American Poetry: The Nineteenth Century…book review
there’s more than structure involved…
Book review:
American Poetry: The Nineteenth Century
Vols. 1 and 2
New York: The Library of America, 1993
Vol. 1 – 1,099 pages
Vol. 1 – 1,049 pages
What can I say?
In general, the poetry of bygone centuries is uninteresting to me.
The poets were convinced that structure was overwhelmingly important, or, perhaps, their readers were convinced that structure was overwhelmingly important, or, perhaps, both.
The word “relentless” comes to my mind. It’s difficult for me to read much of this work—silently or aloud—without bobbing my head, saying the emphasized syllables with increasing vigor and noise, and moving my body to match the all-too-obvious, often drum beat rhythms.
It seems to me that the conjunction of selected words is of secondary or tertiary concern, whereas I believe it should be the overriding expression of the poetic arts.
The millions in the past disagreed. So be it.
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Book review. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2025 All rights reserved.
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