Long Poems

The book makes use of the developed possibilities of modern American writing, enriched by centuries of European example and newly opened out to include free verse and the prose poem as well as accentual-syllabic verse. The author takes the position that all three forms are viable, as practised by the great experimenters of this century. The book celebrates the fact that American poetry includes E.A.Robinson as well as William Carlos Williams; neither invalidates the other; they add up; one can have free verse as well as accentual-syllabic verse; and there is a place for the prose poem. The idea is that American poetry offers a democratic welcome to a large variety of possibilities, following the example given by the national life, which has thrived on a principle of inclusion.