Although Auden has often been hailed as the twentieth century’s master of metre and most outstanding practitioner of traditional poetic forms, his metrical art still remains a mystery, as far as its real significance is concerned. This book sheds new light on the enticing appeal of formal poetry which induced Auden into composing in almost every possible stanza form. In order to work out a ‘new’ appreciative assessment of Auden’s formal art, the book uses Amittai Aviram’s theory of poetic rhythm, which transcends the common literary critical process, based on the rhetorical assessment of rhythm in poetry. Aviram’s theory clearly revolutionises our common methods of interpretation regarding rhythm rather than meaning as the starting point in reading poetry; it is the poem’s ideas and theme which express and strengthen rhythm, not the other way round. Such conception of rhythm, as allegorized by meaning (images and metaphors), breathes new life into the outworn Russian formalist tradition. Turning to Auden’s poetry today may be said to be urged by both literary and political contexts; in an age marked by uncertainties and an upsurge of violence, poetry’s voice, regrettably, reverberates less forcefully, sinking into a state of formal loosening. As such, this book may be said to be prompted by a ‘necessity’ to revive the interest in Auden’s poetry, especially given its recent neglect. A reconsideration of Auden’s conception of the nature of poetry and its status enables us to encrypt his verbal art, assess its multiple effects, and appreciate the metrical range that has helped the poet handle so subtly his twofold inquiry: What is poetry? What is its use?

This collection explores the interfaces of culture, gender, and power from politico-religious, linguistic, legal and historiographic perspectives. More importantly, the contributions gathered here examine culture’s manifestations in different socio-economic, political, theoretical, and discursive contexts. Being aware of “the crisis in humanities,” researchers, scholars and experts seek to relocate culture and cultural studies within academia and analyze the epistemological relationship between culture and education, while also trying to eschew and refashion the stale conventional methodologies of approaching culture as an academic subject. Is it possible to go beyond the “crisis in humanities” by valorizing culture in social and human sciences, on the one hand, and natural and exact sciences, on the other, especially when we take into consideration the escalation of fundamentalist, extremist and xenophobic tendencies all over the globe? How can we approach the issues of ethics and teaching humanities and sciences? This book moves beyond conventional conceptions of culture that associate it with knowledge and enlightenment to suggest a holistic view of culture that enacts the dialectics of power, nationality, class, gender, and ethnicity in an ever-shifting transnational context. Engaging readers in a lively intellectual and cultural debate, this volume is essential reading for undergraduate and graduate students, teachers, critics, and scholars from various academic fields and disciplines, including historiography, cultural studies, anthropology, political science, literature and critical theory.

At once an introduction to Hegel and a radically new vision of his thought, this work penetrates the entirety of the Hegelian field with brevity and precision, while compromising neither rigour nor depth.

Antjie Krog’s iconic status as one of South Africa's most popular and critically-acclaimed poets began when she was eighteen, with her first collection, Dogter van Jefta (1970). Almost four decadeslater, this very different collection will confirm her reputation with poems that blur and ravage the boundaries between the lyrical and confessional, the private and public. Body Bereft is a fearless and ecstatic exploration of consciousness on the edge of decay and dissolution. The taboos within the tidal moods of the menopause are described with anger and verbal intensity in a voice that is uniquely Krog's. Close relationships are searingly explored, occasionally seeking conflict, often searching for resolution. In the final meditative section, the personal intensity is tempered, fantastically almost, by contemplations of Table Mountain as a looming, symbolic and androgynous godhead, echoing Adamastor, an abiding presence that endures as it suffers witness - an ostensibly inscrutable, ironically nurturing mirror to selfand personal despair. These dramatic, even reckless poems, translated from the simultaneously published Afrikaans Collection, Veweerskrif, bring an altogether new and unique energy to South African English-language poetry.

Table of contents

This is the first of two volumes of the only English edition of Hegel's Aesthetics, the work in which he gives full expression to his seminal theory of art. The substantial Introduction is his best exposition of his general philosophy of art. In Part I he considers the general nature of art as a spiritual experience, distinguishes the beauty of art and the beauty of nature, and examines artistic genius and originality. Part II surveys the history of art from the ancient world through to the end of the eighteenth century, probing the meaning and significance of major works. Part III (in the second volume) deals individually with architecture, sculpture, painting, music, and literature; a rich array of examples makes vivid his exposition of his theory.

Through the use of several illustrations from illuminated manuscripts and other media, Resnick engages readers in a discussion of the later medieval notion of Jewish difference.

Provides a postmodern theory of poetry that sees rhythm as its essential quality

Although the body has recently emerged throughout the humanities and social sciences as an object revealing the power and limits of representation, the study of narrative has almost entirely ignored human corporeality. As this book shows, attention to the body raises uncomfortable questions about the historicity of basic narrative concepts like character, plot, and narration - questions that critics would often prefer to ignore. Daniel Punday argues that narrative itself is a concept constructed by modern-day critics based on assumptions about identity, desire, movement and place that depend on modern ways of thinking about corporeality.