The New American Poetry, 1945-1960

The New American Poetry 1945–1960 was a poetry anthology edited by Donald Allen, and published in 1960. It aimed to pick out the "third generation" of American modernist poets, and included quite a number of poems fresh from the little magazines of the late 1950s. In the longer term it attained a classic status, with critical approval and continuing sales. It was reprinted in 1999.

Overview
In 1958, Allen began work on The New American Poetry anthology. Following the Pound/Williams tradition, Allen hoped to present the range of experimental writing produced in the United States since the Second World War. The project took two years to complete and required extensive correspondence with poets, editors, and literary agents. Finally published in 1960 with a brief Preface by Allen, position statements by some of the contributors, biographical notes and Index. Other considerations were taken into account in the organization of this anthology, as the following quotation illustrates:

At the time of its publication, it increased the recognition for such poets as Robert Duncan, Robert Creeley, Denise Levertov, Paul Blackburn, and Charles Olson, now precedent figures in what was then an emerging countertradition. Allen originally planned to publish revised anthologies every two or three years. However, he produced only two such books over the next twenty years: New American Writing (Penguin, 1965), and The Postmoderns (Grove, 1965).

The anthology was also influential in Canada. "It affected the writing of at least one generation of Canadian poets", according to The Canadian Encyclopedia. The anthology influenced many Canadian poets to turn away from British influences and toward American models.

Poets in The New American Poetry 1945–1960
Helen Adam – John Ashbery – Paul Blackburn – Robin Blaser – Ebbe Borregaard – Bruce Boyd – Ray Bremser – Brother Antoninus – James Broughton – Paul Carroll – Gregory Corso – Robert Creeley – Edward Dorn – Kirby Doyle – Robert Duerden – Robert Duncan – Larry Eigner – Lawrence Ferlinghetti – Edward Field – Allen Ginsberg – Madeline Gleason – Barbara Guest – LeRoi Jones – Jack Kerouac – Kenneth Koch – Philip Lamantia – Denise Levertov – Ron Loewinsohn – Edward Marshall – Michael McClure – David Meltzer – Frank O'Hara – Charles Olson – Joel Oppenheimer – Peter Orlovsky – Stuart Perkoff – James Schuyler – Gary Snyder – Gilbert Sorrentino – Jack Spicer – Lew Welch – Philip Whalen – John Wieners – Jonathan Williams

Design (first edition)
Published May 29, 1960 for $1.95

White paper wrapper: THE ʃ  NEW  ʃ  AMERICAN  ʃ  POETRY  ʃ  [in blue] 1945–1960. ʃ [in grey] EDITED BY  ʃ DONALD M. ALLEN  ʃ [list of authors overprinted on red design] ʃ [vertically in blue along fore edge] EVERGREEN ORIGINAL E-237 $1.95 (U.K. 14/6.) [ornament]. Spine printed vertically: THE NEW AMERICAN POETRY [in blue] 1945–1960 [printed over, in grey] EDITED BY DONALD M. ALLEN ʃ [ornament in blue]  ʃ  E-237  ʃ  [in red] GROVE  ʃ  PRESS. Back cover printed in blue, black, and red. 5 5/16 X 8.

[I]–[XXIV], [1]–[457] as follows: [I] fly title: [II] blank; [III] title as above; [IV] statement of copyright, etc; V–VIII acknowledgements and permissions; [IX] dedications; [X] blank; XI–XIV preface; XV–XXIII contents; [XXIV] blank; [1]–454 text; [455–457] blank.