Although the Bible is the foundation of American poetic tradition, there is no study of the Bible as an ongoing force in American poetry. Not only a source of imagery, allusion, rhythm and style, the Bible is central to how poetry has both shaped and been shaped by American civic, political, and social history, including issues of ethnicity, race and gender. Through poetry core issues of the Bible in American culture emerge in a new light. What defines America as a nation? What are its historical, political and religious meanings and direction? Vitally, how is it that the Bible is at once a...

Although the Bible is the foundation of American poetic tradition, there is no study of the Bible as an ongoing force in American poetry. Not only a source of imagery, allusion, rhythm and style, the Bible is central to how poetry has both shaped and been shaped by American civic, political, and social history, including issues of ethnicity, race and gender. Through poetry core issues of the Bible in American culture emerge in a new light. What defines America as a nation? What are its historical, political and religious meanings and direction? Vitally, how is it that the Bible is at once a...