Contemporary American Poetry

FAIN: FA-11680-77

James E. B. Breslin
University of California, Berkeley (Berkeley, CA 94704-5940)

A study, "The Transformation of Contemporary American Poetry" which argues that a basic shift occurs in U.S. poetry in the late 1950s affecting both new and established poets. The opening chapter characterizes the state of American poetry, 1945-1955. The second delineates the change which rejected the basic assumptions about form and language that were prevalent in the decade following the Second World War. A section tracing the development of Allen Ginsberg from the late 40s-50s views the shift by the study of a representative (and influential) figure. Similar sections, each on a poet from one of the leading "schools" in contemporary poetry, will examine their development in this period.