Poetic closure is the sense of conclusion given at the end of a poem. Barbara Herrnstein Smith

Barbara Herrnstein Smith

Barbara Herrnstein Smith is an American literary critic and theorist, best known for her work Contingencies of Value: Alternative Perspectives for Critical Theory...

's detailed study—Poetic Closure: A Study of How Poems End

Poetic Closure: A Study of How Poems End

Poetic Closure: A Study of How Poems End — ISBN 0-226-76343-9 — is a book by Barbara Herrnstein Smith, which was published by the University of Chicago Press in 1968...

—explores various techniques for achieving closure. One of the most common techniques is setting up a regular pattern and then breaking it to mark the end of a poem. Another technique is to refer to subject matter that in itself provides a sense of closure: death is the clearest example of this.

Further reading

• Barbara Herrnstein Smith: Poetic Closure: A Study of How Poems End, University of Chicago Press 1968. ISBN 0-226-76343-9
• D.H. Roberts, F.M. Dunn, D. P. Fowler
  Don Paul Fowler
  -Life:Fowler was from a Birmingham working-class background and went to King Edward VI Camp Hill School for boys there. After completing his studies at Christ Church, Oxford, Fowler was first appointed Lecturer in Classics at Magdalen College , subsequently Dyson Junior Research Fellow in Greek...
  
  : Classical Closure: Reading the End in Greek and Latin Literature. Princeton 1997.