In this book, James Longenbach develops a fresh approach to major American poetry after modernism. Rethinking the influential "breakthrough" narrative, the oft-told story of post-modern poets throwing off their modernist shackles in the 1950s, Longenbach offers a more nuanced perspective. Reading a diverse range of poets - John Ashbery, Elizabeth Bishop, Amy Clampitt, Jorie Graham, Richard Howard, Randall Jarrell, Robert Lowell, Robert Pinsky, and Richard Wilbur - Longenbach reveals that American poets since mid-century have not so much disowned their modernist past as extended elements of modernism that other readers have suppressed or neglected to see. In the process, Longenbach allows readers to experience the wide variety of poetries written in our time - without asking us to choose between them
Includes bibliographical references (pages 177-195) and index
What was postmodern poetry? -- Elizabeth Bishop's bramble bushes -- Elizabeth Bishop's social conscience -- Randall Jarrell's semifeminine mind -- Richard Wilbur's small world -- John Ashbery's individual talent -- Amy Clampitt's United States -- Richard Howard's modern world -- Robert Pinsky's social nature -- Jorie Graham's big hunger
Print version record
Electronic reproduction. [S.l.] : HathiTrust Digital Library
Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002