The Modern Poet: Poetry, Academia, and Knowledge since the 1750s

by Robert Crawford

Addressed to all readers of poetry, this is a wide-ranging book about the poet's role throughout the last three centuries. It argues that a conception of the poets as both primitive and sophisticated emerged in the 1750s. Whether considering Ossian and the Romantics, Victorian scholar-gipsies, Modernist poetries of knowledge, or contemporary poetry in Britain, Ireland, and America, The Modern Poet shows how many successive generations of poets have needed to collaborate and to battle with academia.

306 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Robert Crawford FRSE FBA (b. 1959) is a Scottish poet, scholar and critic. He is emeritus Professor of English at the University of St Andrews.

Reviews

[Michael Farrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

always worth getting a nonhegemonic slant on such histories. in crawford's case this means, largely, a scots one.

[Helen Heath · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very dry but some useful bits.