Left of Poetry: Depression America and the Formation of Modern Poetics

Ehlers, Sarah

ISBN 10: 1469651289 / ISBN 13: 9781469651286

Published by The University of North Carolina Press, 2019

About this Item

Seller Inventory # I-9781469651286

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Left of Poetry: Depression America and the Formation of Modern Poetics
• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
• Publication Date: 2019
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1469651289
• ISBN 13: 9781469651286
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

In this incisive study, Sarah Ehlers returns to the Depression-era United States in order to unsettle longstanding ideas about poetry and emerging approaches to poetics. By bringing to light a range of archival materials and theories about poetry that emerged on the 1930s left, Ehlers reimagines the historical formation of modern poetics. Offering new and challenging readings of prominent figures such as Langston Hughes, Muriel Rukeyser, and Jacques Roumain, and uncovering the contributions of lesser-known writers such as Genevieve Taggard and Martha Millet, Ehlers illuminates an aesthetically and geographically diverse matrix of schools and movements. Resisting the dismissal of thirties left writing as mere propaganda, the book reveals how communist-affiliated poets experimented with poetic modes—such as lyric and documentary—and genres, including songs, ballads, and nursery rhymes, in ways that challenged existing frameworks for understanding the relationships among poetic form, political commitment, and historical transformation. As Ehlers shows, Depression left movements and their international connections are crucial for understanding both the history of modern poetry and the role of poetic thought in conceptualizing historical change.

About the Author

Sarah Ehlers is assistant professor of English at the University of Houston.