Programs good for 20th C and contemporary poetry/poetics?

[impairedconjugation]

Hi all. I'm currently an MFA candidate in poetry, planning to apply to Ph.D programs next cycle (2020). My interests mainly lie in twentieth century & contemporary American & British poetry—particularly in experimental/avant garde poetics—though I also have a strong interest in 18th C literature. My undergrad education was in philosophy & English, and I am looking at programs that will also have a strong theoretical emphasis. The programs I'm most interested in right now are UC Berkeley, U Chicago, U Penn, Yale, and possibly Johns Hopkins and UC Irvine. Given that these are all incredibly competitive programs, I'm hoping to widen the net a bit. Are there any other programs that would be good options to add to my list to investigate?

Edited November 7, 2018 by impairedconjugation

[Warelin]

I think it's important to remember that any program worth getting into is going to be competitive. I'm not sure if a noncompetitive funded English Ph.D. Program exists.

Some programs that come into mind with your interests are:

Vanderbilt University (Rachel Teukolsky and Candice Amich)
Washington University in St. Louis (Vivian Pollak, Vincent Sherry, Steven Meyer, Rafia Zafar)
Emory University (Walter Kalaidjian, Paul Kelleher, Ross Knecht)
Northwestern University (John Culter, Mary Kinzie, Harris Feinsod,  Reginald Gibbons)
Brandeis University (William Flesch, Laura Quinney, John Burt, Dawn Skorczewski)

[impairedconjugation]

Oh, absolutely—didn't mean to imply that I'm looking for "safety" schools. Just curious about checking out as many potentially good fits as possible. Thank you!