Short Form American Poetry - by Will Montgomery (Hardcover)

About the Book

Reading a century of American poetry through the prism of short form, this book analyses the centrality of an aesthetic of brevity to American modernist verse.

Book Synopsis

A ground-breaking analysis of the short form lineage in twentieth-century American poetry
- Proposes a new genealogy of 20th century and contemporary American verse
- Contains in-depth discussion of key American poets and movements
- Will appeal to graduates and scholars in both the modernist and contemporary fields
Reading a century of American poetry through the prism of short form, this book analyses the centrality of an aesthetic of brevity to American modernist verse. It begins with Imagism and devotes chapters to William Carlos Williams, George Oppen, Lorine Niedecker, Robert Creeley, Larry Eigner, Robert Grenier and Rae Armantrout. Montgomery combines his larger argument, which takes issue with epic-driven narratives of Modernist poetry, with sensitive and original readings of numerous short and short-lined poems. Suggesting a reappraisal of key movements as objectivism, Black Mountain poetry and Language Writing, he opens new lines of discussion around the major poets of the period

From the Back Cover

A ground-breaking analysis of the short form lineage in twentieth-century American poetry Reading a century of American poetry through the prism of short form, this book analyses the centrality of an aesthetic of brevity to American modernist verse. It begins with Imagism and devotes chapters to William Carlos Williams, George Oppen, Lorine Niedecker, Robert Creeley, Larry Eigner, Robert Grenier and Rae Armantrout. Montgomery combines his larger argument, which takes issue with epic-driven narratives of Modernist poetry, with sensitive and original readings of numerous short and short-lined poems. Suggesting a reappraisal of key movements as objectivism, Black Mountain poetry and Language Writing, he opens new lines of discussion around the major poets of the period. Will Montgomery is Reader in Contemporary Poetry and Poetics at Royal Holloway, University of London.

Review Quotes

Montgomery explores short-form American poetry that falls outside the usual categories of lyric on the one hand and of distinctive movements such as imagism and objectivism on the other hand. [...] Standout chapters include a superb reconsideration of H. D. that argues she far exceeds Ezra Pound in the art of the small. [...] The concluding chapter on Rae Armantrout offers one of the best contextualized readings of this poet's "always contingent" craft this reviewer has encountered. Summing Up: Recommended--J. N. Barron, The University of Southern Mississippi "CHOICE"

Will Montgomery shows us the plenitude in brevity. In this excellent genealogy of the modernist short poem he balances inventiveness of interpretation with precise analysis of the dynamics of form and semantic inference. He brilliantly guides the reader through the micro-processes of interruption, swerve and negation that inform the short poem.-- "Peter Middleton, University of Southampton"

About the Author

Will Montgomery is Reader in Contemporary Poetry and Poetics at Royal Holloway, University of London.