Twentieth-Century American Poetry (Blackwell Guides to Literature)

Written by a leading authority on William Carlos Williams, this book provides a wide-ranging and stimulating guide to twentieth-century American poetry. A wide-ranging and stimulating critical guide to twentieth-century American poetry. Written by a leading authority on the innovative modernist poet, William Carlos Williams. Explores the material, historical and social contexts in which twentieth-century American poetry was produced. Includes a biographical dictionary of major writers with extended entries on poets ranging from Robert Frost to Adrienne Rich. Contains a section on key texts considering major works, such as 'The Waste Land', 'North & South', 'Howl' and 'Ariel'. The final section draws out key themes, such as American poetry, politics and war, and the process of anthologizing at the end of the century. Twentieth-Century American Poetry......Page 1 Contents......Page 7 Acknowledgments......Page 10 How To Use This Book......Page 12 Chronology: Significant Dates and Events, 1900–2000......Page 14 Introduction......Page 19 Some Historical and Cultural Contexts of Twentieth-Century American Poetry......Page 25 The Romantic Legacy and the Genteel Tradition......Page 27 Transatlantic Connections......Page 32 Tradition and the Rise of the Universities......Page 37 Rebellion in the Fifties and Sixties: The Two Anthologies......Page 40 The Poetry of Change......Page 43 A Rich Diversity......Page 46 Writers......Page 49 Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869–1935)......Page 51 Robert Frost (1874–1963)......Page 54 Carl Sandburg (1878–1967)......Page 58 Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)......Page 60 William Carlos Williams (1883–1963)......Page 64 Ezra Pound (1885–1972)......Page 68 H.D. (Hilda Doolittle; 1886–1961)......Page 73 Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962)......Page 76 Marianne Moore (1887–1972)......Page 78 T. S. Eliot (1888–1965)......Page 81 John Crowe Ransom (1888–1974)......Page 86 Claude McKay (1890–1948)......Page 88 E. E. Cummings (1894–1962)......Page 90 Hart Crane (1899–1932)......Page 92 Langston Hughes (1902–1967)......Page 96 Louis Zukofsky (1904–1978)......Page 100 Robert Penn Warren (1905–1989)......Page 102 George Oppen (1908–1984)......Page 105 Theodore Roethke (1908–1963)......Page 107 Charles Olson (1910–1970)......Page 110 Elizabeth Bishop (1911–1979)......Page 113 John Berryman (1914–1972)......Page 116 Robert Lowell (1917–1977)......Page 119 Gwendolyn Brooks (1917–2000)......Page 123 Robert Duncan (1919–1988)......Page 126 Richard Wilbur (b. 1921)......Page 129 Denise Levertov (1923–1997)......Page 131 James Dickey (1923–1997)......Page 134 A. R. Ammons (1926–2001)......Page 136 Allen Ginsberg (1926–1997)......Page 138 Robert Creeley (b. 1926)......Page 142 Frank O’Hara (1926–1966)......Page 144 James Merrill (1926–1995)......Page 147 John Ashbery (b. 1927)......Page 149 Galway Kinnell (b. 1927)......Page 152 W. S. Merwin (b. 1927)......Page 154 Anne Sexton (1928–1974)......Page 157 Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)......Page 159 Gary Snyder (b. 1930)......Page 164 Sylvia Plath (1932–1963)......Page 166 Amiri Baraka (b. 1934)......Page 170 Sonia Sanchez (b. 1934)......Page 172 Audre Lorde (1934–1992)......Page 174 Susan Howe (b. 1937)......Page 176 Louise Glück (b. 1943)......Page 177 Jorie Graham (b. 1951)......Page 179 Gary Soto (b. 1952)......Page 180 Rita Dove (b. 1952)......Page 182 Texts......Page 185 Robert Frost, North of Boston (1914)......Page 187 Ezra Pound, ed., Des Imagistes: An Anthology (1914)......Page 192 Edwin Arlington Robinson, The Man Against the Sky: A Book of Poems (1916)......Page 196 T. S. Eliot, The Waste Land (1922)......Page 199 Claude McKay, Harlem Shadows (1922)......Page 205 Wallace Stevens, Harmonium (1923)......Page 208 William Carlos Williams, Spring and All (1923)......Page 213 Marianne Moore, Observations (1924)......Page 218 Hart Crane, The Bridge (1930)......Page 222 Elizabeth Bishop, North & South (1946)......Page 226 Ezra Pound, The Pisan Cantos (1948)......Page 229 Theodore Roethke, The Lost Son and Other Poems (1948)......Page 233 Allen Ginsberg, Howl and Other Poems (1956)......Page 237 Robert Lowell, Life Studies (1959)......Page 241 Donald Allen, ed., The New American Poetry (1960)......Page 246 Sylvia Plath, Ariel (1965)......Page 250 John Berryman, The Dream Songs (1969)......Page 254 Amiri Baraka, Black Magic: Sabotage, Target Study, Black Art; Collected Poetry 1961–1967 (1969)......Page 258 Galway Kinnell, The Book of Nightmares (1971)......Page 261 Anne Sexton, Transformations (1971)......Page 264 John Ashbery, Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror (1975)......Page 268 Adrienne Rich, The Dream of a Common Language: Poems 1974–1977 (1978)......Page 271 Carolyn Forché, The Country Between Us (1981)......Page 274 James Merrill, The Changing Light at Sandover (1982)......Page 277 Rita Dove, Thomas and Beulah (1986)......Page 281 Topics......Page 285 Twentieth-Century American Poetry and Other Arts......Page 287 Continuities and Nationality in Twentieth-Century American Poetry......Page 294 American Poetry and a Century of Wars......Page 300 The Twentieth-Century American Long Poem......Page 305 Anthologies: Polemical and Historical......Page 312 Guide to Further Reading......Page 322 Index......Page 328 Written by a leading authority on William Carlos Williams, this book provides a wide-ranging and stimulating guide to twentieth-century American poetry.

• A wide-ranging and stimulating critical guide to twentieth-century American poetry.
• Written by a leading authority on the innovative modernist poet, William Carlos Williams.
• Explores the material, historical and social contexts in which twentieth-century American poetry was produced.
• Includes a biographical dictionary of major writers with extended entries on poets ranging from Robert Frost to Adrienne Rich.
• Contains a section on key texts considering major works, such as ‘The Waste Land’, ‘North & South’, ‘Howl’ and ‘Ariel’.
• The final section draws out key themes, such as American poetry, politics and war, and the process of anthologizing at the end of the century.

Written by a leading authority on the innovative modernist poet, William Carlos Williams, this book provides a wide-ranging and stimulating guide to twentieth-century American poetry. Explores the material, historical and social contexts in which twentieth-century American poetry was produced. Includes a biographical dictionary of major writers with extended entries on poets ranging from Robert Frost to Adrienne Rich. Contains a section on key texts considering major works, such as ‘The Waste Land’, ‘North & South’, ‘Howl’ and ‘Ariel’. The final section draws out key themes, such as American poetry, politics and war, and the process of anthologizing at the end of the century. Provides guidance to the study of twentieth-century American poetry, including biographical, cultural, historical, and thematic influences. This wide-ranging and stimulating Guide offers an exploration of the contexts in which twentieth-century poetry was produced; a biographical dictionary of major writers; an examination of key texts, such as The Waste Land, North and South and Ariel; and a discussion of pertinent themes, such as poetry and politics Written by a leading authority on William Carlos Williams, this book provides a wide-ranging and stimulating guide to 20th-century American poetry. It is designed to help students familiarize themselves with this period in literature