Donald M. Allen (1912–2004)

Published in 1960, this is considered a classic anthology introducing the poetic movements that began to mature in the 1950s. For me, its value is almost entirely historical, but it admittedly has huge historical value. The copy I have, picked up at a library book sale, is the original with the contents divided into six parts, which I lay out in detail below because it best expresses the scope of the book:

I. Black Mountain poets
Charles Olson
Robert Duncan
Denise Levertov
Paul Blackburn
Robert Creeley
Paul Carroll
Larry Eigner
Edward Dorn
Jonathan Williams
Joel Oppenheimer

II. San Francisco Renaissance
Helen Adam
Brother Antoninus
James Broughton
Madeline Gleason
Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Robin Blaser
Jack Spicer
Lew Welch
Richard Duerden
Philip Lamantia
Bruce Boyd
Kirby Doyle
Ebby Borregaard

III. Beats
Jack Kerouac
Allen Ginsberg
Gregory Corso
Peter Orlovsky

IV. The New York School
Barbara Guest
James Schuyler
Edward Field
Kenneth Koch
Frank O'Hara
John Ashberry

V. A group of young poets difficult to classify
Philip Whalen
Gilbert Sorrentino
Stuart Z. Perkoff
Gary Snyder
Edward Marshall
Michael McClure
Ray Bremser
LeRoi Jones
John Weiners
Ron Loewinsohn
David Meltzer

VI. Statements on Poetics
Charles Olson: Projective Verse and Letter to Elaine Feinstein
Robert Duncan: Pages from a notebook
Robert Creeley: To Define and Olson & Others: Some Orts for the Sports
Denise Levertov
Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Jack Spicer: Letter to Lorca
Jack Kerouac
Allen Ginsberg: Notes for Howl and Other Poems
James Schuyler: Poet and Painter Overture
Frank O'Hara
Philip Whalen
Gary Snyder
Michael McClure: From a Journal
LeRoi Jones: "How You Sound??"
John Weiners: From a Journal

I can't say I found the poetry in this volume thrilling. I found a couple of poets I might look into further. Most of them I was always familiar with and have never taken a particular liking to, with the exceptions of Levertov and Ferlinghetti. So this book was something of a slog for me, but I did read it all. The selections are generous for some poets: 20 pages for Ginsberg and Duncan, over 30 for Olson and O'Hara. I also found the statements on poetics disappointing.

What I ended up treasuring most in this anthology was the biographical notes in the back. Some of them are the trim statements we've become accustomed to and some are entirely unleashed. Gregory Corso's is two and a half confessional pages. Robert Duncan's is a four page full biography in brief. Peter Orlovsky's contains a good deal of silliness ("I want the moon for fun").

I'm glad to have this anthology on my shelf and would recommend it to anyone with an affection for or curiosity about that period in the history of American poetry.… (meer)