The age of Auden : postwar poetry and the American scene / Aidan Wasley.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wasley, Aidan, 1968-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

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

American poetry.

Influence (Literary, artistic, etc.)--History--20th century.

Influence (Literary, artistic, etc.).

Auden, W. H. (Wystan Hugh), 1907-1973--Influence.

Auden, W. H.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (281 p.)

Edition:

Course Book

Place of Publication:

Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, 2010.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

W. H. Auden's emigration from England to the United States in 1939 marked more than a turning point in his own life and work--it changed the course of American poetry itself. The Age of Auden takes, for the first time, the full measure of Auden's influence on American poetry. Combining a broad survey of Auden's midcentury U.S. cultural presence with an account of his dramatic impact on a wide range of younger American poets--from Allen Ginsberg to Sylvia Plath--the book offers a new history of postwar American poetry. For Auden, facing private crisis and global catastrophe, moving to the United States became, in the famous words of his first American poem, a new "way of happening." But his redefinition of his work had a significance that was felt far beyond the pages of his own books. Aidan Wasley shows how Auden's signal role in the work and lives of an entire younger generation of American poets challenges conventional literary histories that place Auden outside the American poetic tradition. In making his case, Wasley pays special attention to three of Auden's most distinguished American inheritors, presenting major new readings of James Merrill, John Ashbery, and Adrienne Rich. The result is a persuasive and compelling demonstration of a novel claim: In order to understand modern American poetry, we need to understand Auden's central place within it.

Contents:

Front matter

Content

List of Abbreviations

Preface

Prologue. Auden in "Atlantis"

Part I

1. A Way of Happening

Part II

2. Father of Forms

3. The Gay Apprentice

4 The Old Sources

Epilogue. He Became His Admirers:

Notes

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786612936449

9781282936447

1282936441

9781400836352

1400836352

OCLC:

707067739