This is a very academic book and not an easy read. It has scores of pages of footnotes and references and I’ll be following up on quite a few of them I think. This is the kind of book that opens doors. It makes you want to explore deeper into the poets mentioned, the rise of modernism, the influences that artists acknowledge and those they might not even be aware of. I knew of Guillaume Apollinaire but hadn’t read much of his work. Writing before the First World War, he believed his poetry was big enough to write the 20th century. Coming after him, many agreed.

I love the poetry of Allen Ginsberg who was writing in the 1950s, although I’m no expert. But if Ginsberg rates Apollinaire then I’m going to listen. This book also introduced me to Louis Zukofsky writing in the 1930s, and Alice Notley writing from the 1970s onward. Zukovsky especially sounded like a fascinating man. I’ve bought several books because of reading this one and I’m looking forward to educating myself further on American poetry and the synthesis of imagination across the years.

Recommended if you’re interested in poetry, poetics and modernism in particular.

I was given a copy of the book by NetGalley