The 20th Century in Poetry

The history of the twentieth century as seen through the eyes of the greatest poets of our time.

This groundbreaking anthology presents in chronological order over four hundred poems written during the twentieth century. The authors, both published poets themselves, give an overview of each period of history, while notes to the poems place each one in its historical context and trace the century's poetic development. Concise biographies for each poet complete the anthology.By organizing the poems in chronological order, readers will see poets in a new light. Here A. E. Houseman, for example, rubs shoulders with T.S. Eliot, showing that traditional forms can hold their own against the modernist orthodoxy. All the major events of the twentieth century are reflected in the choice of poems within these pages.

Including poems by noel coward, Rudyard Kipling, James Joyce, D. H. Lawrence, Robert Frost, G. K. Chesterton, Ezra Pound, Philip Larkin, T. S. Eliot, Wallace Stevens, Langston Hughes, William Carlos Williams, W. H. Auden, e. e. cummings, Dylan Thomas, Kingsley Amis, Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Frank O’hara, Ted Hughes, Sylvia Plath, John Updike, Robert Penn Warren, among a host of others, this richly rewarding collection captures the history of the twentieth century within one monumental volume.

Michael Hulse teaches poetry at Warwick University and regularly does reading tours in England, America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and India. He is based in Warwick, England.

Simon Rae is a playwright, novelist, and broadcaster. He lives in Oxfordshire. Both Michael Hulse and Simon Rae are published poets and winners of the National Poetry Competition in England.