Review by Choice Review
In her introduction Dove asks the reader to "cut [her] some slack" for omitting certain major poems and even major poets--e.g., Allen Ginsberg, Sylvia Plath--poets whom she herself considers important enough to warrant mention as signal figures in the 20th century's chief poetic shifts in orientation. Dove ascribes the omissions to the outrageous cost of copyright payments for these particular works and figures. But there are questionable restrictions in this volume's coverage that rest solely in Dove's editorial judgment. Investing the calendar boundaries of the century with an inordinate critical significance, she excludes anything published before 1900 or later than 2000, thus excluding major poems by poets otherwise included in the volume. She ascribes a particular weight to the turn of the millennium with the suspect critical reasoning that "it's a unique marker" and that "humans assign significance to grand finales." Also suspect is her gloss, in the introduction, of the century's poetic trends. She confuses modernism's infatuation with aesthetic power, for instance, with postmodernism's absorption in epistemological entropy. In addition, she applies an anachronistic conception to the dramatic monologues of the early 20th century by referring to them as poetry of "witness." Nonetheless, the selections are reasonably representative. Summing Up: Recommended. With reservations. Large collections. R. J. Cirasa Kean University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
Selecting poets and poems to represent a century of poetry, especially the riotous twentieth century in America, is a massive undertaking fraught with peril and complication. Poet Rita Dove a Pulitzer Prize-winning former U.S. poet laureate, professor, and presidential scholar embarked on what became a consuming four-year odyssey. She reports on obstacles and discoveries in an exacting and forthright introduction, featuring striking quotes, vivid profiles, and a panoramic view of the evolution of poetic visions and styles that helped bring about social as well as artistic change. Dove credits Robert Frost, Wallace Stevens, William Carlos Williams, and Ezra Pound with building the framework for modern poetry in the U.S., then applauds the first women poets who breached the ramparts of male power Amy Lowell, H. D., and Gertrude Stein. Dove writes incisively about African American poets and other poets of color and has included poems by Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks, Yusef Komunyakaa, Sherman Alexie, Sandra Cisneros, Kevin Young, and Elizabeth Alexander. Dove's incisive perception of the role of poetry in cultural and social awakenings infuses this zestful and rigorous gathering of poems both necessary and unexpected by 180 American poets. This landmark anthology will instantly enhance and invigorate every poetry shelf or section.--Seaman, Donna Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Former U.S. Poet Laureate Dove takes a fresh look at the cannon of 20th-century American poetry in this hefty anthology. Dove by no means seeks to include an example of every kind of poem written during the century; rather, as she poetically says in her introduction, she picked "the poems I see emblazoned on pennants along the road we have just traversed." Later she writes, "This is the proper moment to look back-after the first decade of the twenty-first century has given us the illusion of distances, after we have reconciled ourselves to owning this scary new millennium...The past is never more truly the past than now." Of course readers will find classroom staples-Eliot's "Prufrock" and "The Waste Land"; Williams's "The Red Wheelbarrow"; Hughes's "The Negro Speaks of Rivers""-but also less of some poets (James Dickey gets only one poem, for instance) and longer poems (by poets such as John Ashbery and Frank Bidart) than one might expect in such a book. Dove shifts the emphasis slightly, suggesting, perhaps, that a highly esoteric poet like Nathaniel Mackey is as worthy of our attention as, say Carolyn Forche. This book is sure to become an important resource for those interested in poetry, and especially students, for decades to come. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Dove presents a hefty anthology of important poems written by American poets of the last century. To well-known poems by Robert Frost, Wallace Stevens, Langston Hughes, and others, Dove has added lesser-known poems by African American and women poets. Melvin B. Tolson's evocative meditation on racial inequality, "Dark Symphony," is here, as is "The Idea of Ancestry," a moving poem, also with racial themes, by Etheridge Knight. VERDICT Overall, Dove's introduction is informative and insightful, offering an engaging discussion of trends in modern American poetry. However, as former U.S. poet laureate and former consultant in poetry for the Library of Congress, Dove knows her subject, which makes it all the more egregious that she has excluded works by some major American 20th-century poets. Among the excluded poets are Allen Ginsberg, Sylvia Plath, and the perhaps lesser-known Pulitzer Prize winner Karl Shapiro, also a U.S. poet laureate. Dove suggests some of the gaps occurred because the publishers' fees were beyond her budget, but that's a pity, because these are serious omissions.-Diane Scharper, Towson Univ., MD (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
