From modernist to contemporary poetry -- The raw and the cooked : the new criticism versus the new American poetry -- The Black Mountain poets -- The beats and the San Francisco renaissance -- The New York School of poetry -- The middle generation, Elizabeth Bishop, and confessional poetry -- Deep image poetry -- African American poetry from 1945 to -- A new "mainstream" period style in poetry of the 1970s and 1980s -- Language poetry -- Feminism and women's poetry from 1970 to -- Multiculturalism, identity, and poetry from 1970- -- New directions in American poetry from 2000 to the present.

"Designed for students, scholars, poets, and general readers, this book provides a useful guide for anyone interested in contemporary American poetry. By offering close readings of exemplary poems in relation to historical and political contexts, this book gives readers the background and tools necessary to understand post-1945 American poetry"--