Time for childhoods : young poets and questions of agency / Rachel Conrad.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Conrad, Rachel, author.

Series:

Childhoods: interdisciplinary perspectives on children and youth

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Children's poetry, American--History and criticism.

Children's poetry, American.

Children--United States--Intellectual life.

Children.

Child authors--United States.

Child authors.

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

American poetry.

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

Children--Intellectual life.

Intellectual life.

United States.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Physical Description:

xv, 209 pages ; 23 cm.

Other Title:

Young poets and questions of agency

Place of Publication:

Amherst : University of Massachusetts Press, [2020]

Summary:

"Poems written by children are not typically part of the literary canon. Because of cultural biases that frame young people as intellectually and artistically immature, these works are often excluded or dismissed as juvenilia. Rachel Conrad contends that youth-composed poems should be read as literary works in their own right--works that are deserving of greater respect in literary culture. Time for Childhoods presents a selection of striking twentieth- and twenty-first-century American poetry written by young people, and highlights how young poets imagined and shaped time for their own poetic purposes. Through close engagement with archival materials, as well as select interviews and correspondence with adult mentors, Conrad discerns how young writers figured social realities and political and racial injustices, and discusses what important advocates such as Gwendolyn Brooks and June Jordan can teach us about supporting the agency of young poets. This essential study demonstrates that young poets have much to contribute to ongoing conversations about time and power"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

"The Busy Clock" : Poetry and the Time of Youth

"To bloom in its own time": Gwendolyn Brooks and the Poetic Vision of Very Young Poets

"My future doesn't know / ME": Young Poets and Dynamic Temporality in Salting the Ocean: 100 Poems by Young Poets

"My sole desire is to move someone through poetry, and allow for my voice to be heard": Young Poets, Children's Rights, and the Rattle Young Poets Anthology

"We Speak to be Heard": June Jordan, Terri Bush, and The Voice of the Children

Conclusion: "Poems are voiceprints of language".

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 183-201) and index.

ISBN:

9781625344489

1625344481

9781625344496

162534449X

OCLC:

1104215194