Describes the ways in which the techniques of linguistic analysis and literary criticism can be combined, and illuminated, through the linguistic study of literary style, and draws on the prose fiction of the last 150 years to demonstrate the approach.

Seeks to demonstrate that the study of English poetry is enriched by the insights of modern linguistic analysis, and that linguistic and critical disciplines are not separate but complementary. Examining a wide range of poetry, Professor Leech considers many aspects of poetic style, including the language of past and present, creative language, poetic licence, repetition, sound, metre, context and ambiguity.