N o r t o n A n t k o l o g y

o f A merican i t e r a t u r e

F I F T H E D I T I O N VOLUME 2

Nina Baym, General Editor S W A N L U N D E N D O W E D C H A I R A N D C E N T E R F O R

A D V A N C E D S T U D Y P R O F E S S O R O F E N G L I S H

U N I V E R S I T Y O F I L L I N O I S A T U R B A N A - C H A M P A I G N

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2 9 0 3 c o n s t i t u t e an ex tens ion o f t h e c o p y r i g h t page.

I S B N 0 - 3 9 3 - 9 5 8 7 2 - 8 ( p b k . )

W . W . N o r t o n & C o m p a n y , I n c . , 500 F i f t h A v e n u e , N e w Y o r k , N . Y . 10110

h t t p : / / w w \ v . w w n o r t o n . c o m

W . W . N o r t o n & C o m p a n y L t d . , 10 C o p t i c Street , L o n d o n W C I A I P U

12 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0

Contents

PREFACE T O T H E F I F T H E D I T I O N xxix

A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S xxxiii

American Literature 1865-1914 I

Introduction 1

Timeline 16

SAMUEL L. C L E M E N S (Mark Twain) (1835-1910) 18 The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County 21 Roughing I t 25

[The Story of the Old Ram] 25 Adventures of Huckleberry Finn 28 [The Art of Authorship ] 217 How to Tell a Story 218 Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offences 221

BRET HARTE (1836-1902) 230 The Outcasts of Poker Flat 231

W. D. H O W E L L S (1837-1920) 239 Novel-Writing and Novel-Reading 241 Editha 258

AMBROSE BIERCE (1842-1914?) 268 An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge 269

NATIVE AMERICAN ORATORY 275

COCHISE (c. 1812-1874) 276 [I am alone] 277

CHARLOT(c . 1831-1900) 278 [He has filled graves w i t h our bones] 279

vii

v i i i / C O N T E N T S

H E N R Y J A M E S ( 1 8 4 3 - 1 9 1 6 ) 2 8 1 Da i sy M i l l e r : A S t u d y 2 8 5 T h e Real T h i n g 323 T h e Beast i n t h e Jung le 3 4 1 T h e A r t o f F i c t i o n 3 7 0 T h e G r e a t G o o d Place 385 T h e Jo l ly C o r n e r 4 0 2

J O E L C H A N D L E R H A R R I S ( 1 8 4 8 - 1 9 0 8 ) 4 2 4 T h e W o n d e r f u l T a r - B a b y S to ry 4 2 6 M r . R a b b i t Gross ly Deceives M r . Fox 4 2 7

S A R A H O R N E J E W E T T ( 1 8 4 9 - 1 9 0 9 ) 4 3 0 A W h i t e H e r o n 4 3 1 T h e F o r e i g n e r 4 3 8

K A T E C H O P I N ( 1 8 5 0 - 1 9 0 4 ) 455 A t t h e ' C a d i a n B a l l 4 5 7 T h e S t o r m 4 6 4 T h e A w a k e n i n g 4 6 7

M A R Y E . W I L K I N S F R E E M A N ( 1 8 5 2 - 1 9 3 0 ) 559 A N e w E n g l a n d N u n 5 6 0 T h e Revo l t o f " M o t h e r " 568

B O O K E R T . W A S H I N G T O N ( 1 8 5 6 ? - 1 9 1 5 ) 579 U p F r o m Slavery 581

C h a p t e r I . A Slave A m o n g Slaves 581 C h a p t e r I I . B o y h o o d Days 5 8 9 C h a p t e r X I V . T h e A t l a n t a E x p o s i t i o n Address 595 C h a p t e r X V . T h e Secret o f Success i n P u b l i c S p e a k i n g 603

C H A R L E S W . C H E S N U T F ( 1 8 5 8 - 1 9 3 2 ) 6 1 5 T h e G o o p h e r e d G r a p e v i n e 6 1 7 T h e W i f e o f H i s Y o u t h 6 2 4

C H A R L E S A L E X A N D E R E A S T M A N ( O H I Y E S A ) ( 1 8 5 8 - 1 9 3 9 ) F r o m t h e D e e p W o o d s t o C i v i l i z a t i o n 633

C h a p t e r V I . A D o c t o r a m o n g t h e I n d i a n s 6 3 3 C h a p t e r V I I . T h e G h o s t D a n c e W a r 6 3 8

6 3 2

H A M L I N G A R L A N D ( 1 8 6 0 - 1 9 4 0 ) U n d e r t h e L i o n ' s P a w 6 4 6

6 4 5

C H A R L O T T E P E R K I N S O I L M A N ( 1 8 6 0 - 1 9 3 5 ) T h e Y e l l o w W a l l - p a p e r 6 5 7 W h y I W r o t e The Yellow Wall-paper? 6 6 9

