pt. 1. Lyricism in the postwar epoch: Poetry's institutional settings -- Two versions of lyric minimalism: James Wright and W.S. Merwin -- pt. 2. Poetic discourse and the American long poem: Mapping historical breaches: The Maximus poems of Charles Olson -- A poetics of errancy: James Merrill's The changing light at Sandover -- pt. 3. Social text in contemporary American poetry: From silence to subversion: Robert Bly's political surrealism -- Feminism and representation: Adrienne Rich's wild patience -- Word from "Warpland": Gwendolyn Brooks' Afro-American aesthetic.