Book contents
- The Cambridge History of American Poetry
- The Cambridge History of American Poetry
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Notes on Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Beginnings: Poetry before 1800
- Part II A New Nation: Poetry from 1800 to 1900
- Part III Forms of Modernism, 1900–1950
- Part IV Beyond Modernism: American Poetry, 1950–2000
- Chapter 36 San Francisco and the Beats
- Chapter 37 The New York School
- Chapter 38 The Uses of Authenticity
- Chapter 39 James Merrill and His Circles
- Chapter 40 Science in Contemporary American Poetry
- Chapter 41 The 1970s and the “Poetry of the Center”
- Chapter 42 Latino Poetry and Poetics
- Chapter 43 Asian American Poetry
- Chapter 44 Psychoanalytic Poetics
- Chapter 45 American Poetry of the 1980s
- Chapter 46 Black and Blues Configurations
- Chapter 47 Amy Clampitt, Culture Poetry, and the Neobaroque
- Chapter 48 Modern and Contemporary Children’s Poetry
- Chapter 49 Multilingualism in Contemporary American Poetry
- Chapter 50 American Poetry at the End of the Millennium
- Selected Bibliographies
- Index
Chapter 38 - The Uses of Authenticity
Four Sixties Poets
from Part IV - Beyond Modernism: American Poetry, 1950–2000
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 December 2014
By
Book contents
- The Cambridge History of American Poetry
- The Cambridge History of American Poetry
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Notes on Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Beginnings: Poetry before 1800
- Part II A New Nation: Poetry from 1800 to 1900
- Part III Forms of Modernism, 1900–1950
- Part IV Beyond Modernism: American Poetry, 1950–2000
- Chapter 36 San Francisco and the Beats
- Chapter 37 The New York School
- Chapter 38 The Uses of Authenticity
- Chapter 39 James Merrill and His Circles
- Chapter 40 Science in Contemporary American Poetry
- Chapter 41 The 1970s and the “Poetry of the Center”
- Chapter 42 Latino Poetry and Poetics
- Chapter 43 Asian American Poetry
- Chapter 44 Psychoanalytic Poetics
- Chapter 45 American Poetry of the 1980s
- Chapter 46 Black and Blues Configurations
- Chapter 47 Amy Clampitt, Culture Poetry, and the Neobaroque
- Chapter 48 Modern and Contemporary Children’s Poetry
- Chapter 49 Multilingualism in Contemporary American Poetry
- Chapter 50 American Poetry at the End of the Millennium
- Selected Bibliographies
- Index
Summary
Adrienne Rich, James Wright, Robert Duncan and Denise Levertov all did some of their best and most influential work in the 1960s and in response to the changes that vexed decade brought. These four poets offer a range of versions of authenticity and at the same time show the variety of possibilities open to poets about the uses of authenticity. In the 1950s Rich wrote two books of well-received poetry. Her first book, A Change of World, published while she was still an undergraduate at Radcliffe, was chosen by W. H. Auden for the Yale Younger Poets Award. Like Wright, Olson thrived on assertions of the imagination's freedom from every critical absolute, including the insistence on total liberation from the past. In 1950 Duncan published Medieval Scenes. Duncan and Levertov's letters record a long series of acts of mutual encouragement: two poets on opposite coasts, almost never meeting, engaged in an intense, affectionate, wide-ranging conversation.
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- The Cambridge History of American Poetry , pp. 869 - 893Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2014
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