6 5 6

E D I T H W H A R T O N ( 1 8 6 2 - 1 9 3 7 ) Souls B e l a t e d 6 7 2 T h e Eyes 6 9 1

6 7 0

C O N T E N T S / ix

MARY A U S T I N (1868-1934) 704 The Walking Woman 706

W . E. B. D U BOIS (1868-1963) 711 The Souls of Black Folk 713

The Forethought 713 I . Of Our Spiritual Strivings 714 H I . Of M r . Booker T. Washington and Others 719 XIV. The Sorrow Songs 729

FRANK NORRIS (1870-1902) 736 A Plea for Romantic Fiction 738

STEPHEN CRANE (1871-1900) 741 The Open Boat 743 The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky 760 The Blue Hotel 768 An Episode of War 787

THEODORE DREISER (1871-1945) 790 Old Rogaum and His Theresa 792

JOHN M . OSKISON (1874-1947) 805 The Problem of Old Harjo 806

JACK L O N D O N (1876-1916) 811 The Law of Life 812 To Build a Fire 817

NATIVE AMERICAN CHANTS AND SONGS 828

THE NAVAJO N I G H T C H A N T 828 The Sacred Mountains 829 Dance of the Atsalei, or Thunderbirds 831

CHIPPEWA SONGS 834 Song of the Crows 835 My Love Has Departed 836 Love-Charm Song 837 The Approach of the Storm 838 The Sioux Women Gather Up Their Wounded 838 The Sioux Woman Defends Her Children 838 Song of the Captive Sioux Woman 839

GHOST DANCE SONGS 839 Songs of the Arapaho 840

[Father, have pity on me] 840 [When I met h im approaching] 841

Songs of the Sioux 842 [The father says so] 842

X / CONTENTS

[Give me my knife] 842 [The whole world is coming] 843

WOVOKA(c. 1856-1932) The Messiah Letter: Cheyenne Version 845 The Messiah Letter: Mooney's Free Rendering 846

843

GERTRUDE SIMMONS BONNIN (Zitkala Sa) (1876-1938) Impressions of an Indian Childhood 848 The School Days of an Indian Girl 860 An Indian Teacher among Indians 870

846

HENRY ADAMS (1838-1918) 875 The Education of Henry Adams 877

Editor's Preface 877 Preface 879 Chapter I . Quincy (1838-1848) 880 Chapter XIX. Chaos (1870) 892 Chapter XXV. The Dynamo and the Virgin (1900) 902

American Literature between the Wars, 1914-1945 911

Introduction 911 Timeline 922

BLACK ELK (1863-1950) aw J JOHN G. NEIHARDT (1881-1973) 924 Black Elk Speaks 925

I I I . The Great Vision 925

EDGAR LEE MASTERS (1868-1950) 937 Serepta Mason 938 Trainor, the Druggist 938 Doc Hill 939 Margaret Fuller Slack 939 Abel Melveny 939 Lucinda Matlock 940

EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON (1869-1935) 941 Luke Havergal 941 The House on the Hill 942 Richard Cory 943 Credo 943 Miniver Cheevy 944 Eros Turannos 945 Mr. Flood's Party 946

WILLA GATHER (1873-1947) My Antonia 949

947

C O N T E N T S / xi

A M Y L O W E L L (1874-1925) The Captured Goddess 1085 Venus Transiens 1086 Madonna of the Evening Flowers 1087 September, 1918 1088 Meeting-House H i l l 1088 Summer Night Piece 1089 St. Louis 1089 New Heavens for Old 1090

GERTRUDE STEIN (1874-1946) The Making of Americans 1093

[Introduction] 1093 Tender Buttons 1105

Objects 1105

ROBERT FROST (1874-1963) The Pasture 1117 Mowing 1117 The Tuft of Flowers 1117 Mending Wal l 1119 The Death of the Hired M a n 1120 Home Burial 1124 After Apple-Picking 1127 The Wood-Pile 1128 The Road Not Taken 1128 An Old Man's Winter Night 1129 The Oven Bird 1130 Birches 1130 "Out, O u t — " 1131 Fire and Ice 1132 Nothing Gold Can Stay 1132 Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening A Boundless Moment 1133 Spring Pools 1133 Once by the Pacific 1134 Two Tramps in M u d Time 1134 Departmental 1136 Desert Places 1137 Design 1137

Neither out Far nor in Deep 1138 Provide, Provide 1138 The Gift Outright 1139 Directive 1139 The Figure a Poem Makes 1141

SHERWOOD A N D E R S O N (1876-1941) WINESBURG, OHIO 1 144 Mother 1144 Adventure 1149 "Queer" 1154

