A Companion to Twentieth-Century Poetry

Copyright © 2001, 2003 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd

A Companion to Twentieth-Century Poetry

Editor(s): Neil Roberts

Published Online: 13 DEC 2007

Print ISBN: 9780631215295

Online ISBN: 9780470998670

DOI: 10.1002/9780470998670

About this Book

Product Information

About The Product

Brings together 48 fresh and original contributions from practicing poets and leading scholars, who together offer critical and contextual coverage of the full range of English-language poetry in the last century.


  • Brings together original contributions by leading international scholars and practising poets.
  • Offers critical and contextual coverage of the full range of English-language poetry in the twentieth-century.
  • Incorporates new readings of key selected texts.
  • Embraces the extraordinary development of poetry over the century in twenty English-speaking countries.
  • Fully integrates women poets, feminist approaches and post-colonial poets.

Table of contents

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      Frontmatter (pages i–xvii)

    1. Introduction (pages 1–4)

      Neil Roberts

  3. Part I: Topics and Debates

    1. Chapter 1

      Modernism and the Transatlantic Connection (pages 5–20)

      Hugh Witemeyer

    2. Chapter 2

      Modernist Poetry and its Precursors (pages 21–36)

      Peter Brooker and Simon Perril

    3. Chapter 3

      The Non-modernist Modern (pages 37–50)

      David Goldie

    4. Chapter 4

      Poetry and Politics (pages 51–63)

      Reed Way Dasenbrock

    5. Chapter 5

      Poetry and War (pages 64–75)

      Matthew Campbell

    6. Chapter 6

      Poetry and Science (pages 76–88)

      Tim Armstrong

    7. Chapter 7

      Poetry and Literary Theory (pages 89–100)

      Joanne Feit Diehl

    8. Chapter 8

      Poetry and Gender (pages 101–112)

      Edward Larrissy

    9. Chapter 9

      Interrupted Monologue: Alternative Poets of the Mid-century (pages 113–124)

      Philip Hobsbaum

  4. Part II: Poetic Movements

    1. Chapter 10

      Imagism (pages 125–137)

      Jacob Korg

    2. Chapter 11

      The New Negro Renaissance (pages 138–152)

      William W. Cook

    3. Chapter 12

      Poetry and the New Criticism (pages 153–167)

      Stephen Burt and Jennifer Lewin

    4. Chapter 13

      Black Mountain and Projective Verse (pages 168–182)

      John Osborne

    5. Chapter 14

      The Beats (pages 183–196)

      John Osborne

    6. Chapter 15

      Confessionalism (pages 197–208)

      Lucy Collins

    7. Chapter 16

      The Movement (pages 209–219)

      Stephen Regan

    8. Chapter 17

      Language Poetry (pages 220–231)

      Simon Perril

  5. Part III: International and Postcolonial Poetry in English

    1. Chapter 18

      West Indian Poetry (pages 233–248)

      Victor Chang

    2. Chapter 19

      African Poetry (pages 249–263)

      Kwadwo Osei-Nyame

    3. Chapter 20

      Poetry of the Indian Subcontinent (pages 264–280)

      Vinay Dharwadker

    4. Chapter 21

      Australian Poetry (pages 281–292)

      Livio Dobrez

    5. Chapter 22

      New Zealand Poetry (pages 293–303)

      Terry Sturm

    6. Chapter 23

      Canadian Poetry (pages 304–317)

      Cynthia Messenger

    7. Chapter 24

      Scottish Poetry (pages 318–328)

      Jeffrey Skoblow

    8. Chapter 25

      Welsh Poetry (pages 329–342)

      Douglas Houston

    9. Chapter 26

      Irish Poetry to 1966 (pages 343–356)

      Alex Davis

  6. Part IV: Readings

    1. Chapter 27

      Thomas Hardy: Poems of 1912–13 (pages 357–368)

      Tim Armstrong

    2. Chapter 28

      Robert Frost: North of Boston (pages 369–380)

      Alex Calder

    3. Chapter 29

      T. S. Eliot: The Waste Land (pages 381–391)

      John Haffenden

    4. Chapter 30

      D. H. Lawrence: Birds, Beasts and Flowers (pages 392–402)

      David Ellis

    5. Chapter 31

      William Carlos Williams: Spring and All (pages 403–413)

      Lisa M. Steinman

    6. Chapter 32

      Wallace Stevens: Harmonium (pages 414–426)

      Philip Hobsbaum

    7. Chapter 33

      Marianne Moore: Observations (pages 427–436)

      Elizabeth Wilson

    8. Chapter 34

      W. B. Yeats: The Tower (pages 437–447)

      Terence Brown

    9. Chapter 35

      W. H. Auden: Poems (pages 448–456)

      Peter McDonald

    10. Chapter 36

      Elizabeth Bishop: North & South (pages 457–468)

      Jonathan Ellis

    11. Chapter 37

      Ezra Pound: The Pisan Cantos (pages 469–480)

      A. David Moody

    12. Chapter 38

      Robert Lowell: Life Studies (pages 481–490)

      Stephen Matterson

    13. Chapter 39

      Louis MacNeice: The Burning Perch (pages 491–499)

      Peter McDonald

    14. Chapter 40

      Sylvia Plath: Ariel (pages 500–512)

      Sue Vice

    15. Chapter 41

      Ted Hughes: Crow (pages 513–523)

      Rand Brandes

    16. Chapter 42

      Seamus Heaney: North (pages 524–535)

      Bernard O'Donoghue

    17. Chapter 43

      John Ashbery's: Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror (pages 536–546)

      David Herd

    18. Chapter 44

      Derek Walcott: Omeros (pages 547–556)

      Bruce Woodcock

  7. Part V: The Contemporary Scene

    1. Chapter 45

      Contemporary American Poetry (pages 557–570)

      Roger Gilbert

    2. Chapter 46

      Contemporary British Poetry (pages 571–584)

      Sean O'Brien

    3. Chapter 47

      Contemporary Irish Poetry (pages 585–595)

      Lucy Collins

    4. Chapter 48

      Contemporary Postcolonial Poetry (pages 596–609)

      Jahan Ramazani

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      Index (pages 610–626)

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