The Facts on File Companion to American Poetry

The Facts On File Companion to American Poetry is a new and indispensable encyclopedic guide to American poetry with more than 1,100 entries, ranging in length from 500 to more than 3,500 words. Intended for high school and college students, this invaluable resource explores the various writers, works, themes, and movements of this intriguing literary genre.

Volume 1 contains entirely new material, including new entries on poems, and extensive, new coverage on poets before 1900. Volume 2 is a revised and updated edition of The Facts On File Companion to 20th-Century American Poetry, with more than 100 new entries added on important poems and recent poets. Appendixes include a general bibliography and a list of winners for major poetry prizes.

Coverage includes:

• Poets, representing a range of styles, influences, and ethnicities, from the Puritan period to today's avant-garde and from the most widely studied and anthologized to the obscure but influential
• Major poems
• Important literary schools and movements in American poetry, including Abolitionist, Transcendentalist, Romantic, Beat, Imagist, Fugitive, Black Mountain, Deep Image, Objectivist, Language, and others
• Influential periodicals, critical essays, and poetry collections
• Major poetry awards and societies.

The great majority of entries in these two volumes are on individual poets and poems, particularly heavily anthologized ones. Volume 1, written by Huff, covers American poetry up to 1900 and is weighted heavily toward expository and critical entries on individual poems by Emerson, Dickinson, Longfellow, Poe, Whitman, and many lesser-known poets. A smaller number of entries discuss poets, and an even smaller number of entries address such topics as Antislavery poetry, Caribbean poetic influences, and Poetry in translation. Date of first publication is given for poems, while birth and death dates are given for poets. Except for entries on poems, a short bibliography is usually appended. Volume 1 concludes with a bibliography and index. The longer volume 2, covering post-1900 American poetry, is an expanded new edition of The Facts On File Companion to 20th-Century American Poetry (2005), offering entries on 100 additional poems and 6 additional poets. Burt Kimmelman and Temple Cone are credited as the authors; however, more than 200 writers contributed the signed entries. The format is virtually identical to volume 1, but a smaller percentage of entries in volume 2 is devoted to individual poems. Short bibliographies follow all entries. Entries on special topics include Beat poetry, Black Arts movement, Black Mountain school, Confessional poetry, and Poetry in performance. Volume 2 concludes with a glossary, selected bibliography, list of contributors, and index. Both volumes will be accessible, interesting, and informative to most students of American poetry. Recommended for high-school and academic libraries. --Craig Bunch