David-Antoine Williams, Associate Professor, St Jerome's University in the University of Waterloo

David-Antoine Williams is Associate Professor of English at St Jerome's University in the University of Waterloo. He was educated at Harvard University, The University of St Andrews, and Balliol College, Oxford. His previous book, Defending Poetry: Art and Ethics in Joseph Brodsky, Seamus Heaney, and Geoffrey Hill, was published by Oxford University Press in 2010.

"Neither the sound of a word nor its history provides a metaphysically or intellectually reliable guide to its present-day use and force. Poets, however, sometimes write as if such a guide could exist, or as if their poems could provide one: these imaginary guides stand behind, or direct, some recent poets' major works. So David-Antoine Williams concludes in this learned, careful, insightful study of how these poets take account of etymology: not only the histories and the origins of words, but also the stories we tell about them, whether or not we believe them." - Stephanie Burt, Modern Philology

"The central thrust of this erudite book is the meaning of words—the use of poetic figures and prosody. Williams's extensive knowledge of languages and how language works in poetry is apparent throughout the book...Valuable for scholars of poetry, philology, critical theory, and linguistics. Summing Up: Highly recommended." - CHOICE