The Anthology of Black Mountain College Poetry

by Blake Hobby (Editor), Alessandro Porco (Editor), Joseph Bathanti (Editor)

Overview

Founded in 1933 near Asheville, North Carolina, Black Mountain College fostered experimentation and interdisciplinary learning, placing the arts at the heart of its curriculum. As such, the college was home to and served as inspiration for many modern and postmodern American poets. Some of them, including Charles Olson, Robert Creeley, and Denise Levertov, appeared in Donald Allen’s groundbreaking New American Poetry anthology published in 1960, later becoming part of the American poetry canon. However, many writers affiliated with Black Mountain College have been overlooked. The Anthology of Black Mountain College Poetry features over fifty poets selected with an expansive historical and critical lens, including those not typically considered as poets, such as composer John Cage, architect Buckminster Fuller, and visual artist Josef Albers. Many years in the making, this book presents the clearest picture of the poetry and poetics of Black Mountain College yet.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781469683447
Publisher:	The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date:	02/18/2025
Pages:	476
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Blake Hobby is former executive editor of Black Mountain College Studies. Joseph Bathanti is McFarlane Family Distinguished Professor of Interdisciplinary Education at Appalachian State University. Alessandro Porco is associate professor of English at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“This anthology brings together an inspiring range of poetries, a monumental feat that showcases the ripple effect still felt today, over ninety years later. This poetry archive is of major historical significance. Kudos to the editors, their impressive teamwork, and the resources this tome brings to fans and scholars everywhere.”—Anne Waldman, author of over sixty books, cofounder of the Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics, and Distinguished Professor of Poetics at Naropa University.

“Finally, we have the Black Mountain poets—a diverse community of potters, painters, scientists, homemakers, scholars, and prose writers—whose poems pay tribute to the unique learning community that nurtured the creative spirit of its fortunate inhabitants. Hobby, Porco, and Bathanti have opened the field and shuffled the deck. I eagerly await the new thinking that inevitably will follow.” —Mary Emma Harris, author of The Arts at Black Mountain College

“Like the experimental college whose poetic heritage it documents, this collection is a marvel, literally the best presentation of any literary phenomenon we have had in the United States. Nothing half so meticulous exists for the Beats, the New York School, the Spicer Circle, or the San Francisco Renaissance. Not just the famous names, but short-term faculty, students, affiliates, and visitors as well. This book raises the bar for everyone.”—Ron Silliman, author of The Alphabet

“This long-awaited Anthology of Black Mountain College Poetry expands our awareness of what constitutes that seminal time and place. Here we get essential takes: Charles Olson, Robert Creeley, Robert Duncan, John Wieners, Paul Blackburn—plus others farther afield: Cage, Fuller, Goodman, Eigner, Levertov—and Josef Albers’s elegant epigrams. Kudos to Editors Hobby, Porco, and Bathanti for deepening the field. Copious annotation adds to the pleasurable dive.”—Vincent Katz, editor of Black Mountain College: Experiment in Art

Editorial Reviews

“Well thought-out, the selections in this anthology beautifully introduce readers to this special college and to poets deserving of high praise and appreciation.”—Library Journal, starred review

“The anthology works wonders by orienting the reader in this experimental, hands-on style of learning that was led in the early years by the Bauhaus-educated artists Josef and Anni Albers.”—Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

“The Anthology of Black Mountain College Poetry . . . firmly establishes an almost complete gathering of poets connected to Black Mountain College throughout its entire history . . . [and] fills gaps in the portrait of a venerable poetry institution whose legacy remains ongoing.”—Rain Taxi Review of Books

“The Anthology of Black Mountain College Poetry is exemplary in the breadth of its selection, an impressive showcase of unity in diversity and the quality of the introductory notes that, moreover, present the immense advantage not to reproduce the traditional distinction between the College’s stars and the others.”—Leonardo

“An expansive portrait, one larger than what had previously been presented around the poetries, poetics, people and publications around Black Mountain College. . . . [A]n impressive, expansive and important collection, one with layers of curiosity and research, enough that one could easily get lost within.”—Rob McLennan, award-winning author and critic

“This landmark compendium of verse composed by students, professors, and visiting faculty of Black Mountain College presents a dazzling survey of the college’s wide-ranging poetic output, as influential as it was experimental.”—Western North Carolina Magazine

“This anthology brings together an inspiring range of poetries, a monumental feat that showcases the ripple effect still felt today, over ninety years later. This poetry archive is of major historical significance. Kudos to the editors, their impressive teamwork, and the resources this tome brings to fans and scholars everywhere.”—Anne Waldman, author of over sixty books, cofounder of the Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics, and Distinguished Professor of Poetics at Naropa University.

“Finally, we have the Black Mountain poets—a diverse community of potters, painters, scientists, homemakers, scholars, and prose writers—whose poems pay tribute to the unique learning community that nurtured the creative spirit of its fortunate inhabitants. Hobby, Porco, and Bathanti have opened the field and shuffled the deck. I eagerly await the new thinking that inevitably will follow.” —Mary Emma Harris, author of The Arts at Black Mountain College

“Like the experimental college whose poetic heritage it documents, this collection is a marvel, literally the best presentation of any literary phenomenon we have had in the United States. Nothing half so meticulous exists for the Beats, the New York School, the Spicer Circle, or the San Francisco Renaissance. Not just the famous names, but short-term faculty, students, affiliates, and visitors as well. This book raises the bar for everyone.”—Ron Silliman, author of The Alphabet

“This long-awaited Anthology of Black Mountain College Poetry expands our awareness of what constitutes that seminal time and place. Here we get essential takes: Charles Olson, Robert Creeley, Robert Duncan, John Wieners, Paul Blackburn—plus others farther afield: Cage, Fuller, Goodman, Eigner, Levertov—and Josef Albers’s elegant epigrams. Kudos to Editors Hobby, Porco, and Bathanti for deepening the field. Copious annotation adds to the pleasurable dive.”—Vincent Katz, editor of Black Mountain College: Experiment in Art

From the Publisher