A Concise Companion to Twentieth–Century American Poetry: Concise Companions to Literature and Culture

Written by prominent specialists in the field, the volumehelps readers to appreciate the poetry by situating it within overlapping historical and cultural contexts, including: war; feminism and the female poet; "queer cities"; the influence of the New York art world; African-American poetry and blues; poetries of immigration and migration; communism and anti-communism; and philosophy and theory. Each chapter ranges across the entire century, comparing poets from one part of the century to those of another; and each one balances documentary coverage of context with sharp commentary upon specific poems.

The Companion forms an ideal introduction to twentieth-century American poetry for students, while its new syntheses will command the attention of scholars.