Customer Reviews

The New American Poetry, 1945-1960: With a new afterword

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I find this book a great introduction to this type of poetry. You can find a lot of different authors, topics, type of poetry, and each piece you read has something good. I recommend it to everyone that loves contemporany poetry or wants to start reading some.

I would like to quote from the recent book "A Secret Location on the Lower East Side" by Steven Clay and Rodney Phillips. The New York Public Library/Granary Books.

There was no more significant poetry anthology in the second half of the twentieth century than THE NEW AMERICAN POETRY, 1945-1960, edited by Donald M. Allen and published (orig) by Grove Press.

Donald Allen's New American Poetry served its purpose very well as a dignified, major anthology of poets whose reputations were then far from secured. It has two very serious flaws. It vastly under-represents women & poets of color. It also creates arbitrary "schools" of poetry that hardly existed then & exist not at all now. In the year 2000, the purpose of this book is perhaps not so clear. Except for Olson, these are all early poems from young poets, many of whom are quite dead now. This anthology is hardly a fair representation of, or introduction to, their art.

But there are two strengths at work here. The New American Poetry is a marvelous historical document of a particular time, an exciting moment in American literature. Also, there are many poets here who subsequently had wonderful careers without attaining the celebrity of Allen Ginsberg, John Ashbury or Robert Creeley. Some of the finest poets in this book have pitifully few of their own best books in print .. the delights of their smaller collections. So the reader may be encountering Helen Adam, Larry Eigner, Ron Lowensohn, Ray Bremser & Joel Oppenheimer for the first time. Or become reacquainted with Paul Blackburn & Denise Levertov.

Even when you keep in mind that the New American Poetry is neither an infallible literary bible of its time nor a substitute for broader anthologies like The Voice that is Great Within Us, the beautiful music it contains will still pack a wallop to your heart & mind.

Bob Rixon

Although the name does seem redundant, this book is a great anthology. It has Kerouc and Ginsberg's work when they were younger and not yet famous. They are some of the best poets in the last 50 years now. I recommend this book for a real poetry enthusiast or someone who needs to add to their poetry library, but if you just want a taste of poetry, find something else.