For anyone who has ever wanted to become fluent in the language of poetry, Invitation to Poetry will prove an essential guide. This book:

• 
  
• Teaches the serious student how to ‘speak poetry’ through an in-depth examination of the traditional features and technical vocabulary of poetic language;
• 
  
• Examines British and American materials from the sixteenth through the twentieth centuries in order to give students a sense of a range of different period styles, poetic projects, and strategies;
• 
  
• Explicitly examines, questions and challenges the relationship of poetry to literary periods and canons;
• 
  
• Offers the technical tools essential for close reading and interpretation across a broad chronological spectrum.