1084

1091

1115

1133

1143

x i i / C O N T E N T S

C A R L S A N D B U R G (1878-1967) 1160 Chicago 1161 Halsted Street Car 1162 Chi ld of the Romans 1162 Fog 1163 Prairie Waters by Night 1163 Cool Tombs 1163 Grass 1164

W A L L A C E STEVENS (1879-1955) 1 164 The Snow M a n 1166 A High-Toned Old Christian Woman 1166 The Emperor of Ice-Cream 1167 Disil lusionment of Ten O'Clock 1167 Sunday M o r n i n g 1168 Anecdote of the Jar 1171 Gubbinal 1171 Peter Quince at the Clavier 1172 Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird 1174 The Death of a Soldier 1175 The Idea of Order at Key West 1176 A Postcard from the Volcano 1177 Study of Two Pears 1178 The Sense of the Sleight-of-Hand M a n 1179 O f Modern Poetry 1179 Asides on the Oboe 1180 A n Ordinary Evening i n New Haven 1181

I ("The eye's plain version is a thing apart") 1181 IX ("We keep coming back and coming back") 1181 X I I ("The poem is the cry of its occasion") 1182 X X I I ("Professor Eucalyptus said, 'The search' ") 1182 X X V I I I ("If it should be true that reahty exists") 1183 XXX ("The last leaf that is going to fall has fallen") 1183

The Plain Sense of Things 1 184

A N G E L I N A W E L D G R I M K E (1880-1958) The Closing Door 1186

1185

A N Z I A YEZIERSKA (1880?-1970) The Lost "Beautifulness" 1204

1202

W I L L I A M CARLOS W I L L I A M S (1883-1963) The Young Housewife 1216 Portrait of a Lady 1217 W i l l o w Poem 1217

1214

Queen-Anne's-Lace 1218 The Widow's Lament in Springtime 1218 Spring and A l l 1219 To Elsie 1220 The Red Wheelbarrow 1221 The Dead Baby 1222

C O N T E N T S / x i i i

The W i n d Increases 1222 Death 1223 This Is Just to Say 1224 A Sort of a Song 1225 The Dance ("In Brueghel's great picture, The Kei Burning the Christmas Greens 1225

•rmess") 1225

Lear 1227 The Ivy Crown 1228 Landscape wi th the Fall of Icarus 1230 The Dance ("When the snow falls the flakes") 1 2 3 1

EZRA P O U N D (1885-1972) 1232 To Whistler, American 1234 Portrait d'une Femme 1234 A Virginal 1235 A Pact 1235 The Rest 1236 In a Station of the Metro 1236 The River-Merchant's Wife: A Letter 1236 Villanelle: The Psychological Hour 1237 Hugh Selwyn Mauberley (Life and Contacts) 1239

T H E CANTOS

I ("And then went down to the ship") 1246 XVII ("So that the vines burst from my fingers") 1248

Mid-day 1254 Oread 1255 Leda 1255 AtBaia 1256 Fragment 113 1257 Helen 1258 The Walls Do Not Fall 1259

1-6 1259 20-24 1264 39-43 1267

ROBINSON JEFFERS (1887-1962) 1270 To the Stone-Cutters 1271 Shine, Perishing Republic 1271 Hurt Hawks 1272 November Surf 1273 Carmel Point 1273 Vulture 1274 Birds and Fishes 1274

MARIANNE M O O R E (1887-1972) 1275 Poetry 1276 A Grave 1277 To a Snail 1278

XLV ("With Usura") 1251

H . D. ( H I L D A D O O L I T T L E ) (1886-1961) 1253

xiv / C O N T E N T S

What Are Years? 1278 Bird-Witted 1279 The Paper Nautilus 1280 Nevertheless 1281 The M i n d Is an Enchanting Thing 1282 I n Distrust of Merits 1283 A Face 1285 "Keeping Their W o r l d Large" 1286 O to Be a Dragon 1286

E U G E N E O ' N E I L L (1888-1953) 1287 Long Day's Journey into Night 1289

T. S. E L I O T (1888-1965) 1368 The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock 1370 Sweeney among the Nightingales 1373 From Tradit ion and the Individual Talent 1375 Gerontion 1378 The Waste Land 1380 T h e H o l W M e n 1393 Journey of the Magi 1395

FOUR QUARTETS 1397

Burnt Norton 1397

J O H N C R O W E R A N S O M (1888-1974) 1401 Bells for John Whiteside's Daughter 1402 Here Lies a Lady 1403 Philomela 1403 Piazza Piece 1404 Janet Waking 1405

C L A U D E M c K A Y (1889-1948) 1406 Exhortation: Summer, 1919 1407 Outcast 1407 Africa 1408 The Harlem Dancer 1408 The Lynching 1408 Harlem Shadows 1409 America 1409 I f W e Must Die 1410 O W o r d I Love to Sing 1410 Moscow 1410

