A Companion to 20th-Century Poetry - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1405113618 ISBN 13: 9781405113618

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell, 2003

Synopsis

In the twentieth century more people spoke English and more people wrote poetry than in the whole of previous history, and this Companion strives to make sense of this crowded poetical era. The original contributions by leading international scholars and practising poets were written as the contributors adjusted to the idea that the possibilities of twentieth-century poetry were exhausted and finite. However, the volume also looks forward to the poetry and readings that the new century will bring.
The Companion embraces the extraordinary development of poetry over the century in twenty English-speaking countries; a century which began with a bipolar transatlantic connection in modernism and ended with the decentred heterogeneity of post-colonialism. Representation of the 'canonical' and the 'marginal' is therefore balanced, including the full integration of women poets and feminist approaches and the in-depth treatment of post-colonial poets from various national traditions. Discussion of context, intertextualities and formal approaches illustrates the increasing self-consciousness and self-reflexivity of the period, whilst a 'Readings' section offers new readings of key selected texts. The volume as a whole offers critical and contextual coverage of the full range of English-language poetry in the last century.

About this title

About the Author:

Neil Roberts is Professor of English Literature at Sheffield University. He has been a visiting professor at the University of New Mexico and also Chuo University in Japan. His publications on a wide range of contemporary poets, as well as on George Meredith and D.H Lawrence and Bakhtin, include Narrative and Voice in Postwar Poetry (1999).

From Library Journal:

Despite POETRY's current reputation as an elitist, almost marginal form of literature, it continues to be widely practiced and studied. A number of guides to English-language verse have been published recently, but this well-balanced collection of critical essays, each written by a major scholar, is unusually thorough. Characterized by powerful new ideologies, 20th-century POETRY was propelled by Imagism, the Beat aesthetic, Confessionalism, and other important literary movements that are clearly described. Editor Roberts (English, Sheffield Univ.) sets out to highlight the most influential works of "more than twenty countries," and he succeeds admirably. In addition to featuring such major figures as T.S. Eliot and Robert Frost, the book fills a gap in that it covers poets from many Commonwealth regions (Australia, India, the Caribbean, etc.) whose works are seldom discussed elsewhere. Substantial bibliographies round out the volume. Unfortunately, the book's hefty price tag will no doubt hurt its sales. But where budgets allow, this comprehensive volume is an excellent purchase for academic and public libraries. Ellen Sullivan, Ferguson Lib., Stamford, CT
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 1405113618
• ISBN 13: 9781405113618
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 648
• Editor: Roberts Neil