The 20th Century in Poetry

The 20th Century in Poetry

Summary

This ground-breaking anthology presents in chronological order over 400 poems written in the twentieth century. The authors, both published poets themselves, give an overview of each period of history, while notes to the poems place each one in its historical context and trace the century's poetic development. Concise biographies for each poet complete the anthology.

By organizing the poems in chronological order, readers will see poets in a new light. Here A.E. Houseman, for example, rubs shoulders with T.S. Eliot, showing that traditional forms can hold their own against the modernist orthodoxy. Here are poets rescued from oblivion, such as the suffragette who wrote a compelling poem about her mistreatment in Holloway Prison in 1912 or the medical offer who went into Belsen with the British troops producing an eye-witness poem of lasting power. All the major events of the twentieth century are reflected in the choice of poems within these pages.

This richly rewarding collection makes invaluable reading for poetry lovers all over the world.

Reviews

  • British poets Hulse and Rae take a fresh and encompassing approach to the symbiosis between history and poetry in this prodigious harvest of more than four hundred twentieth-century poems...An entire universe of poetry lives here, making this a perfect library book, especially for smaller collections.
    Donna Seaman, Booklist

About the authors

Simon Rae

Simon Rae is a poet and broadcaster. For many years he wrote topical poems for the Guardian newspaper and was also presenter of the popular Radio 4 programme, Poetry Please! He then branched out, writing the definitive biography of the great Victorian cricketer, W. G. Grace, followed by a number of plays, before turning to fiction. He published his first novel, Unplayable, in 2009. Stone Butterfly is his second book for children.
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Michael Hulse

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