K A T H E R I N E A N N E PORTER (1890-1980) 1411 Flowering Judas 1412 Theft 1421

ZORA N E A L E H U R S T O N (1891-1960) The Eatonville Anthology 1427 How I t Feels to Be Colored Me 1436

1426

The Gilded Six-Bits 1439 Their Eyes Were Watching God 1447

Chapter 2 1448 Chapter 3 1450

EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY (1892-1950) Recuerdo 1457 I Think I Should Have Loved You Presently 1457 [ I , being born a woman] 1458 Apostrophe to Man 1458 I Too beneath Your Moon, Almighty Sex 1458 The Snow Storm 1459 I Forgot for a Moment 1459 [I will put Chaos into fourteen lines] 1460

DOROTHY PARKER (1893-1967) DeProfundis 1461 Resume 1461 General Review of the Sex Situation 1462 The Waltz 1462

GENEVIEVE TAGGARD (1894-1948) Everyday Alchemy 1466 With Child 1467 Return of the Native 1467 A Middle-aged, Middle-class Woman at Midnight 1467 At Last the Women Are Moving 1468 O People Misshapen 1469 Mill Town 1469 To My Mother 1470

JAMES THURBER (1894-1961) The Night the Bed Fell 1471 The Secret Life of Walter Mitty 1474

E. E. CUMMINGS (1894-1962) Thy fingers make early flowers of 1479 in just- 1479 0 sweet spontaneous 1480 Buffalo Bill's 1481 the Cambridge ladies who live in furnished souls 1481 Poem,or Beauty Hurts Mr. Vinal 1481 "next to of course god america i 1483 1 sing of Olaf glad and big 1483 if there are any heavens my mother will(all by herself )have somewhere i have never travelled,gladly beyond 1485 anyone lived in a pretty how town 1485 my father moved through dooms of love 1486 pity this busy monster,manunkind 1488 what if a much of a which of a wind 1489

xvi / CONTENTS

JEAN TOOMER (1894-1967) 1489 Cane 1490

Georgia Dusk 1490 Fern 1491 Portrait in Georgia 1494 Seventh Street 1494

F. SCOTT FITZGERALD (1896-1940) 1495 Babylon Revisited 1496

JOHN DOS PASSOS (1896-1970) 1511 U.S.A. 1512 The Big Money 1512

Newsreel LXVIII 1512 The Camera Eye (51) 1514 Mary French 1515

WILLIAM FAULKNER (1897-1962) 1532 As I Lay Dying 1534 Barn Burning 1630

LOUISE BOGAN (1897-1970) 1643 Medusa 1644 Portrait 1644 The Alchemist 1645 The Crows 1645 Women 1645 Cassandra 1646 Evening in the Sanitarium 1646

HART CRANE (1899-1932) 1647 Chaplinesque 1649 At Melville's Tomb 1649 Voyages 1650

I ("Above the fresh ruffles of the surf") 1650 I I I ("Infinite consanguinity it bears—") 1651 V ("Meticulous, past midnight in clear rime") 1651

THE BRIDGE 1652

ERNEST HEMINGWAY (1899-1961) 1685 The Snows of Kilimanjaro 1687

THOMAS WOLFE (1900-1938) 1704 The Lost Boy 1705

STERLING A. BROWN (1901-1989) 1725 Mister Samuel and Sam 1726 He Was a Man 1727 Master and Man 1728 Break of Day 1729 Bitter Fruit of the Tree 1730

C O N T E N T S / x v i i

L A N G S T O N H U G H E S (1902-1967) 1730 The Negro Speaks of Rivers 1731 Mother to Son 1732 The Weary Blues 1732 I , Too 1733 Mulat to 1734 Song for a Dark Gir l 1735 Vagabonds 1735 Genius Chi ld 1736 Refugee in America 1736 Madam and Her Madam 1736 Madam's Calling Cards 1737 Silhouette 1738 Visitors to the Black Beit 1738 Note on Commercial Theatre 1739 Democracy 1739

J O H N STEINBECK (1902-1968) The Leader of the People 1741

C O U N T E E C U L L E N (1903-1946) Yet Do I Marvel 1752 Incident 1752 Heritage 1753 From the Dark Tower 1755 Uncle Jim 1756

RICHARD W R I G H T (1908-1960) The Man W h o Was Almost a Man

1740

1751

1756 1758

M U R I E L RUKEYSER (1913-1980) 1766 Effort at Speech Between Two People 1767 Movie 1768 Alloy 1769 Suicide Blues 1769 Who in One Lifetime 1770 "Long Enough" 1771 The Poem as Mask 1771 Poem 1772 Painters 1772

