Donald Allen's New American Poetry served its purpose very well as a dignified, major anthology of poets whose reputations were then far from secured. It has two very serious flaws. It vastly under-represents women & poets of color. It also creates arbitrary "schools" of poetry that hardly existed then & exist not at all now. In the year 2000, the purpose of this book is perhaps not so clear. Except for Olson, these...
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I find this book a great introduction to this type of poetry. You can find a lot of different authors, topics, type of poetry, and each piece you read has something good. I recommend it to everyone that loves contemporany poetry or wants to start reading some.
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I would like to quote from the recent book "A Secret Location on the Lower East Side" by Steven Clay and Rodney Phillips. The New York Public Library/Granary Books. There was no more significant poetry anthology in the second half of the twentieth century than THE NEW AMERICAN POETRY, 1945-1960, edited by Donald M. Allen and published (orig) by Grove Press.
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this book does need a review, it stands by itself as a compendium and illustrator of american poetry after 1945, an exceedingly fertile period. many people have spent many an hour with their nose in this book, getting introduced and reacquainted with our exceptional post-war poets. badder than charlie parker, it really swings its ass off.
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