These 13 newly commissioned chapters examine the impact of archival poetry collections on both literary scholarship and poetic practice.

'Are a poet's manuscripts prototypes? scaffolding? medals of honour? What meanings does the institutional act of archiving produce? From modernism's ambiguous collectability to reactions by contemporary poets coming to terms with the shock of being archived, this is a valuable set of reflections on the archive, and on poetry.' Richard Price, The British Library Explores critical and creative responses to the contemporary poetry archive These 13 newly commissioned chapters examine the impact of archival poetry collections on both literary scholarship and poetic practice. They examine what we can learn from the drafts, notebooks and personal libraries left behind by poets and look at the ways in which the growth of poetry archives has changed the way poets think about their work. The contributing poets and scholars - including Susan Howe, Sean O'Brien and George Szirtes - present an in-depth account of the significance of poetry archives for contemporary literature. The collection provides a new cross-disciplinary agenda for thinking about the archive as both a source for scholarship and inspiration for creative practice. Linda Anderson is Professor of Modern English and American Literature at Newcastle University. Mark Byers is Lecturer in Contemporary Poetry at Newcastle University. Ahren Warner is a poet, critic and literary editor and Vice-Chancellor's Research Fellow at Loughborough University. Cover image: © Phyllis Christopher Cover design: www.hayesdesign.co.uk [EUP logo] edinburghuniversitypress.com ISBN 978-1-4744-3243-6 Barcode