The Still Performance: Writing, Self, and Interconnection in Five Postmodern American Poets

The Still Performance examines the poetry of five postmodern American poets: Elizabeth Bishop, John Ashberry, Adrienne Rich, W.S. Merwin, and Charles Wright. McCorkle devotes a chapter to each one of these five poets and provides an extensive overview of their poetics.

The author concludes that postmodern poetry, and these poets in particular, are engaged in various but overlapping reappraisals of modernism. More importantly, he asserts the necessity of critical inquiry bound to the persistent act of self-examination.

The Still Performance examines the poetry of five postmodern American poets: Elizabeth Bishop, John Ashberry, Adrienne Rich, W.S. Merwin, and Charles Wright. McCorkle devotes a chapter to each one of these five poets and provides an extensive overview of their poetics.

The author concludes that postmodern poetry, and these poets in particular, are engaged in various but overlapping reappraisals of modernism. More importantly, he asserts the necessity of critical inquiry bound to the persistent act of self-examination.

James McCorkle is Assistant Professor of English at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, New York. He is the editor of Conversant Essays: Contemporary Poets on Poetry (1989).