American Prose since 1945 1773

Introduction 1773

Timeline 1783

EUDORA WELTY (b. 1909) Petrified Man 1785

1784

xviii / C O N T E N T S

T E N N E S S E E W I L L I A M S (1911-1983) A Streetcar Named Desire 1797

J O H N C H E E V E R (1912-1982) The Swimmer 1862

1794

1860

B E R N A R D M A L A M U D (1914-1986) The Magic Barrel 1871

R A L P H E L L I S O N (1914-1994) Invisible Man 1884

Prologue 1884 Chapter I [Battle Royal] 1891

S A U L B E L L O W (b. 1915) Looking for Mr. Green 1903

A R T H U R M I L L E R (b. 1915) Death of a Salesman 1919

1870

1883

1901

1917

G R A C E P A L E Y ( b . 1922) A Conversation with My Father 1986

K U R T V O N N E G U T (b. 1922) Fates Worse Than Death 1991

JAMES B A L D W I N (1924-1987) Going to Meet the Man 2000

F L A N N E R Y O ' C O N N O R (1925-1964) The Life You Save May Be Your Own 2012 Good Country People 2020

G O R E V I D A L ( b . 1925) The Robin 2035

1985

1990

1999

2011

2034

U R S U L A K. E E G U I N (b. 1929) Schrodinger's Cat 2039 She Unnames Them 2044

2038

P A U L E M A R S H A L L (b. 1929) Reena 2047

D O N A L D B A R T H E L M E (1931-1989) A Manual for Sons 2061

T O N I M O R R I S O N (b. 1931) Recitatif 2078

2046

2060

2077

J O H N U P D I K E (b. 1932) Separating 2096

2092

CONTENTS / xix

PHILIP ROTH (b. 1933) 2101 Defender of the Faith 2103

AMIRI BARAKA (LeRoi Jones) (b. 1934) 2124 Dutchman 2126 An Agony. As Now. 2139 A Poem for Willie Best 2140 Will They Cry When You're Gone, You Bet 2145

N. SCOTT MOMADAY (b. 1934) 2146 The Way to Rainy Mountain 2147

Headwaters 2147 Introduction 2147 IV 2151 XIII 2152 XVII 2153 XXIV 2154 Epilogue 2154 Rainy Mountain Cemetery 2156

GERALD VIZENOR (b. 1934) 2157 Almost Browne 2158

STEPHEN DIXON (b. 1936) 2163 Time to Go 2164

CLARENCE MAJOR (b. 1936) 2174 An Area in the Cerebral Hemisphere 2175

THOMAS PYNCHON (b. 1937) 2179 Entropy 2180

JOANNA RUSS (b. 1937) 2190 When It Changed 2191

RAYMOND CARVER (1938-1988) 2197 Cathedral 2197

ISHMAEL REED (b. 1938) 2209 The Last Days of Louisiana Red 2209

Chapter 36 [Mary Dalton's Dream] 2209 Neo-HooDoo Manifesto 2213

TONI CADE BAMBARA (1939-1995) 2218 Medley 2219

MAXINE HONG KINGSTON (b. 1940) 2230 Tripmaster Monkey 2232

1. Trippers and Askers 2232

XX / CONTENTS

DIANE GLANCY (b. 1941) 2257 Jack Wilson or Wovoka and Christ My Lord 2258 Polar Breath 2261

BARRY HANNAH (b. 1942) 2264 Midnight and I'm Not Famous Yet 2265

ALICE WALKER (b. 1944) 2273 Everyday Use 2274

ANNIE DILLARD (b. 1945) 2280 Holy the Firm 2281

ANN BEATIIE (b. 1947) 2300 Weekend 2302

DAVID MAMET(b. 1947) 2313 Glengarry Glen Ross 2315

LESLIE MARMON SILKO (b. 1948) 2348 Lullaby 2349

DENISECHAVEZ(b. 1948) 2355 The Last of the Menu Girls 2356

SANDRA CISNEROS (b. 1954) 2374 My Lucy Friend Who Smells Like Corn 2375 Eleven 2376 Salvador Late or Early 2378 Barbie-Q 2379 Mericans 2380 Tepeyac 2382

LOUISE ERDRICH (b. 1954) 2384 FJeur 2385

WILLIAM T. VOLLMANN (b. 1959) 2394 Red Hands 2395

American Poetry since 1945 2403

Introduction 2403 Timeline 2413

LORINE NIEDECKER (1903-1970) 2415 Poet's Work 2416 [I married] 2417 My Life by Water 2417 Lake Superior 2418 [Well, spring overflows the land] 2421

C O N T E N T S / x x i

R O B E R T P E N N W A R R E N ( 1 9 0 5 - 1 9 8 9 ) 2 4 2 2 Bearded Oaks 2 4 2 4 A u d u b o n 2 4 2 5

