Acknowledgements Introduction PART ONE The significance of poetry 1 To begin with: common features and uncouth rhymes 2 Significance beyond plain speaking 3 Procedures for interpretation: reference and representation 4 Dissociation from context: the poem on the page 5 Verbal patterning and the grammar of representation 6 Time and place in a different dimension 7 Other patterns, alternative realities 8 Parallel lines and parallel texts 9 Intertextual associations 10 Aesthetic effects and relative values 11 So the meaning escapes . 12 In summary PART TWO The teaching of poetry 1 The point of poetry 2 Educational relevance; recreation and language awareness 3 Pedagogic approaches; against exegesis 4 Composing poetic text: line assembly 5 Completing poetic text: verse blanks 6 Intertextual comparison and the use of variants 7 Comparing poems with prose description 8 Deriving poems from prose description 9 Deriving and comparing poetic variants 10 Progressive derivation: composing interim versions 11 Using prose paraphrases 12 Comparing derived and authorized versions 13 Comparing different modes of poetic writing 14 In conclusion Notes Appendix Bibliography Index Index of poets.