{"product_id":"the-spirit-of-the-english-language-a-practical-guide-for-poets-teachers-students-how-sound-works-in-english-american-poetry-9781584200635","title":"The Spirit of the English Language: A Practical Guide for Poets, Teachers \u0026 Students: How Sound Works in English \u0026 American Poetry","description":"\"The English language is the sea which receives tributaries from every region under heaven.\" -- \u003cb\u003eRalph Waldo Emerson\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003eJohn Wulsin approaches the English language not as a conventional linguist, but as a poet interested in the spirit and evolution of our language. To show \"how sound works in English and American poetry,\" the author traces the many changes, both subtle and radical, in how English has sounded over the past thirteen centuries, while also showing how those changes are related to the evolution of human consciousness in Western, English-speaking peoples.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Spirit of the English Language\u003c\/i\u003e is never dry but filled with the textures of the lives and works of the great English-language poets. Wulsin describes the evolving activity of poetry in the biography of each poet, beginning with the Old Anglo-Saxon in \u003ci\u003eBeowulf\u003c\/i\u003e and the later works of Chaucer, and following the spirit of the English language through to the nineteenth century's \"primal\/modern\" language of Gerard Manley Hopkins and Dickinson's diamond-distilled language. Along the way, we discover how the very sounds of English have changed the ways in which not only poets think and express themselves, but, more important, how sound works and changes our human consciousness. The author also discusses specifically how, in teaching poetics, stages of the developing English language quicken corresponding stages of thinking in maturing adolescents. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTwelve years in the making, \u003ci\u003eThe Spirit of the English Language\u003c\/i\u003e is the fruit of John Wulsin's thirty years of teaching language and literature to adolescents. The book is further informed and fructified by the author's fifteen years of teaching poetics to adults, as well as decades of writing poetry and participating in numerous poetry workshops.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis practical guide will become a classic for all poets, teachers of poetry and language, and students. It is a truly valuable resource for anyone interested in English, its development, its effects on consciousness, and how sound works in poetry.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Lindisfarne Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/05\/2008\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781584200635\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 400\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.30lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.80h x 5.90w x 1.20d","brand":"John Wulsin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53023653593269,"sku":"9781584200635","price":29.75,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/files\/9781584200635.jpg?v=1787666632","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/the-spirit-of-the-english-language-a-practical-guide-for-poets-teachers-students-how-sound-works-in-english-american-poetry-9781584200635","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}