This is the first comprehensive critical edition of the unpublished writings of Pulitzer Prize-winning objectivist poet George Oppen (1908-1984). Editor Stephen Cope has made a judicious selection of Oppen's extant writings outside of poetry, including the essay "The Mind's Own Place" as well as "Twenty-Six Fragments," which were found on the wall of Oppen's study after his death. Most notable are Oppen's "Daybooks," composed in the decade following his return to poetry in 1958. Selected Prose, Daybooks, and Papers is an inspiring portrait of this essential writer and a testament to the creative process itself.
Reading a century of American poetry through the prism of short form, this book analyses the centrality of an aesthetic of brevity to American modernist verse.
In this important new intervention, leading poet and critic John Wilkinson explores the material life of the lyric poem. How does the lyric – considered as an object, as an event – grapple with permanence and impermanence, the rhythms of change and the passing of time? Drawing on new insights from contemporary philosophy and object-oriented ontology, psychoanalysis and the visual arts, The Lyric in Its Times includes innovative and insightful new readings of work by a wide range of lyric poets, from Shakespeare, Blake and Shelley to Charles Baudelaire, Frank O'Hara and J.H. Prynne.
Phenomenology and the Late Twentieth-Century American Long Poem reads major figures including Charles Olson, Lyn Hejinian, Nathaniel Mackey, Susan Howe and Rachel Blau DuPlessis within a new approach to the long poem tradition. Through a series of contextualised close readings, it explores the ways in which American poets developed their poetic forms by engaging with a variety of European phenomenologists, including Hannah Arendt, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Martin Heidegger, Emmanuel Levinas and Jacques Derrida. Consolidating recent materials on the role of Continental Philosophy in American poetics, this book explores the theoretical and historical contexts in which avant-garde poets have developed radically new methods of making poems long. Matthew Carbery offers a timely commentary on a number of major works of American poetry whilst providing ground-breaking research into the wider philosophical context of late twentieth-century poetic experimentation.
A reflection on this poet's legacy through essays by contemporary poets and literary critics Denise Levertov (1923-1997) was an award-winning author of more than thirty books of poetry and prose featuring the subjects of politics and war and, in later years, religion. Born and raised in England amid political unrest and war, Levertov moved to the United States after World War II and settled in as a passionate poet/activist for peace and environmental conservation. She initially gained recognition as a member of the Black Mountain poets and later as a highly respected mentor and educator at esteemed universities including Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Brandeis, and Stanford, where she helped shape future generations of poets. In Denise Levertov in Company, Donna Krolik Hollenberg has assembled ten essays by contemporary poets who were influenced by Levertov as former students and/or colleagues and another ten by literary critics. Hollenberg selected contributors on the basis of their spiritual, intellectual, and political connections with Levertov at different stages of her life in the United States, and all are distinguished in their own right. The first five poets became acquainted with Levertov in the 1960s and 1970s, when she and they protested against the war in Vietnam. The next five poets, who were close to Levertov in the 1980s and 1990s while she was at Stanford, respond to aspects of Levertov's religious quest and her love and concern for the natural world. To assess Levertov's influence on contemporary poetry, Hollenberg has organized the essays into pairs. First a contributor offers a personal essay about his or her relationship with Levertov, which is followed by a companion essay about the contributor's poetry in relation to Levertov's. What emerges is a dialogue between autobiographical testimony and critical analysis. This combination of personal witness and objective evaluation contributes to a greater understanding of the contemporary poetry scene and the influence of Levertov's distinguished and affecting legacy. Contributors: Rae Armantrout Eavan Boland Martha Collins Alison Hawthorne Deming Susan Eisenberg Reginald Gibbons Donna Krolik Hollenberg Romana Huk Paul Lacey Aldon Lynn Nielsen Kathleen Norris Mark Pawlak Peggy Rosenthal Ben Sáenz Peter Dale Scott David Shaddock Michael Thurston Emily Warn Bruce Weigl Al Young
From William Carlos Williams and Allen Ginsberg to Miguel Algarín and Wanda Coleman, this groundbreaking book explores the ways in which contemporary poets have engaged with America's changing urban experience since 1945. City Poems and American Urban Crisis brings post-war American poetry into conversation with developments in city planning, activism, and urban theory to demonstrate that taking city poetry seriously as a mode of analysis and critique can enhance our attempts to produce more just and equitable urban futures. Poets covered include: Miguel Algarín, Gwendolyn Brooks, Wanda Coleman, Allen Ginsberg, Lewis MacAdams, Charles Olson, George Oppen, and William Carlos Williams.
A COMPANION TO MODERNIST POETRY A Companion to Modernist Poetry A Companion to Modernist Poetry presents contemporary approaches to modernist poetry in a uniquely in-depth and accessible text. The first section of the volume reflects the attention to historical and cultural context that has been especially fruitful in recent scholarship. The second section focuses on various movements and groupings of poets, placing writers in literary history and indicating the currents and countercurrents whose interaction generated the category of modernism as it is now broadly conceived. The third section traces the arcs of twenty-one poets’ careers, illustrated by analyses of key works. The Companion thus offers breadth in its presentation of historical and literary contexts and depth in its attention to individual poets; it brings recent scholarship to bear on the subject of modernist poetry while also providing guidance on poets who are historically important and who are likely to appear on syllabi and to attract critical interest for many years to come. Edited by two highly respected and notable critics in the field, A Companion to Modernist Poetry boasts a varied list of contributors who have produced an intense, focused study of modernist poetry.
In this innovative fusion of practice and criticism, Jeremy Scott shows how insights from stylistics and linguistics can enrich the craft of creative writing. Focusing on crucial methodological issues that confront the practicing writer, this book introduces writers to key topics from stylistics, provides in-depth analysis of a wide range of writing examples and includes practical exercises to help develop creative writing skills. Thoroughly revised and expanded throughout, this updated edition more clearly lays out specialist ideas and technical terms within the field of linguistics, and features both greater focus on the creative process and more practical exercises to help writers engage with ideas in their work. Clear and accessible, this invaluable guide will give both students and writers a greater critical awareness of the creative possibilities of language.
In this innovative fusion of practice and criticism, Jeremy Scott shows how insights from stylistics can enrich the craft of creative writing. Focusing on crucial methodological issues that confront the practicing writer, Creative Writing and Stylistics: - Introduces key topics from stylistics - Provides in-depth analysis of a wide range of writing examples - Includes practical exercises to help develop creative writing skills Clear and accessible, this invaluable guide will give both students and writers a greater critical awareness of the creative possibilities of language.
