America a Prophecy
A New Reading of American Poetry from Pre-Columbian Times to the Present
Description:... Celebrated, controversial, influential, this highly unconventional and grounbreaking anthology of American poetry was widely read throughout the '70s and early '80s. Stressing the visionary and the experimental as essential American values, it "maps" diverse poetic forms and literary milieus, bringing together: poets from all styles and schools, men and women equally; innovative poets (Beats, Black Mountain, etc.), academics, Native Americans, Blacks, Asians, Hispanics. ... This pre-PC multicultural perspective does not push ethnic difference or sameness, but explores deeply common concerns and equally valid visions. Prophetic of openness to unfamiliar voices and new paths and possibilities, true to its Blakean title, it is still unique as a textbook of the whole poetic art to 1973 and as a primer of poetic possibility.
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