20th century poets, R - Z
Carl Rakosi
Gary Glazner’s slam take-off on Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s famous sonnet was the perfect excuse for us to explore the work of the American objectivists, Rakosi among them.
Gary Glazner’s slam take-off on Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s famous sonnet was the perfect excuse for us to explore the work of the American objectivists, Rakosi among them.
Carl Rakosi
Don’t miss the bio, interviews, poems, prose & commentary at Modern American Poetry and Rakosi’s 99th birthday celebration at Kelly Writers House, where you can listen to a recorded conversation with Rakosi & his readings of 10 poems.
Don’t miss the bio, interviews, poems, prose & commentary at Modern American Poetry and Rakosi’s 99th birthday celebration at Kelly Writers House, where you can listen to a recorded conversation with Rakosi & his readings of 10 poems.
Laura (Riding) Jackson
At the official Web site administered by her estate, you can read selected poems & stories from her books, including an excerpt from Rational Meaning & her poem, “Nor Is It Written.” Her papers are archived at the Cornell University Library.
At the official Web site administered by her estate, you can read selected poems & stories from her books, including an excerpt from Rational Meaning & her poem, “Nor Is It Written.” Her papers are archived at the Cornell University Library.
Theodore Roethke
In his relatively short lifetime (1908 - 1963), Theodore Roethke wrote a number of poems that sank deep into people’s consciousness -- two of his are among those chosen at the Favorite Poems Project: “My Papa’s Waltz” & “The Sloth.”
In his relatively short lifetime (1908 - 1963), Theodore Roethke wrote a number of poems that sank deep into people’s consciousness -- two of his are among those chosen at the Favorite Poems Project: “My Papa’s Waltz” & “The Sloth.”
William Stafford
Stafford was a lifelong peace advocate, World War II conscientious objector, Lewis & Clark College professor, Poet Laureate, traveling teacher, prolific and beloved poet of attentive ordinary life.
Stafford was a lifelong peace advocate, World War II conscientious objector, Lewis & Clark College professor, Poet Laureate, traveling teacher, prolific and beloved poet of attentive ordinary life.
Wallace Stevens
Stevens’ page at AAP offers a brief introductory bio & nine of his poems, including his most famous title, “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird.” You can read more of his poems at Roderick Scott Greene’s Wallace Stevens poetry page or hear Stevens’ own readings at HarperAudio, in recordings made shortly before his death in 1955.
Stevens’ page at AAP offers a brief introductory bio & nine of his poems, including his most famous title, “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird.” You can read more of his poems at Roderick Scott Greene’s Wallace Stevens poetry page or hear Stevens’ own readings at HarperAudio, in recordings made shortly before his death in 1955.
Wallace Stevens
Penn Professor Al Filreis has amassed a rich set of references for his Modern & Contemporary American Poetry course, but Wallace Stevens gets a page of his own on Filreis' site & it's the place to look for critical readings & documents like Father Hanley's letter describing the poet's alleged deathbed conversion.
Penn Professor Al Filreis has amassed a rich set of references for his Modern & Contemporary American Poetry course, but Wallace Stevens gets a page of his own on Filreis' site & it's the place to look for critical readings & documents like Father Hanley's letter describing the poet's alleged deathbed conversion.
Wallace Stevens
In Tennessee, Professor David Lavery has also gathered references & background materials on Stevens’ life & work for his site entitled “Feigning with the Strange Unlike” (quoted from Stevens’ poem “To the One of Fictive Music”).
In Tennessee, Professor David Lavery has also gathered references & background materials on Stevens’ life & work for his site entitled “Feigning with the Strange Unlike” (quoted from Stevens’ poem “To the One of Fictive Music”).
May Swenson
This late great poet was known as a translator & playwright as well as a poet during her 50 years of writing, & now there’s an award in her name. Robert Hass chose her poem “Question” for his Poet’s Choice newspaper column in September 1998.
This late great poet was known as a translator & playwright as well as a poet during her 50 years of writing, & now there’s an award in her name. Robert Hass chose her poem “Question” for his Poet’s Choice newspaper column in September 1998.
