Synopses & Reviews
Steven Gould Axelrod, Camille Roman, and Thomas Travisano continue the standard of excellence set in Volumes I and II of this extraordinary anthology. Volume III provides the most compelling and wide-ranging selection available of American poetry from 1950 to the present. Its contents are just as diverse and multifaceted as America itself and invite readers to explore the world of poetry in the larger historical context of American culture.
Nearly three hundred poems allow readers to explore canonical works by such poets as Elizabeth Bishop, Robert Lowell, and Sylvia Plath, as well as song lyrics from such popular musicians as Bob Dylan and Queen Latifah. Because contemporary American culture transcends the borders of the continental United States, the anthology also includes numerous transnational poets, from Julia de Burgos to Derek Walcott. Whether they are the works of oblique avant-gardists like John Ashbery or direct, populist poets like Allen Ginsberg, all of the selections are accompanied by extensive introductions and footnotes, making the great poetry of the period fully accessible to readers for the first time.
Review
"it belongs on the shelf of every library and of every individual who understand that the voices of the poets set the moral tone of the US."
Synopsis
2003 Choice Outstanding Academic Title
Volume I begins with a generous selection of Native American materials, then spans the years from the establishment of the American colonies to about 1900, a world on the brink of World War I and the modern era. Part One focuses on poetry from the very beginnings through the end of the eighteenth century. The expansion and development of a newly forged nation engendered new kinds of poetry. Part Two includes works from the early nineteenth century through the time of the Civil War. The poems in Part Three reflect the many issues affecting a nation undergoing tumultuous change: the Civil War, immigration, urbanization, industrialization, and cultural diversification.
Such well-recognized names as Anne Bradstreet, Edward Taylor, Phillis Wheatley, Edgar Allan Poe, Herman Melville, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, and Stephen Crane appear in this anthology alongside such less frequently anthologized poets as George Horton, Sarah Helen Whitman, Elizabeth Oakes-Smith, Frances Harper, Rose Terry Cooke, Helen Hunt Jackson, Adah Menken, Sarah Piatt, Ina Coolbrith, Emma Lazarus, Albery Whitman, Owl Woman (Juana Manwell) Sadakichi Hartmann, Ernest Fenollosa, James Weldon Johnson, Paul Laurence Dunbar, and--virtually unknown as a poet--Abraham Lincoln. It also includes poems and songs reflecting the experiences of a variety of racial and ethnic groups.
Synopsis
Now available for the first time as a three-volume set, The New Anthology of American Poetry offers the most compelling and wide-ranging selection of poems from the nation’s beginnings to the present day. Extensive introductions, notes, and footnotes make the great poems of each period fully accessible.
Synopsis
Volume I begins with a generous selection of Native American materials, then spans the years from the establishment of the American colonies to about 1900, a world on the brink of World War I and the modern era. Part One focuses on poetry from the very beginnings through the end of the eighteenth century. The expansion and development of a newly forged nation engendered new kinds of poetry. Part Two includes works from the early nineteenth century through the time of the Civil War. The poems in Part Three reflect the many issues affecting a nation undergoing tumultuous change: the Civil War, immigration, urbanization, industrialization, and cultural diversification.
Synopsis
Volume I begins with a generous selection of Native American materials, then spans the years from the establishment of the American colonies to about 1900, a world on the brink of World War I and the modern era. Part One focuses on poetry from the very beginnings through the end of the eighteenth century. The expansion and development of a newly forged nation engendered new kinds of poetry. Part Two includes works from the early nineteenth century through the time of the Civil War. The poems in Part Three reflect the many issues affecting a nation undergoing tumultuous change: the Civil War, immigration, urbanization, industrialization, and cultural diversification.
Such well-recognized names as Anne Bradstreet, Edward Taylor, Phillis Wheatley, Edgar Allan Poe, Herman Melville, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, and Stephen Crane appear in this anthology alongside such less frequently anthologized poets as George Horton, Sarah Helen Whitman, Elizabeth Oakes-Smith, Frances Harper, Rose Terry Cooke, Helen Hunt Jackson, Adah Menken, Sarah Piatt, Ina Coolbrith, Emma Lazarus, Albery Whitman, Owl Woman (Juana Manwell) Sadakichi Hartmann, Ernest Fenollosa, James Weldon Johnson, Paul Laurence Dunbar, and—virtually unknown as a poet—Abraham Lincoln. It also includes poems and songs reflecting the experiences of a variety of racial and ethnic groups.
Synopsis
Now available for the first time as a three-volume set, The New Anthology of American Poetry offers the most compelling and wide-ranging selection of poems from the nation’s beginnings to the present day. Extensive introductions, notes, and footnotes make the great poems of each period fully accessible.
Each volume invites readers into a diverse world of poetry and culture. Some of the poems are deeply personal, some explore the mystery of otherness, and some concentrate on the enigmas and beauty of poetry itself. The words are rich, contradictory, and challenging. The poets grapple with life and language, striving to say something about themselves and the world we share. Their works reflect the nation’s dizzying cultural changes and provide timeless insights.
