Rebel Angels: 25 Poets of the New Formalism

by Mark Jarman (Editor), David Mason (Editor)

Overview

The first anthology to present the most exciting and unexpected new movement in American poetry—the revival of rhyme, meter, and narrative among poets—Rebel Angels gathers the best work of twenty-five poets who write memorably and movingly in a dazzling variety of forms—some traditional, some newly minted—out of the diverse experiences of their generation.

Contributors include Elizabeth Alexander, Julia Alvarez, Bruce Bawer, Rafael Campo, Tom Disch, Frederick Feirstein, Dana Gioia, Emily Grosholz, R.S. Gwynn, Marilyn Hacker, Rachel Hadas, Andrew Hudgins, Paul Lake, Sydney Lea, Brad Leithauser, Phillis Levin, Charles Martin, Marilyn Nelson, Molly Peacock, Wyatt Prunty, Mary Jo Salter, Timothy Steele, Frederick Turner, Rachel Wetzsteon, and Greg Williamson.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780934257817
Publisher:	Red Hen Press
Publication date:	10/25/2022
Edition description:	4th ed.
Pages:	282
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.75(d)

About the Author

Mark Jarman is the author of many books of poetry, including The Black Riviera, winner of the 1991 Poets’ Prize, and Questions for Ecclesiastes, winner of the 1998 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize. He has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. He is Centennial Professor of English, Emeritus, at Vanderbilt Universityin Nashville, Tennessee.

The former poet laureate of Colorado, David Mason has written many books, including Ludlow: A Verse Novel, The Sound: New and Selected Poems, Davey McGravy: Tales to be Read Aloud to Children and Adult Children, and Incarnation and Metamorphosis: Can Literature Change Us? He lives in Tasmania, the island state of Australia.

Editorial Reviews

Twenty-five young poets (by fiat born after 1940) make up the angels in this collection who carry on a curious "rebellion" against the then rebellious poetry of the 1960s and 1970s, which had waged such an effective war against rhyme, meter, narrative, and all such other traditional artifices deemed antithetical to Truth. Their work is anthologized here under the banner of "The New Formalism," a program committed to the rediscovery of the "inherent power of measured speech, even rhyme, and the power of narrative." The result is a collection of poems that clearly gain focus and accessibility from the rigor of the formulas and rules they unabashedly embrace, without, in most cases, losing the alleged honesty and sincerity that unfettered "free verse" had formerly promised. These are good poems that render a wide variety of contemporary American experiences. Recommended for general readers and particularly for those interested in modern poetry.Thomas F. Merrill, Sanibel P.L., Fla.

Library Journal