The Cambridge History of American Poetry

Description

The Cambridge History of American Poetry offers a comprehensive exploration of the development of American poetic traditions from their beginnings until the end of the twentieth century. Bringing together the insights of fifty distinguished scholars, this literary history emphasizes the complex roles that poetry has played in American cultural and intellectual life, detailing the variety of ways in which both public and private forms of poetry have met the needs of different communities at different times. The Cambridge History of American Poetry recognizes the existence of multiple traditions and a dramatically fluid canon, providing current perspectives on both major authors and a number of representative figures whose work embodies the diversity of America's democratic traditions.

Alfred Bendixen teaches at Princeton University; he is the founder and executive director of the American Literature Association. Much of his scholarship focuses on the recovery of unjustly neglected literary texts and the exploration of neglected genres. He is the author of numerous books on American poetry and literature, including recent titles such as A Companion to the American Novel (2012); A Companion to the American Short Story (2010); and The Cambridge Companion to American Travel Writing (2009), co-edited with Judith Hamera. Stephen Burt is Professor of English and Director of Undergraduate Studies at Harvard University. His books of literary criticism and scholarship include The Art of the Sonnet (2010), with David Mikics; Close Calls with Nonsense (2009), a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle award; The Forms of Youth: 20th-Century Poetry and Adolescence (2007); and Randall Jarrell and his Age (2002), winner of the Warren-Brooks Award. He is also the author of three full-length books of poetry: Belmont (2013); Parallel Play (2006); and Popular Music (1999), winner of the Colorado Prize.

'... a physically imposing fifty-chapter book, consisting of more than 1300 densely packed pages and weighing almost four pounds. But this rather daunting volume turns out to be not just an essential addition to any serious poetry library but an exciting and absorbing reconceptualization of American poetry ... The History has a lot of possible uses. Individual chapters could be very helpfully assigned to students in American literature classes. It will make a valuable reference work for when you suddenly need to figure out who the Connecticut Wits were. Scholars will find new ideas in the chapters dealing with their areas of expertise (or at least I did in Robin Schulze's discussion of Marianne Moore's cosmopolitanism). The book's greatest value, however, is in providing a series of orientations - detailed but manageable - to fifty different permutations of American poetry. For readers with the time, it is enormously satisfying to read it cover to cover: even the most knowledgeable reader will gain insight into the richness, variety, and surprising harmony of American poetry.' Rachel Trousdale, Twentieth-Century Literature '... all a student would need to gain working knowledge of American poetry through the end of the last millennium. ... Those looking for a roundup of the best late twentieth- and early twenty-first-century literary criticism on American poetry will find more gathered here than in any other single volume.' Elisa New, Modern Philology 'Celebrated teachers as well as critics, Bendixen and Burt position themselves as knowledgeable enthusiasts, not as kingmakers or gatekeepers, in order to bring to poetry a vital curiosity ... Burt and Bendixen imagine their field in full 3D: as a set of intersecting planes, formed by means of poetic affinities, identities, and unexpected resemblances.' Walt Hunter, Essays in Criticism