New Anthology of American Poetry, Volume Two Modernisms : 1900-1950

Bringing together fifty years of exciting modernisms, The New Anthology of American Poetry includes over 600 poems by sixty-five American poets writing in the period between 1900 and 1950. The most recognized poets of the era, such as William Carlos Williams, Ezra Pound, Wallace Stevens, T. S. Eliot, H. D., Gertrude Stein, Robert Frost, Marianne Moore, Hart Crane, and Langston Hughes are represented, along with many other Harlem Renaissance poets, women poets, immigrant and working-class poets, imagists, and objectivists. It is also the first modernist anthology to include poems and songs from popular culture.

The issues addressed in the selections are as varied as the styles and groups. Some poems emphasize formal matters, while others highlight psychological or linguistic concerns. Yet others focus on social issues, such as race, gender, sexuality, nationality, and economic disparity.

Complementing the rich diversity of poetry, poets, and styles, the editors provide helpful introductions, bibliographies, biographies, up-to-date footnotes and endnotes, and critical selections on the art of writing. This anthology not only provides a unique window into the breadth and diversity of modern poetry, it also offers a fresh and informative vehicle for teaching this rich, confusing, and stimulating period.

The New Anthology of American Poetry

• Demonstrates how a succession of canons of American poetry has evolved.
• Gives more attention to women poets and to artists from African American, Asian American, Latino, and Native American cultures than in any previous anthology.
• Offers concise introductions to periods and styles, highly informative endnotes to poems, brief bibliographies of key primary and secondary texts, and critical selections on the art of poetry by the poets themselves.