The stamp of class : reflections on poetry & social class / Gary Lenhart.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lenhart, Gary.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Duck, Stephen, 1705-1756.

Yearsley, Ann, 1753-1806.

Whitman, Walt, 1819-1892.

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

American poetry.

Working class in literature.

Whitman, Walt, 1819-1892--Political and social views.

Whitman, Walt.

Yearsley, Ann, 1753-1806--Criticism and interpretation.

Yearsley, Ann.

Duck, Stephen, 1705-1756--Criticism and interpretation.

Duck, Stephen.

Literature and society--English-speaking countries.

Literature and society.

Criticism and interpretation.

Political and social views.

English-speaking countries.

Working class writings--History and criticism.

Working class writings.

Social classes in literature.

Physical Description:

xviii, 152 pages ; 22 cm

Place of Publication:

Ann Arbor : University of Michigan Press, [2006]

Summary:

The Stamp of Class explores the nature of reading poetry in the context of class and its themes and sheds new light on how this important yet little-heralded subject affects the poet's life and work.

While numerous works have taken up the question of race and gender as they relate to literary creation, this is the first book of its kind to probe the interplay between class and American poetry. Author Gary Lenhart considers poetry and class across a wide variety of time periods and poetic trends and reflects on a range of influential poets from the eighteenth to the twenty-first centuries.

The essays in The Stamp of Class deal with the question of class as reflected in the works of Tracie Morris, Tillie Olsen, Melvin Tolson, William Carlos Williams, Walt Whitman, and others. The work is rooted in the author's own experiences as a working-class poet and teacher and is the result of more than a decade of exploration.

Contents:

Introduction: "Distortion" or "Unexamined Factor"? 1

1 The "Uneducated Poets" / Stephen Duck, Ann Yearsley 8

2 A Song for Occupations / Whitman the Rough 20

3 "Poor Doc, Nobody Wants His Life or His Verses" / W. C. Williams, The New Masses 32

4 Special Handling / David Schubert, Marcia Nardi 46

5 Caviar and Cabbage / The Voracious Appetite of Melvin Tolson 64

6 Opening the Field / The New American Poetry 85

7 Literary Men in Blue Jeans / Ted Berrigan, Ron Padgett 98

8 Burning Beauty / Diane Wakoski, Eileen Myles, Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel, Tracie Morris 112.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 137-145) and index.

ISBN:

0472069179

0472099175

OCLC:

62901818

Publisher Number:

9780472069170

9780472099177