E. Lilja (ed.), Rhythm in Modern Poetry : An Essay in Cognitive Versification Studies, Bloomsbury Academic, 2023, 192 p.
Investigating a previously neglected area of study, Rhythm in Modern Poetry establishes a foundation for cognitive versification studies with a focus on the modernist free verse. Following in the tradition of cognitive poetics by Reuven Tsur, Richard Cureton and Derek Attridge, every chapter investigates the rhythms of one modern poem, by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Sylvia Plath and others, and engages each element in the broader interpretation of the poem in question.
In her examination of modernist poetry in English and other Germanic languages, Eva Lilja expands her analysis to discuss both the Ancient Greek and Norse origins of rhythm in free verse and the intermedia intersection, comparing poetic rhythm with rhythm in pictures, sculptures and dance. Rhythm in Modern Poetry thus expands the field of cognitive versification studies while also engaging readers writ large interested in how rhythm works in the aesthetic field.
- Eva Lilja is Professor Emerita of Literature, specializing in Modernist poetry, in the Department of Literature, History of Ideas, and Religion at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
