English Language and Literature ETDs

Publication Date

5-26-1971

Abstract

This dissertation presents the contents of nine editions of a collection of American poetry in print since 1919 and outlines its author's methods and contexts of selection. The first and longest chapter, "As Many Tongues as Tastes," alphabetizes and charts the anthology's 210 poets and more than 1300 poems in this fashion:

Editions of MAP:

1919

21

25

30

36

42

50

62

69

ADAMS, Franklin P. 1881-1960

The Rich Man

X

X

X

X

X

X

-

-

-

Those Two Boys

X

X

X

X

X

X

-

-

-

War and Peace

-

X

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

3

2

3

2

2

2

2

0

0

0

*****

ZATURENSKA, Marya 1902-

Head of Medusa

-

-

-

-

-

X

X

X

X

The Daisy

-

-

-

-

-

X

X

X

X

The Lovers

-

-

-

-

-

X

X

X

X

The Tempest

-

-

-

-

-

X

X

X

X

The White Dress

-

-

-

-

-

X

X

X

X

Woman at the Piano

-

-

-

-

-

X

X

X

X

6

0

0

0

0

0

6

6

6

6

Portions of correspondence between Untermeyer and those whose poems he included, as well as information recently garnered from living authors, including the anthologist, provide relief from the flood of names, titles, dashes, X's, and numbers. More is obtained observing similarities and differences in the nine editions. And the following table gives an idea of the labors Untermeyer was caught up in:

Edition

Sales

Poets

Poems

Pages

1919

8,786

80

132

170

1921

56,560

98

285

406

1925

54,640

133

592

621

1930

38,621

153

745

850

1936

22,445

108

784

654

1942

37,996

93

792

712

1950

42,145

64

738

709

1962

29,520

76

776

701

1969

Not Available

81

787

710

Chapter two, "A Well-Tempered Anthologist," and chapter three, "Politics and Poetry," discuss the private and the public man who became more symbol than substance after 1930, especially as poets found ''Mr. U" could not always accommodate them. Attention is paid Untermeyer's friendships (Robert Frost), quarrels (Conrad Aiken), and impasses (Ezra Pound). And both chapters show how the anthologist appreciated tradition at the same time he acknowledged experiment. Chapter four, "Opinions and Garlands," suggests Untermeyer's volume is an important transitional document in American letters. In addition to becoming the historical extension of Griswold's and Stedman's earlier efforts to bring readers and poets together, Modern American Poetry proved a pristine venture that opened doors for later sophisticated, and often more successful, volumes. Finally, the question emerges regarding the validity of any printed anthology in the present era when the sung and spoken word is so readily accessible.

Degree Name

English

Level of Degree

Doctoral

Department Name

English

First Committee Member (Chair)

George Warren Arms

Second Committee Member

Ernest Warnock Tedlock Jr.

Third Committee Member

Franklin Miller Dickey

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

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