The Matter of Rhyme: Verse-music and the Ring of Ideas

＂Christopher Norris is one of the most erudite, original and adventurous English-language poets of our time.＂--Prof. Terry Eagleton, U. of Lancaster *** ＂Chris Norris’s revival of the verse-essay and verse-monologue is a rich feast of wit, erudition, and inventiveness, nicely spiced with hard-hitting satire, caustic humour, and touches of lyrical affection. Here is a distinctive poetic voice, comfortable in its medium, unflaggingly readable, offering hours of pleasure and reflection. A true delight!＂--Prof. Peter Lamarque, U. of York *** The poetry of ideas, a long neglected genre, has now found a vigorous and resourceful champion in Christopher Norris. Hitherto best known as philosopher and literary theorist, he has treated that genre to a full-scale modern revival of singular scope and ambition. His poems combine intellectual agility with a verse-music both keen-eared and frequently haunting. This latest collection sees Norris at the top of his bent as lyric poet, poet-philosopher, verse-essayist, political satirist, social commentator, and skillful re-worker of traditional verse-forms to suit contemporary contexts and concerns. These poems engage with topics ranging from the personal (though never private-confessional) to the deeply enquiring (though never abstruse) and the forcefully political (though never excluding issues that transcend the narrowly partisan). Above all, they make the case for viewing rhyme, meter, and prosodic structure as intrinsically a part of verse-practice and a source of everything that is most distinctive and valuable in poetry. [Subject: Poetry & Philosophy, Literary Studies]