The National Poetry Foundation (NPF) is a book publisher founded in 1971 by Carroll F. Terrell who built its reputation with

Burton Hatlen Burton Norval Hatlen (April 9, 1936 – January 21, 2008) was an American literary scholar and professor at the University of Maine. Hatlen worked closely with Carroll F. Terrell, an Ezra Pound scholar and co-founder of the National Poetry Fou ...

at the

University of Maine The University of Maine (UMaine or UMO) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Orono, Maine. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the Flagship universities, flagshi ...

in Orono. Today it publishes poetry by individual authors as well as both journals and scholarship devoted to

Ezra Pound Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an expatriate American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a Fascism, fascist collaborator in Italy during World War II. His works ...

and poets in the

Imagist Imagism was a movement in early-20th-century Anglo-American poetry that favored precision of imagery and clear, sharp language. It is considered to be the first organized literary modernism, modernist literary movement in the English language. ...

and "

Objectivist Objectivism is a philosophical system developed by Russian-American writer and philosopher Ayn Rand. She described it as "the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement ...

" traditions. It has also positioned itself as a center and host for international conferences on modern poetry.

Overview

The National Poetry Foundation began in 1972 as a publisher of scholarly work on Ezra Pound and the Pound tradition with the first issue of ''Paideuma: A Journal Devoted to Ezra Pound Scholarship'', which continued under the senior editorship of

Hugh Kenner William Hugh Kenner (January 7, 1923 – November 24, 2003) was a Canadian literary scholar, critic and professor. He published widely on Modernist literature with particular emphasis on James Joyce, Ezra Pound, and Samuel Beckett. His major ...

and

Eva Hesse Eva Hesse (January 11, 1936 – May 29, 1970) was a German-born American sculptor known for her pioneering work in materials such as latex, fiberglass, and plastics. She is one of the artists who ushered in the postminimal art movement in the 196 ...

. In 2002, ''Paideuma'' broadened its focus, changing its subtitle to "Studies in American and British Modernism." Since 1978, when NPF published its first collection of poetry, the works of such poets as

Carl Rakosi Carl Rakosi (November 6, 1903 – June 25, 2004) was the last surviving member of the original group of poets who were given the rubric Objectivist. He was still publishing and performing his poetry well into his 90s. Early life Rakosi was ...

, Thomas Parkinson, and Kenneth Fearing have appeared. As well, NPF has published the influential anthology of Language poets, ''In the American Tree'', edited by Ron Silliman. The National Poetry Foundation also publishes the ''Man/Woman and Poet Series''. Begun in 1979, it has devoted critical and bibliographical attention to British and American poets. In 1982, NPF initiated the scholarly journal ''Sagetrieb: A Journal Devoted to Poets in the Imagist/Objectivist Tradition''. In 2002, Sagetrieb changed its subtitle to "Poetry and Poetics after Modernism." Finally, NPF has regularly hosted international conferences on modern poetry, including three conferences devoted to Ezra Pound (1975, 1980, and 1985) and conferences on William Carlos Williams (1983), H.D. (1986), Marianne Moore (1987), T.S. Eliot (1988), Pound and Yeats (1990), ''American Poets of the 1930s'' (1993), and in 1996 ''American Poets of the 1950s''. Speakers at these conferences have included some of the better known scholars working in the field of modern poetry.

was a featured speaker at all the NPF conferences from 1975 through 1993, for example. Featured speakers in 1996 included Marjorie Perloff,

M. L. Rosenthal Macha Louis Rosenthal (March 14, 1917 – July 21, 1996) was an American poet, critic, editing, editor, and teacher. The W. B. Yeats Society of New York renamed their award for achievement in Yeats studies the M. L. Rosenthal Award after Rosenth ...

Albert Gelpi Albert Gelpi is the Coe Professor of American Literature Emeritus at Stanford University. He taught literature, particularly poetry, there between 1968 and 2002. Gelpi also wrote a trilogy of literary criticism involving American poetry: *''The ...

, Robert Von Hallberg,

Rachel Blau DuPlessis Rachel Blau DuPlessis (born December 14, 1941) is an American poet and essayist, known as a feminist critic and scholar with a special interest in modernist and contemporary poetry. Her work has been widely anthologized. Early life DuPlessis w ...

Charles Altieri Charles Altieri is the Rachel Stageberg Anderson Professor and Chair in the Department of English at the University of California, Berkeley. Background Altieri specializes in 20th century American and British Literature and teaches graduate courses ...

, Jerome Rothenberg,

Armand Schwerner Armand Schwerner (1927 – February 4, 1999) was an avant-garde Jewish-American poet. His most famous work, ''Tablets'', is a series of poems which claim to be reconstructions of ancient Sumero-Akkadian inscriptions, complete with lacunae and "un ...

Theodore Enslin Theodore Vernon Enslin (March 25, 1925 – November 21, 2011) was an American poet associated with Cid Corman's ''Origin'' and press. He is widely regarded as one of the most musical of American avant-garde poets. Enslin was born in Chester, Penn ...

Ed Dorn Edward Merton Dorn (April 2, 1929 – December 10, 1999, aged 70) was an American poet and teacher often associated with the Black Mountain poets. His most famous work is '' ''Gunslinger'. Overview Dorn was born in Villa Grove, Illinois. ...

, Alicia Ostriker, and others.

NPF's The Man/Woman and Poet Series

''Featured writers in this series include:'' * Helen Adam * Basil Bunting *

T. S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, literary critic and editor.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biogr ...

H. D. Hilda Doolittle (September 10, 1886 – September 27, 1961) was an American modernist poet, novelist, and memoirist who wrote under the name H.D. throughout her life. Her career began in 1911 after she moved to London and co-founded the ...

* David Jones * Patrick Kavanagh * Mina Loy *

Hugh MacDiarmid Christopher Murray Grieve (11 August 1892 – 9 September 1978), best known by his pen name Hugh MacDiarmid (), was a Scottish poet, journalist, essayist and political figure. He is considered one of the principal forces behind the Scottish Rena ...

* Marianne Moore * Lorine Niedecker *

George Oppen George Oppen (April 24, 1908 – July 7, 1984) was an American poet, best known as one of the members of the Objectivist group of poets. He abandoned poetry in the 1930s for political activism and moved to Mexico in 1950 to avoid the attentions o ...

Charles Reznikoff Charles Reznikoff (August 31, 1894 – January 22, 1976) was an American poet best known for his long work, ''Testimony: The United States (1885–1915), Recitative'' (1934–1979). The term Objectivist was coined for him. The multi-volume ''Test ...

May Sarton May Sarton was the pen name of Eleanore Marie Sarton (May 3, 1912 – July 16, 1995), a Belgian-American poet, novelist and memoirist. Although her best work is strongly personalised with erotic female imagery, she resisted the label of ‘lesbi ...

* William Carlos Williams * Louis Zukofsky

External links

* {{Authority control Book publishing companies of the United States * Modernist poetry in English Imagism Objectivist poets Alternative press Poetry organizations Small press publishing companies Publishing companies established in 1971