“From reading a previous answer, you know that I consider all those aspects to be part of American cultural myth and thus they figure into good American poetry, whether the poet is aware of what he is doing or not.” KnowsReadingLiteratureAnswersFiguresPoetAspectMythAmerican Poetry Author:Diane Wakoski
“I teach a lecture course on American poetry to as many as 150 students. For a lot of them, its their only elective, so this is their one shot. Theyll take the Russian Novel or American Poetry, so I want to give them the high points, the inescapable poets.” WantGivingCoursesTeachNovelStudentsPoetShotsLecturesAmerican PoetryHigh Points Author:Robert Hass
“There's a sameness about American poetry that I don't think represents the whole people. It represents a poetry of the moment, a poetry of evasion, and I have problems with this. I believe poetry has always been political, long before poets had to deal with the page and white space . . . it's natural.” PeopleThinkingBelieveLongWholeMomentsProblemPoliticalI BelieveNaturalSpaceWhiteDealsPoetPagesSamenessEvasionAmerican PoetryThis I BelieveWhite Space Author:Yusef Komunyakaa
“I can't think offhand of any American poets who have Mandelstam's urgency, but it's a different country and a different time, and I don't think it would make much sense to say that this is something that's "missing" from contemporary American poetry.” ThinkingI CanDifferentCountryMissingPoetContemporaryUrgencyDifferent TimesDifferent CountriesAmerican Poetry Author:Christian Wiman
“Mandelstam is the sort of poet who comes along very, very rarely. Even the two Russian poets whose work is often linked with his - Anna Akhmatova and Marina Tsvetaeva - though their work is more "urgent" than most American poetry, seem to me to operate at a lesser charge than Mandelstam.” TwoSeemsPoetLinkedUrgentAnnaAmerican Poetry Author:Christian Wiman