A Companion to Modernist Poetry

A Companion to Modernist Poetry presents contemporary approaches to modernist poetry in a uniquely in–depth and accessible text. The first section of the volume reflects the attention to historical and cultural context that has been especially fruitful in recent scholarship. The second section focuses on various movements and groupings of poets, placing writers in literary history and indicating the currents and countercurrents whose interaction generated the category of modernism as it is now broadly conceived. The third section traces the arcs of twenty–one poets’ careers, illustrated by readings of key works. The companion thus offers breadth in its presentation of historical and literary contexts and depth in its attention to individual poets; it brings recent scholarship to bear on the subject of modernist poetry while also providing guidance on poets who are historically important and who are likely to appear on syllabi and to attract critical interest for many years to come. Edited by two highly respected and notable critics in the field, A Companion to Modernist Poetry boasts a varied list of contributors who have produced an intense, focused study of modernist poetry.

David E. Chinitz is Professor of English at Loyola University Chicago and President of the Modernist Studies Association. His publications include A Companion to T.S. Eliot (2009), T. S. Eliot and the Cultural Divide (2003), and Which Sin To Bear? Authenticity and Compromise in Langston Hughes (2013), as well as a range of articles in such journals as Callaloo, American Literary History , Modernism/Modernity, and PMLA . Gail McDonald teaches at Goldsmiths College, University of London. She is the author of Learning to be Modern: Pound, Eliot, and the American University , American Literature and Culture, 1900–1960 , and articles on American progressivism, modernist poetry, and pedagogy. A founder and past president of the Modernist Studies Association, she is Director of the T.S. Eliot International Summer School.