Further Reading
Mitchell, Mitch.Visual Effects for Film and Television.
Woburn, Mass.: Focal Press, 2004.
Whitaker, Jerry C.Standard Handbook of Video and
Television Engineering. New York: McGraw-Hill,
2003.
Alvin K. Benson
See also Computers; DVDs; Inventions; Science
and technology; Television.
Poetry
Definition A form of concentrated expression
through meaning, sound, and rhythm
While poetr y of the 1990’s was certainly engaged with the
theme of the fin de siècle—the end of the twentieth centur y as
well as the beginning of the new millennium with its prom-
ises of yet more endings and uncertainties—there were also
bold, frequently controversial new approaches to the art
during the decade.
Diversity characterizes American poetry of the
1990’s as a whole. Anthologists of 1990’s literature
disagreed vigorously on what poetry was “best.” Po-
etic experiments based on information-age technol-
ogy along with the rich assortment of political, eth-
nic, social, and aesthetic principles presented a
challenge to any editor of poetry.
U.S. Poets The culmination of transcendental
poet A. R. Ammons’s career received a great deal of
recognition in the 1990’s, including the National
Book Award. Ammons’s main achievement for the
decade wasGarbage(1993), a defense of meaning
and connection. Louise Glück’s Pulitzer Prize-
winning volumeThe Wild Iris(1992) combines con-
fession, metaphysics, and the mundane. Yusef
Komunyakaa’s jazz-inspired Pulitzer Prize winner
Neon Vernacular(1993) is grounded in his Vietnam
War experience.The Best American Poetr y 1996editor
Adrienne Rich made politically oriented choices
for the volume, including Alberto Álvaro Ríos’s
“Domingo Limón,” a mix of realism and surrealism.
Literary critic Harold Bloom’s anthology,The Best of
the Best American Poetr y, 1988-1997, features seventy-
five important poems, including W. S. Merwin’s
“The Stranger.” In 1998, Merwin wroteFolding Cliffs:
A Narrative, an epic in verse about Hawaii. HisLa-
ment for the Makers(1996) eulogizes poets who have
influenced his poetry.
Pulitzer Prize winners of the decade were Charles
Simic,The World Doesn’t End(1989), Mona Van Duyn,
Near Changes (1990), James Tate, Selected Poems
(1991), Louise Glück, The Wild Iris, Yusef Ko-
munyakaa, Neon Vernacular, Philip Levine,The Simple
Truth(1994), Jorie Graham,The Dream of the Unified
Field(1995), Lisel Mueller,Alive Together: New and Se-
lected Poems(1996), Charles Wright, Black Zodiac
(1997), and Mark Strand,Blizzard of One(1998).
Poets laureate to the Library of Congress in-
cluded Mark Strand, 1990-1991; Joseph Brodsky,
1991-1992; Mona Van Duyn, 1992-1993; Rita Dove,
1993-1995; Robert Hass, 1995-1997; and Robert
Pinsky, 1997-2000. From 1999-2000, the special bi-
centennial consultants were Rita Dove, Louise
Glück, and W. S. Merwin.
Canadian Poets Margaret Atwood’s 1996Morning
in the Burned Housetakes an elegiac approach to femi-
nism. Métis writer Joanne Arnott’sWiles of Girlhood
(1991), based on her experience as a mixed-race per-
son, won the Gerald Lampert Award. Gary Barwin,
who also writes for children, offeredCruelty to Fabu-
lous Animals(1995) andOutside the Hat(1998). Retro-
spectives of note included metaphysical poet Marga-
ret Avison’sSelected Poems(1991) and Ted Plantos’s
Daybreak’s Long Waking: Poems Selected and New(1997).
Among French Canadian poets, Gilles Vigneault
enjoyed commercial success in 1992 with the elegant
Bois de marée. Madeleine Gagnon won the Governor
General’s Award for Poetry in 1990 withChant pour
un Québec lointain.Her volumeLa Terre est remplie de
langage(1993) dealt with meaning, while Louise
Dupré treated the themes of time and death inNoir
déjà(1993). Robert Melançon brought beauty to
ordinary objects in L’Avant-printemps à Montréal
(1994).In 1998, performance poets like Stéphane
Despatie found a venue in Les Intouchables, a new
publishing firm.
Likely to be overlooked by the dichotomy of En-
glish/French is work by ethnic groups such as the
Southeast Asian Canadians. Surjeet Kalsey, writing
in both English and Punjabi, publishedGlimpses of
Twentieth Centur y Punjabi Poetr y(1992) as well as two
volumes of her own poetry,Behind the Palace Doors
andWoman, Words, and Shakti(both in 1999).
Experimental Poetry Out of earlier Black Moun-
tain experiments with multilayered texts, “new me-The Nineties in America Poetry 677