I . W a s N o t t h e L o s t D a u p h i n 2 4 2 5 V L Love a n d K n o w l e d g e 2 4 2 6 V I I . T e l l M e a S tory 2 4 2 6

A m e r i c a n P o r t r a i t : O l d Style 2 4 2 7 A c q u a i n t a n c e w i t h T i m e i n E a r l y A u t u m n 2 4 3 0 M o r t a l L i m i t 2 4 3 2 Af te r the D i n n e r Par ty 2 4 3 2

G E O R G E O P P E N ( 1 9 0 8 - 1 9 8 4 ) 2 4 3 3 Party o n S h i p b o a r d 2 4 3 5 [She l ies , h i p h i g h ] 2 4 3 5 T h e H i l l s 2 4 3 5 W o r k m a n 2 4 3 6 Psalm 2 4 3 6

From O f B e i n g N u m e r o u s 2 4 3 7 A n n i v e r s a r y P o e m 2 4 4 4

T H E O D O R E R O E T H K E ( 1 9 0 8 - 1 9 6 3 ) 2 4 4 5 C u t t i n g s 2 4 4 7 C u t t i n g s ( l a ter ) 2 4 4 7 W e e d P u l l e r 2 4 4 7 Frau B a u m a n , F r a u S c h m i d t , a n d F r a u S c h w a r t z e 2 4 4 8 M y Papa's W a l t z 2 4 4 9 N i g h t C r o w 2 4 4 9 T h e Lost Son 2 4 4 9 T h e W a k i n g 2 4 5 4 I K n e w a W o m a n 2 4 5 4 T h e Far F i e l d 2 4 5 5 W i s h fo r a Y o u n g W i f e 2 4 5 8 I n a D a r k T i m e 2 4 5 8

C H A R L E S O L S O N ( 1 9 1 0 - 1 9 7 0 ) 2 4 5 9 T H E M A X I M U S P O E M S 2 4 6 0

I , M a x i m u s o f G l o u c e s t e r , t o Y o u 2 4 6 0 M a x i m u s , to H i m s e l f 2 4 6 4 [ W h e n do poppies b l o o m ] 2 4 6 5 Celes t i a l E v e n i n g , O c t o b e r 1967 2 4 6 6

E L I Z A B E T H B I S H O P ( 1 9 1 1 - 1 9 7 9 ) 2 4 6 7 T h e U n b e l i e v e r 2 4 6 9 T h e F i sh 2 4 6 9 O v e r 2 , 0 0 0 I l l u s t r a t i o n s a n d a C o m p l e t e C o n c o r d a n c e 2 4 7 1 T h e B i g h t 2 4 7 3 A t the F i shhouses 2 4 7 4 Quest ions o f T r a v e l 2 4 7 6 T h e A r m a d i l l o 2 4 7 7 Sest ina 2 4 7 8 I n t h e W a i t i n g R o o m 2 4 7 9

xxii / CONTENTS

The Moose 2481 One Art 2485

ROBERT HAYDEN (1913-1980) 2486 Middle Passage 2488 Homage to the Empress of the Blues 2492 Those Winter Sundays 2493 The Night-Blooming Cereus 2493 Free Fantasia: Tiger Flowers 2495 Beginnings 2496 Elegies for Paradise Valley 2497

RANDALL JARRELL (1914-1965) 2501 90 North 2502 The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner 2503 Second Air Force 2504 The Marchen 2505 Next Day 2507 Well Water 2509 Thinking of the Lost World 2509

JOHN BERRYMAN (1914-1972) 2511 Homage to Mistress Bradstreet 2513

17-39 2513 DREAM SONGS 2519 1 ("Huffy Henry hid the day") 2519 14 ("Life, friends, is boring. We must not say so") 2520 29 ("There sat down, once, a thing on Henry's heart") 2520 40 ("I'm scared a lonely. Never see my son") 2521 45 ("He stared at ruin. Ruin stared straight back") 2521 384 ("The marker slants, flowerless, day's almost done") 2522 385 ("My daughter's heavier. Light leaves are flying") 2523

ROBERT LOWELL (1917-1977) 2523 Colloquy in Black Rock 2525 The Quaker Graveyard in Nantucket 2526 Mr. Edwards and the Spider 2530 My Last Afternoon with Uncle Devereux Winslow 2531 Memories of West Street and Lepke 2534 Skunk Hour 2536 Night Sweat 2537 For the Union Dead 2538 Death of Anne Boleyn 2540 Returning Turtle 2540 Epilogue 2540

GWENDOLYN BROOKS (b. 1917) A STREET I N BRONZEVILLE 2542 kitchenette building 2542 the mother 2543

