Literary Studies: Poetry & Poets

Golnaz Shams Social Minds in Drama

The Delineation of Mentalities and Collectives

Berlin, 2020 . 238 pp ., 2 fig . b/w . Literary and Cultural Studies, Theory and the (New) Media. Vol. 4

hb . • ISBN 978-3-631-81012-5 CHF 66 .– / €D 55 .95 / €A 56 .– / € 53 .30 / £ 44 .– / US-$ 64 .95 eBook (SUL) • ISBN 978-3-631-81900-5 CHF 42 .– / €D 36 .95 / €D 35 .39 / €A 37 .– / €A 37 .07 / € 33 .70 / £ 28 .– / US-$ 40 .95

This study provides a new model for the construction of mentalities and intermental thought of characters in playscripts . It introduces a model that facilitates the analysis of the construction of consciousness, instances of collective thought, and the dynamics of group formation in late-Victorian drama . It can be placed within the framework of cognitive studies because cognitive studies are interested in examining the mental state and the relationship between minds involved in cognitive interaction in narratives . For a long time narrative studies have neglected drama as a genre and, even after the long overdue acceptance of plays in the family of narratives, most critics were eager to focus on performance rather than on playscripts . This book introduces a model through which the analysis of playscripts will be rewarding and worthwhile . Tai-Chun Ho The Crimean War in Victorian Poetry

Oxford, 2021 . XII, 304 pp ., 14 fig . b/w . Writing and Culture in the Long Nineteenth Century. Vol. 9

hb . • ISBN 978-1-78874-179-8 CHF 85 .– / €D 71 .95 / €A 71 .30 / € 67 .90 / £ 55 .– / US-$ 82 .95 eBook (SUL) • ISBN 978-1-78874-180-4 CHF 85 .– / €D 71 .95 / €A 71 .30 / € 67 .90 / £ 55 .– / US-$ 82 .95

Cast in the shadow of the soldier-poets of the First World War, Victorian war poets have often been disparaged as «armchair patriots» glorifying military action in an unthinking fashion . Challenging this long-standing assumption, The Crimean War in Victorian Poetry considers the evolution of the figure of the homefront poet and explores the daunting task of representing war from a civilian perspective . By virtue of the medium of modern reportage, the Crimean War (1854-1856) witnessed the inauguration of the civilian spectatorship of distant suffering, provoking a heated debate over the concept of the war poet and the function of war poetry during moments of national crisis . Confronted with news of soldiers’ hardships and of the distress caused by the government’s mismanagement of war, the so-called armchair poet sought ways of addressing the problem of pain and adversity from a distance and of engaging with the politics of war by composing lines of verse at home . This is the first book-length study to examine the predicaments and achievements of mid-Victorian war poets . It provides historically nuanced readings of how a diverse group of British poets – ranging from the Poet Laureate Alfred, Lord Tennyson to the highly acclaimed female poet Louisa Stuart Costello – fought a literary war as they reworked the established traditions of war poetry and experimented with poetic forms in response to news of distant combat .

David Spurr The Consolation of Poetry

Ten Lessons on Life and Death

Bern, 2021 . 140 pp .

pb . • ISBN 978-3-0343-4211-7 CHF 39 .– / €D 32 .95 / €A 33 .90 / € 30 .80 / £ 26 .– / US-$ 37 .95 eBook (SUL) • ISBN 978-3-0343-4347-3 CHF 39 .– / €D 32 .95 / €A 34 .10 / € 31 .– / £ 26 .– / US-$ 37 .95

How can poetry help us live our lives? From Shakespeare’s time to the present, poets have faced the questions of love, discovery, centering, parting, forgiveness, and our common, mortal destination . They have much to say to us, and they say it well . This is a book for the general reader who seeks solace and inspiration in the words poets have left us .