Works cited; Index.

"Michael Ferber's accessible introduction to poetry's unusual uses of language tackles a wide range of subjects from a linguistic point of view. Written with the non-expert in mind, the book explores current linguistic concepts and theories and applies them to a variety of major poetic features. Equally appealing to linguists who feel that poetry has been unjustly neglected, the broad field of investigation touches on meter, rhyme (and other sound effects), onomatopoeia, syntax, meaning, metaphor, style, and translation, among others. Close study of poetic examples are mainly in English, but the book also focuses on several French, Latin, Greek, German, and Japanese examples, to show what is different and far from inevitable in English. This original, and unusually wide ranging study, delivers an engaging and often witty summary of how we define what poetry is"-- Provided by publisher.

"In some fellow Indo-European languages, absolute clauses are (or were) marked by a particular case. In Latin, the noun or pronoun and the participle or adjective fell into the ablative case. At least one such Latin clause has entered English, ceteris paribus, "other things being equal"; philosophers, lawyers, and economists may state laws that apply ceteris paribus, that is, the laws govern events if nothing else intervenes"-- Provided by publisher.