The American poet laureate : a history of U.S. poetry and the state / Amy Paeth.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Paeth, Amy, author.

Contributor:

Heyne Memorial Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

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

American poetry.

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

Poets laureate--United States--Biography.

Poets laureate.

Poetry consultants--United States--Biography.

Poetry consultants.

Literature and state--United States--History.

Literature and state.

Poetry--Appreciation--United States--History.

Poetry.

Poetry--Appreciation.

Library of Congress. Poetry and Literature Center--History.

Library of Congress.

United States.

Genre:

Biographies.

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

History.

Informational works.

Physical Description:

xi, 309 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Columbia University Press, [2023]

Summary:

"In 1961 at the height of the cold war, Robert Frost became the first poet to ever read at a Presidential inauguration. One year later, he led a mission to Moscow to help ease tension between the United States and the Soviet Union. Some 50 years later, Richard Blanco, who read at Obama's second inauguration, was commissioned by the State Department to read at the re-opening of the American embassy in Cuba. Between these two bookends to the Cold War, poetry played an important role in the expression of American power and ideology. As Amy Paeth contends, poetry's role at these events reflects the intertwined relationship between the American state, private foundations, the university and poetry. At the symbolic and administrative center of this relationship is the poet laureateship. The American Poet Laureate argues that the American state is the silent center of poetic production in the United States after World War II. The poet laureateship not only stands as a symbol of "American poetry" it also sits at the nexus of political, cultural, and economic organizations that supported and funded American poetry. These organizations, ranging from the CIA and the NEA to MFA programs and the Lilly pharmaceutical company, resulted in private-public partnerships that help to shape and promote a certain vision of American poetry. Paeth examines the work of laureates such as Elizabeth Bishop, Robert Lowell, Gwendolyn Brooks, and Billy Collins and the development of what became a national poetic voice that emphasized the expressive agency of the individual citizen. This idealization of a certain practice of poetry proved flexible enough to serve the aims of mid-century cold war nationalism and the later project of multicultural, neoliberal identity formation"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

State Verse Scandals: The Bollingen Affair and Postwar Poets at the Library of Congress, 1945-

Inaugurating National Poetry: Robert Frost and Cold War Arts, 1956-

The Politics of Voice: The Poet-Critic, the Creative Writer, and the Poet Laureate: 1965-

Civil Versus Civic Verse: National Projects of U.S. Poets Laureate, 1990-

"An Invisible Berlin Wall": The Cold War, the U.S. Inaugural Poem, and the Future of State Verse

Appendix I. Occupants of the U.S. National Poetry Office

Appendix II. Fellows in American Letters at The Library of Congress

Appendix III. U.S. Inaugural Poets.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Heyne Memorial Fund .

Other Format:

Online version: Paeth, Amy. American poet laureate

ISBN:

9780231194389

0231194382

9780231194396

0231194390

OCLC:

1355032049

Publisher Number:

99993602479