Foreword by Randolph Quirk. - General Index and Index of Sources of Exemples for Discussion.

Each chapter presents examples for discussion and notes.

Suggestions for Further Reading p. 229.

Poetry and the Language of Past and Present - The Creative Use of Language - Varieties of Poetic Licence - Foregrounding and Interpretation - Verbal Repetition - Patterns of Sound - Metre - The Irrational in Poetry - Figurative Language - Honest Deceptions - Implications of Context - Ambiguity and Indetermination

This book is designed as an introductory course in stylistics for students of English, and is based on the author's experience of teaching the subject to first-year undergraduates. The author emphasizes that the linguistic and critical aspects of literary studies are here regarded as complementary, the first being a tool of the second.