Contemporary Poetry

The Edinburgh Critical Guide to Contemporary Poetry provides an incisive discussion of recent Anglophone poetry from US, UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and the Caribbean. Its range of material, from discussions of individual poems and essays to web-based experimentation, illustrates the vitality of a selection of recent poetries. The book offers readings of a variety of poets alerting students to the specificity of key movements. This approach introduces more mainstream poetry into a dialogue with the challenges of recent experimentation. Close readings of poems, with reference to original manifestos, introduce ideas that inform the practice of poetry. A key consideration throughout the book is how contemporary poetry relates to the public sphere. The Introduction offers an understanding of how recent poetry establishes a dialogue with earlier poetry and alternative poetic traditions. Five chapters follow: (1) Lyric Subjects (2) Politics and Poetics (3) Performance and the Poem (4) Environment and Space (5) Dialects and Idiolects. The conclusion considers the future of 21st Century poetry and a global poetics. Importantly the book considers the role of information culture in shaping poetic discourse and the dissemination of material on a global scale.Key Features:*Introduces students to key terms and ideas of poetic form*The broad range of material examines widely known poets alongside less familiar poetry*Moves a discussion of recent poetry beyond national boundaries and considers how Anglophone poetries can be read in the 21st Century*Provides guidance for students, including sources for manifestos, poets' essays, web resources and bibliographies