2541

CONTENTS / x x i i i

a song in the front yard 2544 The Whi te Troops Had Their Orders But the Negroes Looked Like

M e n 2544 The Womanhood 2545

The Children of the Poor (II) 2545 We Real Cool 2545 The Bean Eaters 2545 A Bronzeville Mother Loiters i n Mississippi. Meanwhile a Mississippi

Mother Burns Bacon 2546 The Last Quatrain of the Ballad of Emmett T i l l 2549 The Blackstone Rangers 2549 To the Diaspora 2551 The Coora Flower 2552

ROBERT D U N C A N (1919-1988) 2552 Often I A m Permitted to Return to a Meadow 2555 A Poem Beginning w i t h a Line by Pindar 2556 Doves 2563 Achilles' Song 2565 Interrupted Forms 2566

RICHARD W I L B U R (b. 1921) 2567 The Beautiful Changes 2568 The Death of a Toad 2569 Ceremony 2569 "A W o r l d without Objects Is a Sensible Emptiness" 2570 Years-End 2571 Love Calls Us to the Things of This W o r l d 2571 The Mind-Reader 2572

JAMES DICKEY (1923-1997) Drowning w i t h Others 2577 The Heaven of Animals 2578 Falling 2579

2576

DENISE LEVERTOV (1923-1997) 2583 To the Snake 2585 The Jacob's Ladder 2585 In M i n d 2586 September 1961 2587 Olga Poems 2588

I I I 2588 1 ("Everything flows") 2588 2 ("Now as i f smoke or sweetness were blown my way") 2588 3 ("Black one, incubus—") 2589 V I ("Your eyes were the brown gold of pebbles under water") 2589

What Were They Like? 2590 Death in Mexico 2591 Zeroing I n 2592 Caedmon 2593

xxiv / CONTENTS

A. R. AMMONS (b. 1926) 2594 So I Said I Am Ezra 2595 Corsons Inlet 2596 Grace Abounding 2599 Easter Morning 2599 Singling & Doubling Together 2602 The Dwelling 2602 Garbage 2603

2 2603

JAMES MERRILL (1926-1995) 2607 An Urban Convalescence 2608 The Broken Home 2610 Lost in Translation 2613 Family Week at Oracle Ranch 2618

ROBERT GREELEY (b. 1926) 2623 Kore 2625 The Door 2626 For Love 2628 The Messengers 2629 For No Clear Reason 2630 The Birds 2630 Fathers 2631

ALLEN GINSBERG (1926-1997) 2632 Howl 2634 A Supermarket in California 2641 Sunflower Sutra 2642 To Aunt Rose 2643 On Burroughs' Work 2644 Ego Confession 2645

FRANK O'HARA (1926-1966) 2646 To the Harbormaster 2647 In Memory of My Feelings 2648 A Step Away from Them 2652 The Day Lady Died 2654 Ave Maria 2654

GALWAY KINNELL (b. 1927) 2655 The Porcupine 2656 Little Sleep's-Head Sprouting Hair in the Moonlight 2659 Saint Francis and the Sow 2662 After Making Love We Hear Footsteps 2663 Cemetery Angels 2663

JOHN ASHBERY (b. 1927) Illustration 2665 Soonest Mended 2666

2663

C O N T E N T S / xxv

Self-Portrait i n a Convex M i r r o r 2668 The Lament upon the Waters 2679 Myrtle 2680

W. S. M E R W I N (b. 1927) 2681 The Drunk in the Furnace 2682 For the Anniversary of M y Death 2682 For a Coming Extinction 2683 September Plowing 2684 Losing a Language 2684 Lament for the Makers 2685

JAMES W R I G H T (1927-1980) 2691 Autumn Begins i n Martins Ferry, Ohio 2692 To the Evening Star: Central Minnesota 2693 A Blessing 2693 A Centenary Ode; Inscribed to Litt le Crow, Leader of the Sioux Rebellion

i n Minnesota, 1862 2694 W i t h the Shell of a Hermit Crab 2695 The Journey 2695

PHILIP L E V I N E (b. 1928) 2696 Animals Are Passing from Our Lives 2697 Detroit Grease Shop Poem 2698 They Feed They Lion 2699 On the Murder of Lieutenant Jose del Castillo by the Falangist Bravo

Martinez, July 12, 1936 2700 Starlight 2701 Fear and Fame 2701 The Simple T r u t h 2702

ANNE SEXTON (1928-1974) 2703 The Truth the Dead Know 2704 The Starry Night 2705 Sylvia's Death 2705 Little Gir l , M y String Bean, M y Lovely Woman 2707 The Death of the Fathers 2709

