It takes the average reader 9 hours and 59 minutes to read The Spirit of the English Language by John H. Wulsin
Assuming a reading speed of 250 words per minute. Learn more
John Wulsin approaches the English language not as a conventional linguist, but as a poet interested in the spirit and evolution of our language. To show "how sound works in English and American poetry," the author traces the many changes, both subtle and radical, in how English has sounded over the past thirteen centuries, while also showing how those changes are related to the evolution of human consciousness in Western, English-speaking peoples. The Spirit of the English Language is never dry but filled with the textures of the lives and works of the great English-language poets. Wulsin describes the evolving activity of poetry in the biography of each poet, beginning with the Old Anglo-Saxon in Beowulf and the later works of Chaucer, and following the spirit of the English language through to the nineteenth century's "primal/modern" language of Gerard Manley Hopkins and Dickinson's diamond-distilled language. Along the way, we discover how the very sounds of English have changed the ways in which not only poets think and express themselves, but, more important, how sound works and changes our human consciousness. The author also discusses specifically how, in teaching poetics, stages of the developing English language quicken corresponding stages of thinking in maturing adolescents. Twelve years in the making, The Spirit of the English Language is the fruit of John Wulsin's thirty years of teaching language and literature to adolescents. The book is further informed and fructified by the author's fifteen years of teaching poetics to adults, as well as decades of writing poetry and participating in numerous poetry workshops. This practical guide will become a classic for all poets, teachers of poetry and language, and students. It is a truly valuable resource for anyone interested in English, its development, its effects on consciousness, and how sound works in poetry. Contents: Introduction Part I A Language Is Born Old Anglo-Saxon Evolving Language in Evolving Adolescents: Ninth and Tenth Grades The Norman Conquest Chaucer's Middle English The Language Wakes up, Renewed Elizabethan English: Shakespeare Expansion and Contraction: King James Bible Part II Lyric Activity in Metaphysical Poetry: John Donne The English Epic: Milton The Eighteenth Century and Blake Wordsworth Coleridge Byron Shelley Keats Elizabeth Barrett Browning Robert Browning Tennyson Gerard Manley Hopkins Eleventh Grade(Ages 16-17) Part III Alteration of the Early American Mind Poetry in American Prose: The Novel Whitman Emily Dickinson Twelfth Grade(Ages 17-18) Contemporary American Speech Speech and Drama in High School Conclusion
The Spirit of the English Language by John H. Wulsin is 579 pages long, and a total of 149,961 words.
This makes it 195% the length of the average book. It also has 183% more words than the average book.
The average oral reading speed is 183 words per minute. This means it takes 13 hours and 39 minutes to read The Spirit of the English Language aloud.
The Spirit of the English Language is suitable for students ages 12 and up.
Note that there may be other factors that effect this rating besides length that are not factored in on this page. This may include things like complex language or sensitive topics not suitable for students of certain ages.
When deciding what to show young students always use your best judgement and consult a professional.
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