Our rampant selfie-taking moment (via Snapchat, Tinder, and YouTube, e.g.) showcases what American poetry has expressed for centuries: a national impulse for self-portraiture. This stylish anthology collects astonishing self-portrait poems-brilliantly divided into smart, revealing sections-from the mid-twentieth century through today.

By experiencing the various ways that our greatest poets re-render and distort themselves, we see America’s glorious struggle with defining itself. John Ashbery, Stephanie Burt, Lucie Brock-Broido, Natalie Diaz, Rita Dove, Jorie Graham, Terrance Hayes, Donika Kelly, Gregory Pardlo, Sylvia Plath, Carl Phillips, Mark Strand, Tracy K. Smith, Natasha Tretheway, Charles Wright, and many others.

Our rampant selfie-taking moment (via Snapchat, Tinder, and YouTube, e.g.) showcases what American poetry has expressed for centuries: a national impulse for self-portraiture. This stylish anthology collects astonishing self-portrait poems-brilliantly divided into smart, revealing sections-from the mid-twentieth century through today.

By experiencing the various ways that our greatest poets re-render and distort themselves, we see America’s glorious struggle with defining itself. John Ashbery, Stephanie Burt, Lucie Brock-Broido, Natalie Diaz, Rita Dove, Jorie Graham, Terrance Hayes, Donika Kelly, Gregory Pardlo, Sylvia Plath, Carl Phillips, Mark Strand, Tracy K. Smith, Natasha Tretheway, Charles Wright, and many others.

Our rampant selfie-taking moment (via Snapchat, Tinder, and YouTube, e.g.) showcases what American poetry has expressed for centuries: a national impulse for self-portraiture. This stylish anthology collects astonishing self-portrait poems-brilliantly divided into smart, revealing sections-from the mid-twentieth century through today.

By experiencing the various ways that our greatest poets re-render and distort themselves, we see America’s glorious struggle with defining itself. John Ashbery, Stephanie Burt, Lucie Brock-Broido, Natalie Diaz, Rita Dove, Jorie Graham, Terrance Hayes, Donika Kelly, Gregory Pardlo, Sylvia Plath, Carl Phillips, Mark Strand, Tracy K. Smith, Natasha Tretheway, Charles Wright, and many others.