The document summarizes the history of American poetry from its origins to modernism. It covers major poets like Anne Bradstreet, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, and movements like Transcendentalism. Whitman's Leaves of Grass was influential in developing a distinct American poetic voice, while Dickinson's cryptic style was a contrasting idiom. Modernism in the 20th century, led by Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot, moved poetry toward greater difficulty.

55. THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED BY: A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN POETRY WITH REFERENCE TO WHITMAN, DICKINSON AND FROST