Poetry of the American suburbs

Abstract

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] Poetry of the American Suburbs is the first literary study to offer a broad discussion of the relationship between twentieth-century poetry and suburbia. This discussion fills a conspicuous scholarly gap. In the past decade several critics have examined suburban content in novels and shown how fictional characters think of suburban affluence as a hindrance to individuality. Poets convey similar ideas of suburban affluence; however, they do so ironically. This dissertation argues that poets seek to expose the problems that underlie suburbia, even while they associate themselves forthrightly with this environment. In particular, Poetry of the American Suburbs uses historical research and textual analyses to show how poetry emphasizes suburbia's failure to provide leisure and autonomy to its residents. This failure is central to the ways in which Americans conceive of suburbia, which is as much a social construction as a type of space. The four chapters and conclusion engage a variety of poets spanning from modernism, in the early decades of the century, to the present day. Among the writers covered are William Carlos Williams, Wallace Stevens, Richard Wilbur, James Dickey, John Ashbery, and Charles Wright. These figures, both major and comparatively minor poets, worry that suburbia might assimilate both their personalities and their creative work. As a whole, this dissertation reveals that poets have responded to this common anxiety in remarkably individual ways.