Berryman is a character of literary history who was a mix of eccentricity, emotional instability, and revelatory genius. And his persona was all of his own creating: for example, this native Oklahoman insisted on speaking in a fabricated British accent, usually in the higher registers of his voice.

Confessional poetry, Dreamy, Lyrical, Manic, Modernist poetry, Pathos

As Anglo-Irish tensions tore his country apart, William Butler Yeats sought to give Ireland songs of identity rooted in the island's particular history and myth. Invoking a strong sense of place and folk tradition, Yeats attempted to counter the rapid growth of industry and materialism that he saw as

Lyrical, Modernist poetry, Mythic, Rebel, Sublime, Tragic

Gwendolyn Brooks, Poet Laureate of Illinois since 1968, is the first black writer to have won the Pulitzer Prize: her second book of poetry, "Annie Allen," was selected for the award in 1950. Born in 1917, Brooks began her writing career while still a child growing up in the slums of Chicago. At the

African american fiction, In-your-face, Modernist poetry, Pathos, Political, Urban

The English language has been forced to jump through many hoops over the past century. One of the most delightful ringmasters in the circus was the American poet, novelist, and painter E.E. Cummings. His lowercased name can scarcely prepare the reader for the punctuational and syntactical oddities fo

Collage, Improvised, Modernist poetry, Playful, Profane, Quirky, Sexy