AcknowledgementsIntroductionPART ONE The significance of poetry1 To begin with: common features and uncouth rhymes2 Significance beyond plain speaking3 Procedures for interpretation: reference and representation4 Dissociation from context: the poem on the page5 Verbal patterning and the grammar of representation6 Time and place in a different dimension7 Other patterns, alternative realities8 Parallel lines and parallel texts9 Intertextual associations10 Aesthetic effects and relative values11 So the meaning escapes .12 In summaryPART TWO The teaching of poetry1 The point of poetry2 Educational relevance; recreation and language awareness3 Pedagogic approaches; against exegesis4 Composing poetic text: line assembly5 Completing poetic text: verse blanks6 Intertextual comparison and the use of variants7 Comparing poems with prose description8 Deriving poems from prose description9 Deriving and comparing poetic variants10 Progressive derivation: composing interim versions11 Using prose paraphrases12 Comparing derived and authorized versions13 Comparing different modes of poetic writing14 In conclusion REPLACELESSTHANbr /REPLACEGREATERTHANNotesAppendixBibliographyIndexIndex of poets.