Collected Shorter Poems of Kenneth Rexroth

KENNETH REXROTH

ISBN 10: 0811201783 / ISBN 13: 9780811201780

Published by W W Norton & Co Inc June 1966, 1966

About this Item

Fifth printing, signed by author. Covers slightly yellowed with age, contents pristine except for previous owner name inscribed on inside front cover.

Seller Inventory # 184277

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Collected Shorter Poems of Kenneth Rexroth
• Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc June 1966
• Publication Date: 1966
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0811201783
• ISBN 13: 9780811201780
• Binding: Paper Back
• Condition: Very Good
• Signed: Signed By Author
• Seller catalogs:
  • Poetry

About this title

Synopsis

This volume brings together all of Kenneth Rexroth’s shorter poems from 1920 to the present, including a group of new poems written since the publication of Natural Numbers, drawn from seven earlier books.

This volume brings together all of Kenneth Rexroth’s shorter poems from 1920 to the present, including a group of new poems written since the publication of Natural Numbers, drawn from seven earlier books. Among the American poets of the generation that came to prominence in the Forties, Kenneth Rexroth has been notable both for the independence of his personal voice and for his accessibility to the tradition of international avant-garde literature. He began writing and publishing in magazines at fifteen. His earliest work was personal and concrete, much like that of the Imagists. In his twenties he wrote in the disassociative style––sometimes called "literary cubism "––developed by Mallarmé, Apollinaire, and Reverdy. This was not free association, but the conscious disassociation and recombination of the elements of the poem to achieve the highest possible level of significance. With his later books Rexroth moved back to a direct and classically simple form of personal statement. In this period he wrote the great nature poems, the love poems, and the contemplative lyrics that have established his reputation as one of the most important American poets.

About the Author

Poet-essayist Kenneth Rexroth (1905-1982) was a high-school dropout, disillusioned ex-Communist, pacifist, anarchist, rock-climber, critic and translator, mentor, Catholic-Buddhist spiritualist and a prominent figure of San Francisco's Beat scene. He is regarded as a central figure of the San Francisco Renaissance and is among the first American poets to explore traditional Japanese forms such as the haiku.