Written by a leading authority on William Carlos Williams, this book provides a wide-ranging and stimulating guide to twentieth-century American poetry.

• 
  
• A wide-ranging and stimulating critical guide to twentieth-century American poetry.
  
• Written by a leading authority on the innovative modernist poet, William Carlos Williams.
  
• Explores the material, historical and social contexts in which twentieth-century American poetry was produced.
  
• Includes a biographical dictionary of major writers with extended entries on poets ranging from Robert Frost to Adrienne Rich.
  
• Contains a section on key texts considering major works, such as ‘The Waste Land’, ‘North & South’, ‘Howl’ and ‘Ariel’.
  
• The final section draws out key themes, such as American poetry, politics and war, and the process of anthologizing at the end of the century.

Christopher MacGowan is Professor of Literature at the College of William and Mary. He has published extensively on twentieth-century American poetry but is best known as the acclaimed editor of the works of William Carlos Williams.