Book contents
- The Cambridge History of American Poetry
- The Cambridge History of American Poetry
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Notes on Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Beginnings: Poetry before 1800
- Part II A New Nation: Poetry from 1800 to 1900
- Chapter 7 Asserting a National Voice
- Chapter 8 The Emergence of Romantic Traditions
- Chapter 9 Linen Shreds and Melons in a Field
- Chapter 10 Edgar Allan Poe’s Lost Worlds
- Chapter 11 Longfellow in His Time
- Chapter 12 Whittier, Holmes, Lowell, and the New England Tradition
- Chapter 13 Other Voices, Other Verses
- Chapter 14 American Poetry Fights the Civil War
- Chapter 15 Walt Whitman’s Invention of a Democratic Poetry
- Chapter 16 Emily Dickinson
- Chapter 17 The South in Reconstruction
- Chapter 18 The “Genteel Tradition” and Its Discontents
- Chapter 19 Disciplined Play
- Chapter 20 Dialect, Doggerel, and Local Color
- Chapter 21 Political Poets and Naturalism
- Part III Forms of Modernism, 1900–1950
- Part IV Beyond Modernism: American Poetry, 1950–2000
- Selected Bibliographies
- Index
Chapter 21 - Political Poets and Naturalism
from Part II - A New Nation: Poetry from 1800 to 1900
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 December 2014
Book contents
- The Cambridge History of American Poetry
- The Cambridge History of American Poetry
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Notes on Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Beginnings: Poetry before 1800
- Part II A New Nation: Poetry from 1800 to 1900
- Chapter 7 Asserting a National Voice
- Chapter 8 The Emergence of Romantic Traditions
- Chapter 9 Linen Shreds and Melons in a Field
- Chapter 10 Edgar Allan Poe’s Lost Worlds
- Chapter 11 Longfellow in His Time
- Chapter 12 Whittier, Holmes, Lowell, and the New England Tradition
- Chapter 13 Other Voices, Other Verses
- Chapter 14 American Poetry Fights the Civil War
- Chapter 15 Walt Whitman’s Invention of a Democratic Poetry
- Chapter 16 Emily Dickinson
- Chapter 17 The South in Reconstruction
- Chapter 18 The “Genteel Tradition” and Its Discontents
- Chapter 19 Disciplined Play
- Chapter 20 Dialect, Doggerel, and Local Color
- Chapter 21 Political Poets and Naturalism
- Part III Forms of Modernism, 1900–1950
- Part IV Beyond Modernism: American Poetry, 1950–2000
- Selected Bibliographies
- Index
Summary
A great deal of critical attention has been paid to naturalism in fiction, not as much has been paid to the movement's impact on poetry, perhaps in part because naturalist poets themselves appeared most successful in other genres, especially fiction and social science. The most important and influential American naturalist poets, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Edwin Markham and Stephen Crane, were writing for a popular press, with the line between muckraking journalism and poetry at times significantly blurred. Gilman's politics build on a foundational naturalism: while individuals are controlled by their environment, she also believes that that environment is susceptible to change. Also like Gilman, Markham became widely famous for a single blockbuster poem. Crane's naturalism is on full display, as his speaker finds himself in a world where man is beast, caught in a jungle that allows for no comfort in any guiding light.
Keywords
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge History of American Poetry , pp. 472 - 494Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2014