American Poetry after Modernism

The Power of the Word

Albert Gelpi

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9781107025240
• eBook ISBN: 9781316236017
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: North American Literary Criticism
• Index: Literature

Albert Gelpi's American Poetry after Modernism is a study of sixteen major American poets of the postwar period, from Robert Lowell to Adrienne Rich. Gelpi argues that a distinctly American poetic tradition was solidified in the later half of the twentieth century, thus severing it from British conventions. In Gelpi's view, what distinguishes the American poetic tradition from the British is that at the heart of the American endeavor is a primary questioning of function and medium. The chief paradox in American poetry is the lack of a tradition that requires answering and redefining - redefining what it means to be a poet and, likewise, how the words of a poem create meaning, offer insight into reality, and answer the ultimate questions of living. Through chapters devoted to specific poets, Gelpi explores this paradox by providing an original and insightful reading of late-twentieth-century American poetry.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title
• Title page
• Copyright information
• Dedication
• Table of contents
• Preface
• Chapter 1 Twentieth-Century American Poetics: An Overview
• Chapter 2 The Language of Crisis
• Chapter 3 The Language of Flux
• Chapter 4 The Language of Incarnation
• Chapter 5 The Language of .Witness
• Chapter 6 The Language of .Vision
• Chapter 7 The Language of L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E
• Coda The American Poetic Tradition
• Notes
• Index