Reference Reviews

Lawrence Looks at Books

Facts on File Companion to British Poetry, 1900 to the Present, edited by James Persoon and Robert R. Watson. 568p. New York: Facts on File, 2009. 978-0-8160-6406-9; 2007-47593. $85.

For many college students, one of the basic challenges of freshman literature is examining a poem and explaining the full ramifications of its meaning. Success often requires an understanding of the poet’s background, themes, imagery and technique. In fact, this process of explication has been a staple of literary criticism and many a scholarly journal is filled with commentary on the individual poems and stories of noted writers. Librarians have long labored to connect this voluminous literature with struggling students. Numerous reference works have provided bibliographic references or compendiums of criticism for readers exploring poetry explication. This latest guide to modern British poetry takes the process of assisting students one step further. Most of the 466 entries consist of scholarly essays examining a single work of poetry. The essays explore the poet’s choice of forms, narrative techniques, images and meaning. Each work is discussed in the context of contemporary events and literary movements. Brief bibliographies provide sources for additional critical interpretations or collections of the poet’s work. Other essays sketch the careers of significant poets like Ezra Pound or Dylan Thomas, addressing preferred methods, themes and techniques. Running a gamut from Rudyard Kipling and William Butler Yeats to Philip Larkin and Ted Hughes, twentieth-century British poetry witnessed profound changes. From imagism and surrealism to the Great War and Irish liberation, selected entries examine the movements, publications and events that shaped British poetry during this century. When combined with other volumes in the Facts on File Literary Companion series, this volume helps form one of the most substantial resources available for poetry explication. This title is the third of four planned on British poetry. Previous volumes include "The Facts on File Companion to British Poetry", "17th and 18th Centuries" and "The Facts on File Companion to British poetry before 1600". A volume on the nineteenth-century British poets is planned for a fall release. The publisher has also produced substantial guides to American and world poetry. As a stand-alone guide or in combination with these other volumes, this companion provides high school and college students with an excellent introduction to modern poetry. These titles will serve high school, public and academic libraries well.