Close Listening brings together 17 strikingly original essays, commissioned especially for this volume, on the reading of poetry, the sound of poetry, and the visual performance of poetry. While the performance of poetry is as old as poetry itself, critical attention to modern and postmodern poetry performance has been negligible. This collection opens new avenues for the critical discussion of the sound and performance of poetry, and offers an indispensable critical base for understanding language in and as performance.