[Mike Todd]

My latest read is Owen Barfield's Poetic Diction. I like it a lot and am wondering which of his other books might be worth parting with cash for. I'd welcome suggestions from Barfieldophiles.

[Janice D. Soderling]

Well, my fellow book collector, though I cannot give you suggestions on this author who is entirely new to me, I want to say thanks for previewing and recommending another book on the craft. I will note the title.

Could you please tell us why you found it helpful and a little bit about the contents. (I know, I know, Amazon is only a click away, but "from the horse's mouth", seems more trustworthy!

[Mike Todd]

Sure, I'll write something up this weekend, time permitting. Howard Nemerov had this to say about it (on the back cover): "Among the few poets and teachers of my acquaintance who know Poetic Diction, it has been valued not only as a secret book, but nearly as a sacred one." And there's a paragraph about it on the wikipedia page for Owen Barfield.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owen_Ba...Poetic_Diction

[Cally Conan-Davies]

He is one of my favourites, too, Mike and Janice.

Janice, basically Barfield defines poetic diction as ""When words are selected and arranged in such a way that their meaning either arouses, or is obviously intended to arouse, aesthetic imagination" (PD XXX).

I don't have the book at hand - only the notes I took from it while doing my thesis. Barfield discusses poetic diction as involving a real, felt change of consciousness and strangeness.

Look forward to reading more of your thoughts, Mike.

Cally

[R. Nemo Hill]

Barfield's Orpheus: A Poetic Drama is another book of his that is quite celebrated. I have a copy from Lindisfarne Press. To tell you the truth, I wasn't as impressed with it as I thought I might be, though I always felt as if I were perhaps missing something. That was some years back and the ground may be prepared differently now for its mustard seed.

Nemo

[Andrew Frisardi]

Saving the Appearances: A Study in Idolatry is a classic. Barfield pretty much stands on its head the modern scientific paradigm. His book on Coleridge, I hear, is excellent as well, which doesn't surprise me since he thinks a lot as Coleridge did. I haven't read that one though.

[Mike Todd]

Janice—

My review will have to wait. I'm mired in chapter 5, Metaphor. I can't seem to grasp the point. I'm convinced that Barfield has contradicted himself and, even worse, whole paragraphs of the chapter are written in Latin and French. I may have to resort to typing them into a translation engine.