Poetry and Poetics

[ThePoet]

Hello poetry lovers!

Since next year I plan on reapplying, can anyone recommend excellent Poetry & Poetics programs?

Who are the leading critics out there (aside from the soon-to-be-retired Vendler and Perloff)?

Can you recommend good reading material in preparation for next year (mainly theoretical)?

I don't live in the U.S. and our resources are slim; nonetheless, I have access to major online databases (jstor, etc.).

Thanks again for your help,

M.

[Minnesotan]

You might want to be more specific. For instance, if you are interested in ecopoetics, there are a lot of up and coming programs who are middle-rung on the prestige ladder, otherwise. Washington State U. springs to mind.

I guess the point is that there is not going to be a generalist program that excels in all areas. You need to figure out the type of work you want to do, then find the type of scholar you like to read. Find out where these folks teach, and you know where to apply.

[ThePoet]

Thanks for the post.

I'm mainly interested in American Poetry after WWII.

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

[draff]

What would be some poets you've been interested in? That would help narrow things down.

Without that to go on, I'd just say that Temple has Rachel Blau DuPlessis, Emory (I think still) has Walter Kalaidjian, UCSC has Nathaniel Mackey, U Wisconsin-Madison has Lynn Keller, UC Berkeley has a number of people (but Charles Altieri might be a place to start), WUSTL has Mary Jo Bang (formerly Columbia, Iowa's Writer Workshop, and Yale), Guinn Batten (formerly taught at Duke), and Vivian Pollak , Simon Fraser (in Vancouver, BC) has Stephen Collis, University of Virginia has Jerome McGann, etc. etc. etc. ...I've gotten quite a lot from each of those folks' critical writings. That's also just the top of my head right now. If I had a sense of what poetries you had a critical investment in, it would be easier to recommend reading.

[engguy]

Quote

I'm mainly interested in American Poetry after WWII.

UPenn, U Chicago, and Buffalo are the three main centers for what (I'm guessing) you're going for here. On the West Coast, yes, UCSC and Berkeley would be two others -- Mackey and Lyn Hejinian, respectively. But as Minnesotan suggested, simply researching where the poets are teaching would be a great first step. In terms of actual thriving poetics programs with a fair number of students doing what you're doing, however, the first three are where I'd start. Perhaps WUSTL as well.

[ThePoet]

Thanks for the posts!

I'm interested in the Beats and female poets (Plath and Sexton).

I know those are two totally different fields, but I'm still exploring...

Any helpful advice concerning theory (and where to begin) would also be appreciated.

BTW- I applied to WUSTL and U Chicago and was rejected- do you think I should reapply next year?

Thanks