Modern American Poetry :
The American society is based on intellectualism , individualism and liberty. After World war II many trends like materialism , misery of war, complexity, anxiety, disintegration and desire for peace influenced the modern society. American poetry reflects the general mindset of American society and people.
Amrican poetry reflects the influence of mass media and electronic , to American poetry seems more relevant than before. It offers people a way to express subjective life and articulate the impact of technology and mass society on the individual.
The modern American poetry is a set of styles. These styles are regional and some belong to famous schools or poets. Modern American poetry is decentralized, richly varied, and impossible to summarize. Critics divide it into three overlapping camps: traditional, idiosyncratic and experimental poetry.
Traditionalism
Traditional poets have maintained and revitalized poetic traditions. They use traditional forms and diction , often using rhyme or a set metrical pattern. Traditionalist poets are generally precise, realistic, and witty; like Richard Wilbur. They are often influenced by British metaphysical poets. Wilbur’s most famous poem, ‟ A world without objects is a sensible emptiness” named him a metaphysical poet. Traditional poets, unlike many experimentalists who distrust ‟too poetic” diction, welcome resounding poetic lines. Traditional poets also at times use a somewhat rhetorical diction of obsolete or odd words, using many adjectives in which the natural, spoken word order of English is altered unnaturally.
Many poets, including Brooks, Richard Wilbur, Robert Lowell, and began writing traditionally, using rhyme and meters, but abandoned these in the 1960 under the pressure of public events and gradual trend toward open forms.
Idiosyncratic poets
Idiosyncratic poets have used both traditional and innovative techniques in creating unique voices. They have developed unique styles drawing on tradition but extending it into new realms with a distinctively contemporary flavor. They are confessional in their way of poetry. Their poetry reflects their personal account of life. They are plath, sexton, and Elisabeth Bishop , etc.
Experimental Poetry
Experimental poets have courted new cultural styles. They may be divided into five loose schools, identified by Donald Allen in his The New American poetry 1960, the first collection to present the work of poets who were previously neglected by the critical and academic communities. Experimental were inspired by Jazz and abstract expressionist painting. Their poetry is daring, original, and sometimes shocking. In its search for new values, it claims affinity with the archaic world of myth, legend, and traditional societies such as those of the American Indian. The forms are looser, more spontaneous and organic .
What is confessional poetry in modern American literature ?
Confessional poetry is the poetry of the personal or ‟I”. This style of writing emerged in the late 1950 and early 1960 and is associated with poets such as Robert Lowell, Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton etc. Lowell’s book life studies was a highly personal account of his life and families ties, and had a significant impact on American poetry. Plath and Sexton were both students of Lowell and his work influenced their writings. The confessional poetry dealt with subject matter that previously had not been openly discussed in American poetry. Private experiences and feeling about death, trauma, depression and relationships were addressed in this type of poetry, often in autobiographical manner.
The confessional poets were not merely recording their emotions on papers: craft and construction were also extremely important to their work. One of the most well-known poems by a confessional poets is Daddy by Sylvia Plath addressed to her father. The confessional poets of the 1950 and 1960 pioneered a type of writing that forever changed the landscape of American poetry. The tradition of confessional poetry has been a major influence on generations of writers and continues even today.
What is Imagist Movement in modern American Poetry?
The imagist poets launched revolt against the Georgian poetry. Ezra pound was the first who coined (introduce) the name imagism, for this movement. Other imagist poets were Wallace Stevens, William Carlos William, T.S Eliot, T.E. Hulme etc.
There poetry characteristics were :
1- To use the language of coon speech but to employ the exact word.
2- To create new rhythms as the expression of new moods.
3- to allow absolute freedom in the choice of subject.
4- To present on image clearly.
5- To produce poetry that is hard and clear.
6- To aim at concentration, since concentration is the essence of poetry.
