'Another faith' ('Prelude' Bk.II.435). The Wordsworthian tradition in 20th-century American poetry: Robert Frost, Elizabeth Bishop, James Wright and a few other poets

A tradition exists in American poetry that has not been fully explored. It began in the poetry of William Wordsworth, and was "translated" into nineteenth century America by William Cullen Bryant, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry David Thoreau. The primary articles of this new poetic faith are the individual self, its Sublime encounter with the Other, and the epiphanic moment which results.;Beginning with Robert Frost, important twentieth century American poets have written poems with regular metrics that emphasize the Sublime, the epiphany, and the autonomous self. Such poems are usually narrative or dramatic, and are meant to appeal to a broad audience. This type of poem originates with Wordsworth, and came into American literature through the poetic example of Bryant, and the prose of Emerson and Thoreau.;After examining the relationship between nineteenth century American writers and their English counterpart, the dissertation focuses particularly on Robert Frost and the American poets who follow his example. In particular, the poetic elements that Frost inherited from his nineteenth century precursors are examined in order to show that he added a twentieth century twist. A subtle give-and-take dialectic emerges in Frost's verse which reflects his ambivalent relations to the Modernist revolution in American poetry. The dissertation concludes with a defense of Wordsworthian elements in such contemporary poets as Philip Levine, Mary Oliver, James Applewhite, and C. K. Williams.