How did poetry survive? : the making of modern American verse / John Timberman Newcomb.

Includes bibliographies and index.

Introduction. A modernism of the city -- Inventing the new verse -- American poetry on the brink, 1905-1912 -- Poetry's opening door : Harriet Monroe and American modernism -- Young, blithe, and whimsical : the avant-gardism of the masses -- There is always others : experimental verse and "ulterior social result" -- Volunteers of America, 1917 : the seven arts and the Great War -- Keys to the city -- Gutter and skyline : the new verse and the metropolitan cityscape -- Footprints of the 20th century : American skyscrapers, modern poems -- Subway fare : toward a poetics of rapid transit.

How Did Poetry Survive? traces the emergence of modern American poetry at the turn of the nineteenth century. American poetry had stalled: a small group of recently deceased New England poets still held sway, and few outlets existed for living poets. However, the United States' quickly accelerating urbanization in the early twentieth century opened new opportunities, as it allowed the rise of publications focused on promoting the work of living writers of all kinds. The urban scene also influenced the work of poets, shifting away from traditional subjects and forms to reflect the rise of buildings and the increasingly busy bustle of the city. Change was everywhere: new forms of architecture and transportation, new immigrants, new professions, new tastes, new worries. This urbanized world called for a new poetry, and a group of new magazines entirely or chiefly devoted to exploring modern themes and forms led the way. Avant-garde "little magazines" succeeded not by ignoring or rejecting the busy commercial world that surrounded them, but by adapting its technologies of production and strategies of marketing for their own purposes.

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