Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Palgrave Macmillan

Best Words, Best Order

Essays on Poetry

  • Book
  • © 2003

Overview

Authors:
  1. Stephen Dobyns
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this book

Log in via an institution
eBook USD 79.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

Licence this eBook for your library

Institutional subscriptions

Table of contents (16 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xiv
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Deceptions

    • Stephen Dobyns
    Pages 1-10

  3. Metaphor and the Authenticating Act of Memory

    • Stephen Dobyns
    Pages 11-34

  4. Writing the Reader’s Life

    • Stephen Dobyns
    Pages 35-52

  5. Notes on Free Verse

    • Stephen Dobyns
    Pages 53-130

  6. Pacing: The Ways a Poem Moves

    • Stephen Dobyns
    Pages 131-150

  7. The Function of Tone

    • Stephen Dobyns
    Pages 151-171

  8. The Voices One Listens To

    • Stephen Dobyns
    Pages 173-189

  9. The Traffic between Two Worlds

    • Stephen Dobyns
    Pages 191-209

  10. Rilke’s Growth as a Poet

    • Stephen Dobyns
    Pages 211-234

  11. Mandelstam: The Poem as Event

    • Stephen Dobyns
    Pages 235-261

  12. Chekhov’s Sense of Writing as Seen through His Letters

    • Stephen Dobyns
    Pages 263-282

  13. Ritsos and the Metaphysical Moment

    • Stephen Dobyns
    Pages 283-304

  14. Cemetery Nights

    • Stephen Dobyns
    Pages 305-312

  15. The Maker’s Manipulation of Time

    • Stephen Dobyns
    Pages 313-330

  16. The Passerby in the Birdless Street

    • Stephen Dobyns
    Pages 331-346

  17. The Problem of Beauty and the Requirements of Art

    • Stephen Dobyns
    Pages 347-367

  18. Back Matter

    Pages 369-398
    Download chapter PDF
Back to top

Keywords

About this book

In this new edition of Best Words, Best Order, Stephen Dobyns further explains the mystery of the poet's work. Through essays on memory and metaphor, pacing, and the intricacies of voice and tone, and thoughtful appreciations of Chekhov, Ritsos, Mandelstam, and Rilke, Dobyns guides readers and writers through poetry's mysterious twilight communiques. For this new second edition, Dobyns has added two new essays, one dealing with the idea of "beauty" in poetry and another dealing with the almost mystical way poets connect seemingly disparate elements in a single work.

About the author

Stephen Dobyns is the author of eight volumes of poetry, among them Cemetery Nights and Velocities. He has also written 17 novels.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Best Words, Best Order

  • Book Subtitle: Essays on Poetry

  • Authors: Stephen Dobyns

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-73116-9

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan New York

  • eBook Packages: Palgrave Literature & Performing Arts Collection, Literature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)

  • Copyright Information: Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Nature America Inc. 2003

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-1-4039-6147-1Published: 30 May 2003

  • eBook ISBN: 978-1-349-73116-9Published: 30 April 2016

  • Edition Number: 2

  • Number of Pages: XIV, 398

  • Topics: Poetry and Poetics

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Back to top

Search

Navigation