Dylan Thomas
Unfortunately, Warrick Whatman’s fine Dylan Thomas site has vanished from the Net, but you can find some of Thomas’ poems at AAP & a wealth of information about his life & works at the official Dylan Thomas Web site managed by the Dylan Thomas Centre in his home town, Swansea.
Unfortunately, Warrick Whatman’s fine Dylan Thomas site has vanished from the Net, but you can find some of Thomas’ poems at AAP & a wealth of information about his life & works at the official Dylan Thomas Web site managed by the Dylan Thomas Centre in his home town, Swansea.
Philip Whalen
Known as a poet's poet, Beat innovator (he was at the famous Six Gallery reading), & the most genuine & gentle of men, Philip Whalen was ordained a Zen priest in 1973 and died in 2002. Jacket Magazine #11 has a gathering of memoirs & poems.
Known as a poet's poet, Beat innovator (he was at the famous Six Gallery reading), & the most genuine & gentle of men, Philip Whalen was ordained a Zen priest in 1973 and died in 2002. Jacket Magazine #11 has a gathering of memoirs & poems.
Philip Whalen
Mark Other Place is a beautiful online chapbook sampling of Whalen's poems with drawings by Nancy Davis at Big Bridge, which also has a bibliography of Whalen's publications.
Mark Other Place is a beautiful online chapbook sampling of Whalen's poems with drawings by Nancy Davis at Big Bridge, which also has a bibliography of Whalen's publications.
William Carlos Williams
Read the poems first, always. Ten of Dr. Williams’ are posted on his page at AAP, including the famous “The Red Wheelbarrow” & a RealAudio recording of “To Elsie” in WCW’s own voice. AAP also has lots of background info on the Imagists, the Objectivists & the Modernists, to put Williams’ pithy poems into a broader historical context.
Read the poems first, always. Ten of Dr. Williams’ are posted on his page at AAP, including the famous “The Red Wheelbarrow” & a RealAudio recording of “To Elsie” in WCW’s own voice. AAP also has lots of background info on the Imagists, the Objectivists & the Modernists, to put Williams’ pithy poems into a broader historical context.
William Carlos Williams
For background, biography & commentary on Williams' work, visit Modern American Poetry's Williams collection, Ben Johnson's Modernism page on Williams & the PBS Voices & Visions feature, which includes a video clip of “The Great Figure.”
For background, biography & commentary on Williams' work, visit Modern American Poetry's Williams collection, Ben Johnson's Modernism page on Williams & the PBS Voices & Visions feature, which includes a video clip of “The Great Figure.”
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939) was both poet and playwright, a towering figure in 20th century literature in English, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923, a master of traditional verse forms and at the same time an idol of the modernist poets who followed him.
William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939) was both poet and playwright, a towering figure in 20th century literature in English, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923, a master of traditional verse forms and at the same time an idol of the modernist poets who followed him.
William Butler Yeats
There’s a brief biography and a good selection of Yeats’ poems in the AAP archives. Unfortunately, the best auditory experience of Yeat’s poetry on the Web (in Atlantic Online’s “Soundings” series) is now available only to subscribers, but you can hear his own reading of “The Lake Isle of Innisfree” for free at AAP.
There’s a brief biography and a good selection of Yeats’ poems in the AAP archives. Unfortunately, the best auditory experience of Yeat’s poetry on the Web (in Atlantic Online’s “Soundings” series) is now available only to subscribers, but you can hear his own reading of “The Lake Isle of Innisfree” for free at AAP.
William Butler Yeats
It’s not easy to find a comprehensive gathering of W.B. Yeats’ work online (the Chadwyck-Healey authorized e-text collection is restricted to university libraries), but Bartleby.com has the texts of three of his collections, and there are a good number of his poems at Online Literature & in the University of Maryland Library’s online reading room.
It’s not easy to find a comprehensive gathering of W.B. Yeats’ work online (the Chadwyck-Healey authorized e-text collection is restricted to university libraries), but Bartleby.com has the texts of three of his collections, and there are a good number of his poems at Online Literature & in the University of Maryland Library’s online reading room.