Narrative and Voice in Postwar Poetry

Poetry in English since the Second World War has produced a number of highly original narrative works, as diverse as Derek Walcott’s Omeros, Ted Hughes’ Gaudete and Anne Stevenson’s Correspondences. At the same time, poetry in general has been permeated by narrative features, particularly those linguistic characteristics that Mikhail Bakhtin considered peculiar to the novel, and which he termed dialogic . This book examines the narrative and dialogic elements in the work of a range of poets from Britain, America, Ireland, Australia and the Caribbean, including poetry from the immediate postwar years to the contemporary, and novel-like narratives to personal lyrics. Its unifying theme is the way in which these poets, with such contrasting styles and from such varied backgrounds, respond to and creatively adapt the language-worlds, and hence the social worlds in which they live. The volume includes a detailed bibliography to assist students in further study, and will be a valuable resource to undergraduate and postgraduate students of contemporary poetry.