More Than a Canon: Lists of Contents in British Poetry Anthologies

Abstract

AbstractCriticism frequently questions the aesthetic or narrative qualities of lists and assigns them a primarily pragmatic function. The list (or table) of contents is typically identified as a reference tool and of little literary value in itself, merely pointing forward to what is to come in the book it is attached to. This chapter will argue in favor of the narrative, even literary, potential of the lists of contents for British poetry anthologies that goes beyond a straightforward reinforcement of the canon. Contextualized in a print product that claims to offer culturally relevant poetic heritage, these lists of contents co-determine cognitive and affective frames of reception and create narratives out of previously disconnected items, pandering to, in some cases even enforcing, the human predilection for creating teleological connections.