Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl” is the greatest poem of the 2nd half of the 20th century, at least! Is there a new Howl?
Bob Holman's introduction to Joe Gould: “It was Joe Gould’s Oral History of the World, the longest book never written, that brought him fame, and was his secret, and makes him a hero in the US Oral History/Performance Poetry world. It’s time that his poems see print.”
Plantenga’s memories of growing up in Allen Ginsberg’s “Nowhere zen New Jersey” and later meeting Ginz the Bard himself -- a unique view from a writer with a unique and deeply, lovingly jaundiced eye. This is a small glance at a great poet, a short sharp glance that drills deep and reveals a great deal.
William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939) was both poet and playwright, a towering figure in 20th century literature in English, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923, a master of traditional verse forms and at the same time an idol of the modernist poets who followed him.
Pablo Neruda (1904 - 1973) was a Nobel laureate, diplomat, exile and returned native son of Chile, the most respected and beloved Latin American poet, often called “the people’s poet.”
García Lorca was Spain’s most important poet & dramatist of the 20th century, whose work is still beloved for its passion, pride, love & death -- in his word,
duende. He was murdered by Nationalist soldiers at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War in 1936.
Memories of Allen Ginsberg... his bodhisattvahood, his poems read by the poets who knew & loved him, his magical reading at the NYU Poetry Slam...
A reference page on Allen Ginsberg, prophetic American bard for the end of the 20th century, father/mother of the Beats, instigator of spoken word, brilliant, incisive critic, and activist for peace, gay rights and marijuana.
A reference page on Robert Frost, celebrated American poet whose work is rooted in New England farm life, combining a modernist sensibility and sense of language in traditional verse forms.
Patricia Smith and Quraysh Ali Lansana remember Gwendolyn Brooks in two poems and an overheard conversation.
A reference page on Sylvia Plath, brilliant young confessional poet who committed suicide at the age of 30 amid the upheaval of her failed marriage to Ted Hughes, and became a poetic & feminist icon after her death.
A reference page on Robinson Jeffers (1887 - 1962), polymath anti-modernist philosopher-poet of the natural world & builder of Tor House.
A reference page on Richard Eberhart (1904 - 2005), prize-winning poet, laureate, teacher and mentor to generations of poets.
After hearing the news of Richart Eberhart's death at age 101 in 2005, David Graham contributed a brief memoir for the NewPoetry list & very kindly gave permission for us to publish it, together with two of his own poems, one of them written for Eberhart during his lifetime.
A reference page on Robert Creeley (1926 - 2005), poet of short lines, hard nouns & pure emotion, influential teacher, editor & publisher.
A reference page on Philip Lamantia (1927 - 2005), visionary, ecstatic Surrealist poet from San Francisco who was an important influence on the Beats
When your guides were limited to choosing the top 10 American epic poems of the 20th century, these got lopped off the list. But there are more, always more! Happy epic reading!
