Contents

Introduction

THE IDEA OF ADOLESCENCE. PASTORAL AND REBELLION. HISTORY AND PRECURSORS: SPENSER TO BYRON TO RIMBAUD. CHAPTER SUMMARIES.

1  Modernist Poetics of Adolescence

G. K. HALL AND RANDOLPH BOURNE. EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY. MODERNIST “LITTLE MAGAZINES.” WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS. MARIANNE MOORE.

2  From Schools to Subcultures: Adolescence in Modern British Poetry

THE PUBLIC SCHOOL. W. H. AUDEN. PHILIP LARKIN’S SCHOOL STORIES. LARKIN’S 1960S AND 1970S. THOM GUNN. BASIL BUNTING’S 1960S,

3  Soldiers, Babysitters, Delinquents, and Mutants: Adolescence in Midcentury American Poetry

YOUNG SOLDIERS IN THE POEMS OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR. PHYLLIS MCGINLEY. THE BEATS. “THE NEW MUTANTS.” GEORGE OPPEN. GWENDOLYN BROOKS. ROBERT LOWELL.

4  Are You One of Those Girls? Feminist Poetics of Adolescence

FEMINIST MODELS AND GIRLS’ ADOLESCENCE. PLATH AND SEXTON. POEMS ENTITLED “ADOLESCENCE.” LAURA KASISCHKE. “GIRLS’ TALK.” THYLIAS MOSS. JORIE GRAHAM.

5  An Excess of Dreamy Possibilities: Ireland and Australia

PAUL MULDOON: “THIRTEEN OR FOURTEEN.” MULDOON AND NARRATIVE. AUSTRALIA’S “GENERATION OF ’68.” JOHN TRANTER. LES MURRAY.

6  Midair: Adolescence in Contemporary American Poetry

MALE POETS OF THE BABY BOOM: LEVIS, KOMUNYAKAA, KOETHE. POETRY AND ROCK AND ROLL. YOUNG POETS AND SUBCULTURES. LIZ WALDNER. CONCLUSION.

 

Notes

Works Cited

Acknowledgments

Index