Prof. William Cavanaugh's Introduction to Poetry is Published

August 27, 1974

August 27, 1974, Greencastle, Ind. — William C. Cavanaugh associate professor of English at DePauw University, has authored a textbook, Introduction to Poetry. Published by William C. Brown Company, the 450-page book includes some 400 poems by modern authors and is intended for introductory college courses in poetry.

"The object (of the text) is to help students to build an appreciation of poetry as a fine art and at the same time to develop skills in the interpretation of difficult poems," the author writes.

The first portion of the two-part text presents a method of analysis by which any poem -- without consideration of its era or author -- can be assessed for its value both as meaning and as art. Part two offers a sampling of six centuries of poems in English, ranging from Chaucer to the Chicano poets.

Dr. Cavanaugh has taught introduction to poetry classes at DePauw since joining the faculty in 1965. His poetry has appeared in such publications as Virginia Quarterly Review, The Fiddlehead and The Symbolist.

He holds the B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of Pittsburgh and received the Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin. He has been a visiting lecturer at Notre Dame, Kentucky, Tennessee and Butler.

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