Twentieth Century American Poets: Readers Reply

In a post at “One Poet’s Notes” a couple of days ago I presented a list of 100 poets that might be a representative sampling of Twentieth Century American Poetry. Since I composed the roster quickly as I was preparing a course syllabus on the subject, I was certain there could be some oversights, and I invited visitors to recommend additional names of poets they thought should be included as well. In the brief time since that article appeared, I have received from readers numerous responses, containing the names of more than 100 other poets, in the blog’s comments section, at my facebook page, and through personal emails.

I also appreciated the comments accompanying many of the suggestions. At first I was hesitant about sharing this list, thinking along the line that Robin Kemp stated in her comment, “Boy, you’re really asking for it, aren’t you?!” Nevertheless, I believe readers’ replies exhibited something expressed in John Guzlowski’s comment: “I think that what this list and the comments adding more names to the list suggest is that poetry isn’t dead. It's alive as you or I.” On the other hand, Daniel E. Pritchard at The Wooden Spoon offered a contrary view as he observed: “I’m struck by how sparse the century was in terms of really obviously great poetry. This list probably could have been 50 titles and some of them still would’ve been in dispute.”

Those individuals suggested by readers as additions to the Twentieth Century American Poetry list include the following (in alphabetical order): Anya Achtenberg, Kim Addonizio, Floyce Alexander, Sherman Alexie, Jack Anderson, Jenne Andrews, Maya Angelou, Zoe Anglesey, David Antin, David Baker, Amiri Baraka, Ted Berrigan, Frank Bidart, Besmilr Brigham, Lucie Brock-Broido, William Bronk, Olga Broumas, Christopher Buckley, Charles Bukowski, Kathryn Stripling Byers, Olga Cabral, Jared Carter, Lorna Dee Cervantes, Fred Chappell, Sandra Cisneros, Clark Coolidge, Alfred Corn, Gregory Corso, Edward Dorn, Sharon Doubiago, Alan Dugan, Denise Duhamel, Stephen Dunn, Cornelius Eady, Russell Edson, Claudia Emerson, Martin Espada, Kenneth Fearing, Gene Frumkin, Tess Gallagher, Reginald Gibbons, Jack Gilbert, Madeline Gins, David Gitin, Don Gordon, Linda Gregg, Thom Gunn, Marilyn Hacker, Donald Hall, Michael Harper, Lyn Hejinian, Edward Hirsch, George Hitchcock, H.L. Hix, Linda Hogan, Garrett Hongo, Susan Howe, Andrew Hudgins, Langston Hughes, Lynda Hull, T.R. Hummer, Dale Jacobson, Robinson Jeffers, Ronald Johnson, Jane Kenyon, Kenneth Koch, Ted Kooser, Dorianne Laux, Li-Young Lee, D.A. Levy, Thomas Lux, Jackson Maclow, David Mason, William Matthews, Heather McHugh, Michael McClure, Thomas McGrath, David Meltzer, William Meredith, Bernadette Meyer, Bert Meyers, Herbert Morris, Lorine Neidecker, Sheryl Noethe, Alice Notley, George Oppen, Gregory Orr, Alicia Ostriker, Michael Palmer, Dorothy Parker, Kenneth Patchen, Bob Perelman, Stanley Plumly, Carl Rakosi, Joan Retallack, Charles Reznikoff, Patiann Rogers, Kay Ryan, Sonia Sanchez, Sherod Santos, Leslie Scalapino, James Schuyler, Delmore Schwartz, Hugh Seidman, Dr. Seuss, Ron Silliman, Cathy Song, Gary Soto, Jack Spicer, Frank Stanford, Gerald Stern, James Tate, Natasha Trethewey, Diane Wakoski, Rosemarie Waldrop, Bruce Weigl, Philip Whalen, James Whitehead, Miller Williams, Keith Wilson, William Witherup, Franz Wright, Jay Wright, Robert Wrigley, Erika T. Wurth, Kevin Young, and Louis Zukofsky.

Some other figures recommended by readers would not qualify for a list of American poets: Margaret Atwood, Robin Blaser, Joseph Brodsky, Anne Carson, A.E. Housman, Ted Hughes, Federico Garcia Lorca, Czeslaw Milosz, Paul Muldoon, Pablo Neruda, Dylan Thomas, Derek Walcott, William Butler Yeats. W.H Auden became an American citizen about the age of 39, the same age T.S. Eliot became a British subject; yet, I usually have regarded Auden as a British poet just as I continue to consider Eliot as an American poet. Nevertheless, although Laure-Anne Bosselaar grew up in Belgium and Rosemarie Waldrop was born in Germany, I do regard the pair as American poets.

I thank all of you for the numerous replies, which I am passing along to students in my Twentieth Century American Poetry course for examination and further consideration. Certainly, my omission of Robinson Jeffers and Langston Hughes were inadvertent oversights. In addition, I was pleased to note readers also recommended many of my favorite poets, such as Donald Hall, William Matthews, Alfred Corn, Gregory Orr, Kay Ryan, and scores of others, some about whom I have written extensively and very positively elsewhere.

As I mentioned in the original post, “the artificial cutoff of 100 for myself necessitated painful decisions as a number of poets (more than a dozen) whose works I enjoy very much had to be left out. In fact, some of those poets are favorites of mine much more than others that were included; however, I reminded myself this is not meant merely to be a list of my personal preferences.” Indeed, if we were to strictly maintain a list of 100, perhaps the way a course syllabus must be limited, I now ask readers to consider the tough choices that would be involved in removing poets from the original list to make room for their many newly suggested individuals.

Again, my thanks for all the replies.