In Poetry as Persuasion, Carl Dennis, author of numerous poetry collections including the Pulitzer Prize–winning Practical Gods, focuses on the relation of the poet to the reader. Dennis asserts that the “persuasiveness of a poem depends on the presence of a definite speaker with a sharply defined point of view,” and uses examples from the works of poets such as Homer, John Ashbery, and Emily Dickinson to illustrate his theories and poetics. With chapter titles such as “The Voice of Authority,” “Irony,” “Myth,” and “Poetry as Liberation,” Dennis takes readers across all aspects of the steps of writing a poem, offering both inspiration and advice to practicing poets and avid aficionados of the art form.
