6 x 9. 304 pgs. 12 illustrations. (1994) Paper 978-0-472-08318-3 $26.95S  Available Add to Cart Search this Book's Content About the Book Praise Look Inside Subjects American Studies / Literary Studies--American Literature / Literary Studies--Poetry and Poetry Criticism / Media and Communication--Cinema Studies

The American Poet at the Movies
A Critical History

Laurence Goldstein



A timely and engaging exploration of cinema's influence on verse--a treat for poetry lovers and film buffs alike

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About the Book

The American Poet at the Movies: A Critical History presents a series of case studies that shows how poets perceived the new technology of cinema as a rival threatening to their prestige, but also as a sister art deserving of encouragement. Each chapter places a key poem at the center and takes up the issues arising from the engagement of these two art forms, such as the poets' mixed feelings about living in a national culture dominated by visual media. Whether it is Hart Crane writing on Chaplin, Delmore Schwartz on Marilyn Monroe, Frank O'Hara on James Dean, or Louise Erdrich on John Wayne, poets have made sense of their own time by reference to film icons and values shared by all Americans thanks to the dream factory, Hollywood.

As an increasingly popular genre of modern poetry, and one that permits a unique view of this century's dominant art form, the movie poem has needed an explanatory book like this one. As cinema and television continue to wield extraordinary influence over the lives of all Americans, the efforts of poets to understand the visual culture will come to be appreciated as central to the task of modern and postmodern literature. This critical history is an important and timely contribution to the study of American literature and American institutions.

Laurence Goldstein is editor of the Michigan Quarterly Review and Professor of English, University of Michigan.