Poetry Movements & Poetry History at World of Poets

The New York School was an informal group of American poets, painters and musicians active in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s in New York City. The poets, painters, composers, and musicians often drew inspiration from Surrealism and the contemporary avant-garde art movements,in particular action painting, abstract expressionism, Jazz, improvisational theater, avant-garde music, and the interaction of friends in the New York City art world's vanguard circle.

The Poets

Concerning the New York School poets, critics argued that their work was a reaction to the Confessionalist movement in contemporary poetry. Their poetic subject matter was often light, violent, or observational, while their writing style was often described as cosmopolitan and world-traveled. The poets often wrote in a direct, and immediate, spontaneous, manner reminiscent of word/paintings, and stream of conciousness writing, often using vivid, and visual imagery. They drew on inspiration from Surrealism and the contemporary avant-garde art movements, in particular the action painting of their friends in the New York City art circle like Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning.

Poets most often associated with the New York School are John Ashbery, Ted Berrigan, Kenneth Koch, Frank O'Hara, Bernadette Mayer, Alice Notley, Barbara Guest, Kenward Elmslie, Ron Padgett, James Schuyler, and Sam Abrams.

The Beats

There are also commonalities between the New York School and the members of the Beat Generation poets also active in 1940s, 1950s and 1960s New York City. Including Gregory Corso, Allen Ginsberg, LeRoi Jones, Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs, Diane DiPrima, Diane Wakoski, Anne Waldman, Tuli Kupferberg, Ed Sanders and several others.

Poetry Movements Home

About Poetry Movements & Poetry History at World of Poets

Poetry movements is the history of poetry, and of the world. If you study the movements of every poetry school, and you can because we have listed all the poets involved in those movements, then you are basically approaching history through poetry. There are many schools of poetry, from the Spasmodic Poets to World War 1 Poetry; from Dymock Poets to the New York School, they are all here for you to learn about poetry and history. The poets who shaped our world represent a large group of men and women, not just American Poets, British Poets, Black Poets, but poets of the New Formalism, the Cavalier Poets, and the poets of the Nuyorican Movement. You will be surprised which famous poets were allied with which other great poets. If you have never studied the rich heritage of the schools of poetry and their movements, you will love this section of our poetry site!