About the Author
STEVEN GOULD AXELROD is a Distinguished Professor of English at the University of California, Riverside. He is the author of Robert Lowell: Life and Art and Sylvia Plath: The Wound and the Cure of Words and coeditor of Robert Lowell: New Essays on the Poetry.
CAMILLE ROMAN is a visiting scholar at Brown University and Emeritus Professor at Washington State University, Pullman. She is the author of Elizabeth Bishop’s World War II-Cold War View and coeditor of The Women & Language Debate: A Sourcebook and a music book series.
THOMAS TRAVISANO is a Professor of English at Hartwick College. He is the author of Elizabeth Bishop: Her Artistic Development and Midcentury Quartet: Bishop, Lowell, Jarrell, Berryman and the Making of a Postmodern Aesthetic. He is the principal editor of Words in Air: The Complete Correspondence of Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell.
Table of Contents
*DOES NOT INCLUDE POEM TITLES*
Preface
Acknowledgements
PART ONE: PRE-COLUMBIAN PERIOD TO 1800
Introduction
NATIVE-AMERICAN SONGS, RITUAL POETRY, AND LYRIC POETRY (Pre 1492-1800)
GASPAR PÉREZ DE VILLAGRÁ (1555-1620)
ANNE BRADSTREET (ca. 1612-1672)
MICHAEL WIGGLESWORTH (1631-1705)
EDWARD TAYLOR (ca. 1631-1705)
LUCY TERRY (ca. 1730-1821)
PHILIP FRENEAU (1752-1832)
PHILLIS WHEATLEY (ca. 1753-1784)
JOEL BARLOW (1754-1812)
SONGS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION AND NEW NATION
PART TWO: EARLY TO MID-NINETEENTH CENTURY
Introduction
AFRICAN AMERICAN SLAVE SONGS (1800-1863)
NATIVE-AMERICAN SONGS, RITUAL POETRY, AND LYRIC POETRY (1800-1900)
LYDIA HOWARD HUNTLEY SIGOURNEY (1791-1865)
WILLIAN CULLEN BRYANT (1794-1878)
GEORGE MOSES HORTON (ca. 1797-1883)
JANE JOHNSTON SCHOOLCRAFT [BAME-WA-WA-GE-ZHIK-A-QUAY, WOMAN OF THE STARS RUSHING THROUGH THE SKY] (1800-1841)
SARAH HELEN WHITMAN (1803-1878)
RALPH WALDO EMERSON (1803-1882)
ELIZABETH OAKES SMITH (1806-1893)
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW (1807-1882)
JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER (1807-1892)
EDGAR ALLEN P0E (1809-1849)
OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES (1809-1894)
ABRAHAM LINCOLN (1809-1865)
MARGARET FULLER (1810-1850)
FRANCES SARGENT LOCKE OSGOOD (1811-1850)
ADA [SARAH LOUISA FORTEN] (ca. 1814-1898)
HENRY DAVID THROEAU (1817-1862)
JULIA WARD HOWE (1819-1910)
HERMAN MELVILLE (1819-1891)
JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL (1819-1891)
WALT WHITMAN (1819-1892)
ALICE CARY (1820-1871)
FREDERICK GODDARD TUCKERMAN (1821-1873)
PHOEBE CARY (1824-1871)
FRANCES ELLEN WATKINS HARPER (1825-1911)
MARIA WHITE LOWELL (1827-1853)
ROSE TERRY COOKE (1827-1892)
JOHN ROLLIN RIDGE (1827-1867)
HENRY TIMROD (1828-1867)
HAWAI'IAN PLANTATION WORK SONGS (1825-1930)
JINSHAN GE/SONGS OF GOLD MOUNTAIN (1838-1920)
POPULAR EUROPEAN-AMERICAN SONGS
PART THREE: LATER NINETEENTH CENTURY
Introduction
CORRIDOS (1860s-1930s)
ZARAGOZA CLUBS (1860s)
DEWITT CLINTON DUNCAN [TOO-QUA-STEE] (1829-1909)
HELEN HUNT JACKSON (1830-1885)
EMILY DICKINSON (1830-1886)
ADAH ISSACS MENKEN (ca. 1835-1868)
sARAH M. B. PIATT (1836-1919)
LYDIA KAMAKAEHA [QUEEN LILI'UOKALANI] (1838-1917)
INA COOLBRITH (1841-1928)
SIDNEY LANIER (1842-1881)
EMMA LAZARUS (1849-1887)
SARAH ORNE JEWETT (1849-1909)
ALBERY ALLSON WHITMAN (1851-1901)
EDWIN MARKHAM (1852-1940)
JOSÉ MARTÍ (1853-1895)
ERNEST FRANCISCO FENOLLOSA (1853-1908)
LOUISE IMOGEN GUINEY (1861-1920)
MARY MCNEIL FENOLLOSA (1865-1954)
OWL WOMAN [JUANA MANWELL] (1867-1957)
SADAKICHI HARTMANN (1867-1944)
EDGAR LEE MASTERS (1868-1950)
W.E.B. DU BOIS (1868-1963)
WILLIAM VAUGHN MOODY (1869-1910)
EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON (1869-1935)
STEPHEN CRANE (1871-1900)
JAMES WELDON JOHNSON (1871-1938)
PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR (1872-1906)
About the Editors
Index