the black mountain school in poetry

1. The Black Mountain School
Presented by: Enas Al Haddad

2. The term “Black Mountain Poets” refer to a group of
American poets of the 1950s.
It was called Black Mountain School of poets, becuase
many of the writers of this school were associated
with a Black Mountain college in Ashevill North
Carolina which was the center of expermintal liberal
arts.
Definition

3. Open-form approach to composition.
Interested in natural patterns of breath.
Emphasis on the creative process.
Reliance upon conversational/colloquial diction.
Valued experimentation.
The poetic form was improvised and influenced by the content.
Literary Traits

4. Principal Forerunners
Denise Levertov
humanist
themes
Robert Creeley
minimalist style
of writing
Charles Olson
projective verse

5. •Both focus on vivid imagery through concrete language and sensory
details.
• Directness and simplicity preferred over complex structures and
ornamentation.
• Rejection of traditional forms like rhyme schemes and strict meter.
• Emphasis on the individual line and organic flow.
• Openness to external influences, though sources differ slightly.
Similarities with imagism

6. Bérubé, D. (2015). Poetry and pedagogy: The case of the Black Mountain poets.
University of Chicago Press.
Olson, C. (1950). Projective verse: An essay. Poetry New York, 30, 3-15.
Sanders, P. (1967). The Black Mountain poets. Indiana University Press.
Vendler, H. A. (1984). Modern American poetry: Essays in innovation. Harvard
University Press.
Wilson, T. (1975). Black Mountain poets: Some aspects of their history and
relationship to Ezra Pound. Poetry East, 1, 31-42.
References