Humor in Modern American Poetry

Modern poetry is full of humorous moments, from comic verse to absurd juxtapositions, and is essential to its serious work. The essays in this collection show that humor is central to the poems' projects, used to claim their poetic authority, re-define literary tradition, show their audience, make political attacks, and promote sympathy among their readers. It also leads us to transgress social boundaries, forge ties between the writer and reader, blur the line between public and private, and become a spur to self-awareness.

\n Format: Paperback / softback
\n Length: 240 pages
\n Publication date: 30 May 2019
\n Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
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Modern poetry, at least according to the current consensus, is often difficult and depressing. However, as Humor in Modern American Poetry demonstrates, modern poetry is full of humorous moments, ranging from comic verse published in popular magazines to the absurd juxtapositions of The Cantos. The essays in this collection show that humor is as essential to the serious work of William Carlos Williams as it is to the light verse of Phyllis McGinley. For the writers in this volume, humor is not merely a "comic relief" or a brief counterpoint to the poems' more serious themes; rather, it is central to the poems' projects. These poets use humor to claim their own poetic authority, re-define literary tradition, show what audience they are writing for, make political attacks, and, perhaps most surprisingly, promote sympathy among their readers.

The essays in this book include single-author studies, discussions of literary circles, and theories of form. Taken together, they help to initiate a new conversation about modernist poetry, one that treats its lighthearted moments not as decorative but as substantive. Humor defines groups and marks social boundaries, but it also leads us to transgress those boundaries; it forges ties between the writer and the reader, blurs the line between public and private, and becomes a spur to self-awareness.

\n Weight: 364g\n
Dimension: 155 x 228 x 11 (mm)\n
ISBN-13: 9781501352607\n \n