Long and the Short of It

Joseph A. Dane is professor of English at the University of Southern California. He is the author of a number of books, including The Myth of Print Culture: Essays on Evidence, Textuality, and Bibliographical Method.

" . . . Dane has 'made a career' publishing books that challenge consensus on common myths in the field: 'the critical mythology of irony,' 'the myth of a "textualized" Chaucer,' and 'the myth of print culture.' In this latest book, Dane challenges the ubiquitous notion of iambic pentameter as a purely English form, arguing instead for the simpler practice of counting syllables. A helpful glossary of terms is included. Studious undergraduates may find explanations and models of forms (which appear in the original language as well as in translation) helpful." —Choice"This is a remarkably clear, succinct, and at times witty handbook to literary versification. Its primary goal is to explain the basic forms of prosody in Latin, French, English, and the older Germanic languages. Students of literature, and of creative writing, need to understand that verbal expression is not the unmediated release of sensibility but the crafted and highly nuanced organization of that sensibility in forms." —Seth Lerer, University of California, San Diego"This book makes an original contribution in its approach, which demonstrates how English prosody depends on and derives from the metrical systems of earlier poetic forms. But it does more than that: it brings into one place a succinct description of Latin prosody—surprisingly hard to find—that is then linked to other forms students might have heard of in other classes." —Sarah Spence, University of Georgia"Joseph Dane's The Long and the Short of It is simply the clearest, most concise, and also the most elegant book about versification that I have ever read. What a relief to have this extraordinary tool for the classroom and to be able to pass it along to friends who are poetry readers as well. Dane's section on "The Power of Music" is a revelation in its discussion of the practical distinctions between systems of literary and musical notation. This is a long overdue and remarkably precise guide to those practices that have too often remained mysterious to many readers of poetry, both old and new." —David St. John, University of Southern California