History of Poetry: A Magazine of Verse and its Contribution to Modern Poetry

The purpose of this study is to present a history of Poetry: A Magazine of Verse and to show its contribution to modern poetry. The volumes of the magazine, the writings of the founder, Harriet Monroe, and criticisms from contemporary literary critics were read and used as sources for the history of Poetry and its contribution. From the study it was found that the poets of the last two decades of the nineteenth century had followed too closely the patterns used by the past generations to present the new life which was at hand. As a consequence poetry had reached a low ebb and was being little read by the public. At the turn of the century a new group of poets emerged who were aware of this new life and were ready to voice its realities, but they lacked an organ through which to be heard. In 1912 that organ was provided through the efforts of Harriet Monroe in her founding of Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. To establish the magazine required the soliciting of endowments to provide a financial basis, securing of works of known and unknown poets, and selecting the best poems to present to the public