American Poetry
All contributors in American Poetry
Mary Oliver's "Reckless Poem" features the theme of self-awareness, dramatizing the act of intuitive knowledge superseding supposedly empirical evidence. more...
Robert Hayden's speaker from another planet is an alien being who has come to Earth, particularly to the United States of America, to study the inhabitants. more...
Angelou's "Touched by an Angel" lacks the poetic qualities that transform a philosophical statement into a poem. more...
The speaker in Galway Kinnell's "Blackberry Eating" compares the experience of eating blackberries to that of pronouncing his favorite words. more...
Current U.S. poet laureate, Kay Ryan, writes clever, little ditties that offer a distinctive reading experience. more...
Heavy with sexually charged innuendo, Neruda's sonnet dramatizes the process of lust transforming into genuine love. more...
Brooks' versanelle offers a minimalist character sketch of three people whom the speaker disdains, and the vacant lot symbolizes her glee at being "all done" with them. more...
All feature articles in American Poetry
Joseph Brodsky's "A Polar Explorer"
By: Matthew Birdsall
Exploration is touted as the pathway to discovery and human achievement, but sometimes when you reach for the top the bottom falls out. more...
Donald Hall Chronicle of Causality
By: Matthew Birdsall
Everyone knows that in order to have safe sex you must use protection, but sometimes the consequences of safe sex can be just as devastating as unsafe sex. more...
Levine's "Animals Are Passing From Our Lives"
By: Matthew Birdsall
When facing an obstacle the easy way out is tempting, but it is better face to adversity with head held high even in the thick of increasing vacuousness. more...
By: Matthew Birdsall
Art often enables people to release pent up emotions and thoughts that would otherwise drive them mad, yet sometimes it is madness that drives creativity. more...
William Bronk – Oh What a Relief He Is
By: Douglas Nordfors
The American poet William Bronk, who died in 1999, is the perfect antidote for anyone whose not in tune with all the experimentation going on in American poetry today. more...
By: Matthew Birdsall
Ageing, despite the futile attempts of modern medicine, is inevitable and it is through this vehicle of transience that all human beings eventually become equal. more...
Character Development in "The Mountain"
By: David Todd
As the mountain dominates Lunenburg, so also it dominates the narrator's mind. With blank verse techniques, Frost brings out the narrator's character in subtle ways. more...
All contributing articles in American Poetry