American Poetry, 1922

This 1922 miscellany gathers leading American poets in a boldly unedited experiment: each writer selects and arranges personal work, creating a living anthology of independent voices rather than a single critical argument. The result is a vivid snapshot of modern verse, with major names such as Amy Lowell, Robert Frost, Carl Sandburg, Vachel Lindsay, Sara Teasdale, H. D., Conrad Aiken, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and others represented in their own distinctive tones. The poems range from Frost's unforgettable shocks of feeling and menace in "Fire and Ice," "The Grindstone," "The Witch of Coös," "A Brook in the City," and "Design," to Lowell's rich evocations of New England identity in "Lilacs," her intimate "Twenty-four Hokku on a Modern Theme," and the symbolic sweep of "The Swans." Sandburg turns Johnny Appleseed and the Unknown Soldier into emblems of labor, sacrifice, and national destiny, while Oppenheim's "Gipsy" poem and "Hebrews" explore wandering, heritage, freedom, and cultural endurance. Elsewhere, brief, lyrical pieces such as "Adagio: A Duet," "Die Küche," "Rain," "Peasant," and "Bubbles" distill love, work, sorrow, and everyday mystery into striking modern images. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.