Witty, direct and articulate, Peter Barry illustrates the key elements of poetry at work, covering many different kinds of verse, from traditional forms to innovative versions of the art, such as 'concrete' poetry, minimalism and word-free poems. The emphasis is on meanings rather than words, looking beyond technical devices like alliteration and assonance so that poems are understood as dynamic structures creating specific ends and effects. The three sections cover progressively expanding areas - 'Reading the lines' deals with such basics as imagery, diction and metre; 'Reading between the lines' concerns broader matters, such as poetry and context, and the reading of sequences of poems, while 'Reading beyond the lines' looks at 'theorised' readings and the 'textual genesis' of poems from manuscript to print. Reading poetry is for students, lecturers and teachers looking for new ways of discussing poetry, and all those seriously interested in poetry, whether as readers or writers.

Introduction: 'One small step'READING THE LINES 1. Meaning 2. Imagery 3. Diction 4. Metre 5. Form READING BETWEEN THE LINES6. Close and distant reading 7. Feeling and sentiment 8. Text and context 9. Poems and pictures 10. Sequences and clusters READING BEYOND THE LINES11. Place and time 12. Poetry with theory 13. Minimalism and micro-poetry 14. Concrete canticles 15. Textual genesis End-noteList of poems discussed Glossary Further readingIndex