2. How We Danced 2709 3. The Boat 2710

ADRIENNE R I C H (b. 1929) 2711 Storm Warnings 2713 Snapshots of a Daughter-in-Law 2714 " I Am in Danger—Sir—" 2718 A Valediction Forbidding Mourn ing 2719 Diving into the Wreck 2719 Power 2721 Transcendental Etude 2722 For a Friend in Travail 2726

xxvi / CONTENTS

An Atlas of the Difficult World 2727 I I ("Here is a map of our country") 2727 IV ("Late summers, early autumns, you can see something that

binds") 2727 V ("Catch if you can your country's moment, begin") 2728 IX ("On this early, in this life, as I read your story, you're

lonely") 2729 XII ("What homage will be paid to a beauty built to last") 2730 XIII (Dedications) 2730

GARY SNYDER (b. 1930) 2731 Milton by Firelight 2733 Riprap 2734 August on Sourdough, A Visit from Dick Brewer 2734 Beneath My Hand and Eye the Distant Hills. Your Body 2735 The Blue Sky 2736 Straight-Creek—Great Burn 2740 Ripples on the Surface 2742

SYLVIA PLATH (1932-1963) 2742 Morning Song 2744 Lady Lazarus 2744 Ariel 2747 Daddy 2748 Words 2750 Blackberrying 2750 Purdah 2751 The Applicant 2753 Child 2754

AUDRE LORDE (1934-1992) 2754 Coal 2756 The Woman Thing 2756 Black Mother Woman 2757 Separation 2758 Harriet 2758 Chain 2759

MARYOLIVER(b. 1935) 2761 The Black Snake 2762 In Blackwater Woods 2763 A Visitor 2764 Landscape 2764 Picking Blueberries, AusterUtz, New York, 1957 2765 Hawk 2766 Poppies 2767 Hummingbird Pauses at the Trumpet Vine 2768

MICHAEL S. HARPER (b. 1938) 2769 Dear John, Dear Coltrane 2770 American History 2771 Deathwatch 2772

C O N T E N T S / xxv i i

Martin's Blues 2773 "Bird Lives": Charles Parker in St. Louis 2773 Nightmare Begins ResponsibiHty 2775 Tongue-Tied i n Black and White 2775

ROBERT PINSKY(b . 1940) 2777 The Figured Wheel 2779 The Street 2780 A Woman 2782 The Want Bone 2784 Shirt 2784 At Pleasure Bay 2786

S I M O N J. ORTIZ (b. 1941) 2788 Passing through Litt le Rock 2789 Earth and Rain, the Plants & Sun 2789 Vision Shadows 2791 Poems from the Veterans Hospital 2792

8:50 A M Ft. Lyons V A H 2792 Travelling 2792

From Sand Creek 2793

LOUISE C L U C K (b. 1943) 2794 The Drowned Children 2795 Descending Figure 2796

2. The Sick Chi ld 2796 3. For M y Sister 2796

Illuminations 2797 Terminal Resemblance 2798 Appearances 2799 Vespers 2800

JOYHARJO (b. 1951)2800 Call I t Fear 2802 White Bear 2803 She Had Some Horses 2804

I I I . Drowning Horses 2804 Summer Night 2804 Eagle Poem 2805 Climbing the Streets of Worcester, Mass. 2806 The Flood 2806

RITA DOVE (b. 1952) 2808 Geometry 2810 Adolescence—I 2810 Adolescence—II 2811 Adolescence—III 2811 Banneker 2812 Parsley 2813 THOMAS A N D BEULAH 28 1 5

The Event 2815

x x v i i i / C O N T E N T S

Straw Hat 2816 The Zeppelin Factory 2816 Dusting 2817 Pomade 2818

Poem in W h i c h 1 Refuse Contemplation 2819 Heroes 2820 Missing 2821

A L B E R T O RIOS (b. 1952) Madre Sofia 2822 Wet Camp 2824 Taking Away the Name of a Nephew Advice to a First Cousin 2826 Seniors 2826 Domingo Limon 2827

2822

2824

L O R N A DEE CERVANTES (b. 1954) 2830 Uncle's First Rabbit 2831 For Virginia Chavez 2833 Visions of Mexico Whi le at a W r i t i n g Symposium in Port Townsend,

Washington 2834 The Body as Braille 2836 Emplumada 2836 M y Dinner with Your Memory 2837

CATHY SONG (b. 1955) 2837 The White Porch 2838 Beauty and Sadness 2840 Lost Sister 2841 Chinatown 2842 Heaven 2845

L I - Y O U N G LEE (b. 1957) 2846 The Gift 2847 Persimmons 2848 Eating Alone 2850 Eating Together 2850 Mnemonic 2851

This Room and Everything in I t 2851

SELECTED B I B L I O G R A P H I E S 2853

PERMISSIONS A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S 2895 I N D E X 2905