Barrier of a common language : an American looks at contemporary British poetry / Dana Gioia.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gioia, Dana

Contributor:

Gotham Book Mart Collection (University of Pennsylvania)

Series:

Poets on poetry

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

English poetry--20th century--History and criticism.

English poetry.

English poetry--21st century--History and criticism.

English poetry--Appreciation--United States.

English poetry--Appreciation.

United States.

English language--Versification.

English language.

Penn Provenance:

Gotham Book Mart (former owner) (Gotham Book Mart Collection copy)

Physical Description:

xii, 106 pages, 2 unnumbered pages ; 21 cm.

Place of Publication:

Ann Arbor : The University of Michigan Press, [2003]

Summary:

In "Barrier of a Common Language, Dana Gioia collects essays on British poets and poetry spanning the past two decades. Gioia ignited a national debate on the relevance of poetry in 1991 when he published an essay in the "Atlantic titled "Can Poetry matter?" The essay was expanded into a book of the same name and went on to become one of the best-selling books of contemporary poetry criticism in the 1990s. In "Barrier of a Common Language Gioia addresses the current disconnect between British and American poetry, the result of America's growing post-war self-sufficiency in its intellectual concerns and concomitant patronizing attitude toward Britain. Writes Gioia, "Today ... most American readers are not only unfamiliar with current British poetry, but modestly proud of the fact. They do not dissemble, but urbanely flourish their ignorance as an indisputable sign of discrimination." Whether British poetry ever regains the importance in Anglo-American literary traditions it had fifty years ago, says Gioia, "will depend on the quality of service it receives from critics, poets, editors, and anthologists who alone can make it accurately heard and understood."

Notes:

"Copyright by the University of Michigan 2003."

Publisher's advertisements: [1] p. at end.

Includes index.

ISBN:

047209582X

0472065823

OCLC:

51837857