The Fate of American Poetry - Hardcover
Are we witnessing the death of American poetry? Many critics have charged as much, pointing to a poetry that is increasingly marginal, specialized, and cloistered. Challenging such doomsayers, Jonathan Holden offers a hopeful appraisal of the current state of American poetry. Examining the reasons behind the loss of readership and diminished status of poetry in America, Holden blames the advent of modernism and the institutionalization of the modernist tradition in university English departments. Although in many ways the American university's overwhelming support of poetry has left the art more vigorous than ever, it has also encouraged a mass production of mediocre verse.
Holden contends that the best postwar American poets have shed the elitist vestiges of modernism and have enlarged both the capabilities of poetry and its appeal to a general audience by incorporating subject matter formerly confined to other genres. In discussing contemporary poems Holden illustrates how American poetry, by including a more diverse subject matter, can assert some just claim to a wider audience―a literate audience of nonspecialists.
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About the Author:
JONATHAN HOLDEN is Distinguished University Professor of English and Poet-in-Residence at Kansas State University. In 2005 he was appointed as the first Poet Laureate of Kansas. Holden's many books include the memoir Mama's Boys: A Double Life, the poetry collection Knowing: New and Selected Poems, and the critical study The Old Formalism: Character in Contemporary American Poetry.
From Library Journal:
When "schools" of poets wage war, as they always do, inter se , critics can be counted on to join the fray. However, when the critic is also a fine poet, the critical analysis takes on a special significance. Readers of Holden's splendid new book will be rewarded by his summary of the latest battle: neo-formalists versus post-(post?)-modernists versus creative writing programs versus whatever. The decline of modernism is also examined. Holden rightly chastises those who decry the institutionalization of poetry; details the current state of lyric, narrative, and political poetry; and gives sensitive, intelligent readings of works by new and established poets. An important book by a solid poet and critic. Highly recommended.
- Vincent D. Balitas, Allentown Coll., Center Valley, Pa.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
- Vincent D. Balitas, Allentown Coll., Center Valley, Pa.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherUniv of Georgia Pr
- Publication date1991
- ISBN 10 0820313645
- ISBN 13 9780820313641
- BindingHardcover
- Edition number1
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THE FATE OF AMERICAN POETRY
Published by
University of Georgia Press
(1991)
ISBN 10: 0820313645
ISBN 13: 9780820313641
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Hardcover
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Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine. First Edition. 8vo 8" - 9" tall; 176 pages. Seller Inventory # 60059
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THE FATE OF AMERICAN POETRY
Published by
The University of Georgia Press, Athens, GA
(1991)
ISBN 10: 0820313645
ISBN 13: 9780820313641
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Hardcover
First Edition
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Quantity: 1
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Book Description Condition: Fine in fine jacket. First edition. Handsome first printing of this investigation of US poetry's imminent doom, an association copy inscribed by the author to poet Stanley Plumly (to whom Holden devotes several pages), and with Plumly's own critical annotations ("nonsense") throughout. 8.5'' x 5.5''. Original violet cloth. In original grey dust jacket. Grey endpapers. 152 pages. Inscribed by Holden on half-title page: "For Deborah and Stanley, with utmost admiration and affection, / Jonathan Holden / 9 July 1992 / Montpelier, Vermont." Additionally signed by Holden on title page. Annotations in pen by Plumly throughout. Minor edgewear. Seller Inventory # 47089
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