Contemporary Poetry

Contents

Series Preface ix

Acknowledgements x

Chronology xii

Introduction 1

‘New, Newer and Newest’ Poetry 2

Poetics? 4

Before the 1970 s: Poetic Precedents 6

New Lines, The New Poetry, The New American Poetry 7

Blood, Bread and Poetry: Gender and Poetics 11

Multiformalisms: Form and Contemporary Poetry 13

Structure of the Book 17

Chapter 1 Lyric Subjects 25

Towards a Theory of Lyric Expression 27

Elegy and Epistle: Andrew Motion and Lee Harwood 28

Speaking (Auto) Biographically: Cathy Song and Grace

Nichols 31

Self-refl exive Lyrics: Portraiture in John Ashbery, Sujata

Bhatt and Jorie Graham 39

Nobody’s Voice: Michael Palmer 47

Conclusion: Jennifer Moxley’s Deceitful Subjective 51

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