Lyric Powers

"To explain why a reader might prefer one kind of poem to another, von Hallberg moves beyond thematic significance to analyze the varieties of musicality found in both lyric poetry and popular song, including that of Tin Pan Alley and doowop. The sonic orders of lyric poetry express a comprehensive affirmation, often social or even political, that he traces through readings of poems, many recent and a few ancient. He shows that poets have distinctive intellectual resources - not just rhetorical resources - for examining their subjects, and that the power of poetic language to generalize, not particularize, is what justly deserves a critic's attention and meets the most widespread expectations of readers."--Jacket.