Reviews for The American moment

The average rating for The American moment based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2016-09-17 00:00:00 James Hopton I picked this up because of Christopher Morley's The Haunted Bookshop, in which one of the characters mentioned this as being more appropriate to appear in 2018 rather than 1918, an argument with which I disagree. Phelps' work is fascinating for its glimpse of the way poetry was published, consumed, and judged in the early part of the 20th century and I would love to have works at various points in the century (from 1955, 1978, and 2000, for example) giving similar snapshots of how poetry functions, the printed matter in which it's conveyed (the book references the author cutting out poems from the newspaper and keeping them in his back pocket), and surveys the major poets working. Phelps seemed to be arguing that poetry functioned in creating a civic "manliness" that supported strength in arms and appreciation of nature, that allowed for some humor and for brief glimpses of spectacle but that pursued order through form, consistency, and the education required to appreciate it. Would the same be true of poetry in the decades to come? Was it true at the time that this was written? Because this functioned as a survey of poets in various locations (Ireland, England, America) during a set time period (late 1800's - 1917), I found myself skimming through some brief biographical information but interested in all the names of poets that, by the time I was introduced to poetry by my parents' mid-20th century collections of "important" or "family" poems were mostly unfamiliar to me. Few women were mentioned until the very end of the book and then were mostly praised for their efforts at creating places for poetry to thrive and keeping in their (lesser? domestic?) lanes in terms of subject...the impression was that the Angel in the House was alive and well in Phelps' conception of female creativity and experience. Phelps also uses some words no longer considered appropriate that I refuse to dignify with excuses (acceptable at the time, etc.) I rated this highly because the it made me curious and drove me to hunt down both poems Phelps praised and those he considered unworthy and to think about what and how I read.

Review # 2 was written on 2013-10-27 00:00:00 Jacob Thiem It is a great book, I believe that all poets must read books like this! I enjoyed very much, got my five stars!