Amazon.com description: Product Description: Original essays inspirited by Marlowe, Spenser, and Milton, Tennyson and the modern voices of Allen Ginsberg, Elizabeth Bishop and James Merrill, show that, in an age in which historically-focused studies of verse frequently neglect the forms of poetry, lyric and epic poetry continue to be read and taught in ways that call attention to, and reaffirm, how and why literature matters. In the deepest sense, these essays define what it means to call poetry a home in which we find comfort as well as passion. Whatever their specific engagements with particular poets, these pieces are united in their commitment to looking at poetry through the multiple lenses of teachers, scholars, and poets. Some treat poetry as a force of reason; others as an interpretive model for handling multiplying perspectives; still others as lessons in the intersections between pedagogy and practice or as signaling the limits of allegorical reading. The worlds created by the poetic investigations in this new volume are as unique as they are provocative. Contributors include John Burt, John Rogers, Kenneth Gross, Lee Edelman, Jeff Dolven, Elise Jorgens, John Watkins, Hannibal Hamlin, David Greetham, David Bromwich, Langdon Hammer, David Mikics, and JoanRichardson.