Basil Bunting on Poetry

A close poetic ally of Ezra Pound and Louis Zukofsky, the British poet Basil Bunting is best known for his use of specific musical form in poetry. This volume collects two series of lectures delivered by Bunting between 1968 and 1974. Tracing the development of an English poetry governed by families of stress-groups from Beowulf down to Wyatt, Wordsworth, Whitman, Pound and Sukofsky, the lectures focus on writing and hearing poetry rather than on literary-historical concerns. Throughout, the editor expands upon and annotates the lectures with additional comments drawn from Bunting's writings.