240 contemporary poetry
What techniques do poets use to dramatise the intersection of
competing languages in their work?
How do two poets represent minority languages and identities
in English?
Is the relationship between minority languages and English in
the work of contemporary poets always a problematic one?
Is Charles Bernstein’s confi guration of an ‘ideolectical’ poetics
particularly useful to an understanding of recent poetic prac-
tice?
Examine how poetic experimentation furthers the reinvention of
English use in poetry.Glossary
avant-garde
The term has a military origin (‘advance guard’) and in the context
of the literary arts denotes work which is pathfi nding, experimen-
tal, ahead of its time and exploratory. Often associated with a revo-
lutionary ambition; always associated with innovation.
cancrizans or cancrine
In Latin, meaning ‘crab-wise’. Poetry which reads both ways, as a
palindrome.
confessional poetry
The term is often confi ned to the work of poets in the 1950 s and
1960 s associated with what was termed a ‘movement inward’. The
poetry associated with confessionalism often examines and reveals
extreme states of being as well as states of violence. Yet it is worth
being reminded that there is also a strong element of performance
implicit in this revelatory impulse.