Great American Prose Poems: From Poe to the Present

David Lehman

Simon and Schuster, Jun 18, 2008 - Poetry - 352 pages

A prose poem is a poem written in prose rather than verse. But what does that really mean? Is it an indefinable hybrid? An anomaly in the history of poetry? Are the very words "prose poem" an oxymoron? This groundbreaking anthology edited by celebrated poet David Lehman, editor of The Best American Poetry series, traces the form in all its dazzling variety from Poe and Emerson to Auden and Ashbery and on, right up to the present.

In his brilliant and lucid introduction, Lehman explains that a prose poem can make use of all the strategies and tactics of poetry, but works in sentences rather than lines. He also summarizes the prose poem's French heritage, its history in the United States, and the salient differences between verse and prose. Arranged chronologically to allow readers to trace the gradual development of this hybrid genre, the poems anthologized here include important works from such masters of American literature as Gertrude Stein, William Carlos Williams, e. e. cummings, Hart Crane, Ernest Hemingway, James Schuyler, Allen Ginsberg, Frank O'Hara, and Elizabeth Bishop. Contemporary mainstays and emerging poets -- Robert Bly, John Ashbery, Charles Simic, Billy Collins, Russell Edson, James Tate, Anne Carson, Yusef Komunyakaa, and Lydia Davis, among them -- are represented with their best work in the field.

The prose poem is beginning to enjoy a tremendous upswing in popularity. Readers of this marvelous collection, a must-have for anyone interested in the current state of the art, will learn why.

Contents

• Introduction: 11
• RALPH WALDO EMERSON 18031882: 27
• AMY LOWELL 18741925: 33
• WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS 18831963: 39
• T S ELIOT 18881965: 46
• HART CRANE 18991932: 52
• EDWIN DENBY 19031983: 56
• CZESLAW MILOSZ 1911: 62
• DAVID IGNATOW 19141997: 71
• KENNETH KOсн 19252002: 77
• ALLEN GINSBERG 19261997: 86
• FRANK OHARA 19261966: 90
• W S MERWIN 1927: 101
• HARRY MATHEWS 1930: 108
• MICHAEL BENEDIKT 1935: 116
• ROSMARIE WALDROP 1935: 123
• CHARLES SIMІС 1938: 125
• FRANK BIDART 1939: 132
• TOM CLARK 1941: 140
• LYN HEJINIAN 1941: 146
• LOUIS JENKINS 1942: 152
• MICHAEL PALMER 1943: 158
• PAUL VIOLI 1944: 165
• BERNADETTE MAYER 1945: 171
• ANNE WALDMAN 1945: 178
• ANDREI CODRESCU 1946: 185
• LYDIA DAVIS 1947: 191
• YUSEF KOMUNYAKAA 1947: 197
• TOM WHALEN 1948: 205
• CHARLES BERNSTEIN 1950: 212
• JAMES RICHARDSON 1950: 218
• PETER JOHNSON 1951: 226
• RITA DOVE 1952: 231
• THYLIAS MOSs 1954: 245
• APRIL BERNARD 1956: 259
• NIN ANDREWS 1958: 270
• DENISE DUHAMEL 1961: 276
• CLAUDIA RANKINE 1963: 282
• JOE WENDEROTH 1966: 291
• MARK BIBBINS 1968: 298
• RICHARD DEMING 1970: 302
• Acknowledgments: 331

About the author

David Lehman, the series editor of The Best American Poetry, edited The Oxford Book of American Poetry. His books of poetry include The Morning Line, When a Woman Loves a Man, and The Daily Mirror. He has written such nonfiction books as Signs of the Times: Deconstruction and the Fall of Paul de Man. He lives in New York City and Ithaca, New York.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Great American Prose Poems: From Poe to the Present
• Editor: David Lehman
• Publisher: Simon and Schuster, 2008
• ISBN: 1439105111, 9781439105115
• Length: 352 pages
• Subjects: Poetry / American / General; Poetry / Anthologies (multiple authors); Poetry / General