Eight American Poets: An Anthology

In this generous anthology, Joel Conarroe has assembled the work of eight poets who have shaped—and to some extent defined—American verse since 1940: Elizabeth Bishop, James Merrill, Sylvia Plath, Allen Ginsberg, Theodore Roethke, John Berryman, Anne Sexton, and Robert Lowell. The 164 selections in Eight American Poets include widely anthologized works like Roethke's "My Papa's Waltz," several of Berryman's "Dream Songs," and Anne Sexton's "Ringing the Bells," as well as poems that are less familiar but just as haunting. Prefaced with a discerning introduction and individual biographical essays.

The author of books and essays about American poetry and fiction and the editor Six American Poets, Joel Conarroe is president of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, which awards fellowships to artists and scholars. He has previously served as chairman of the English department and dean of arts and sciences at the University of Pennsylvania and as executive director fo the Modern Language Association. He has earned degrees from Davidson College, Cornell University, and New York University, and has been awarded honorary doctorates by several institutions.