Rita Dove supplied a plethora of interesting information in her introduction to The Penguin Anthology of Twentieth Century American Poetry. Rita Dove not only supplied a history lesson that set the scene for the authors and poems the book would illuminate, but also supplied a very detailed explanation concerning the process she undertook to choose the poems that she did.

The most important point that a reader needs to note and remember, is the time period in which she is covering and the events that occurred during that time. During the early 1900s until the early 20000s, an abundance of social and economic reforms took place. Women were fighting for equality alongside African Americans, World War One and Two, and the Cold War, were just a few events that the American public faced during this time. Alongside all of the bloodshed, pain, and tears came the Harlem Renaissance which sparked many creative movements. One of creative movements was the evolution of the poetic voice. At first, many poets did not possess a “proper education”, meaning many of them did not reach higher education and were not taught how to properly write. This caused many different forms of poetry to be created along with poetry workshops. Rita Dove, quote, “Poets were being raised like broods of chicks”. This sentence alone seemed anti poetry workshop but in further reading, Rita Dove, quote, “…and a believer in-workshops.” This two sentences alone are vital and loosely hint at an explanation for Rita Dove’s choices.

Poetry became a business. No more was it just for fun or something to do. No more was just anyone able to be or become a poet, a poet that made money and was known throughout the country. No more was poetry simply and escape from reality. Poetry in all of its forms became a business. A very successful business. Authors began to copyright their work so not just anyone would be able to use it for just anything. And this is the problem that Rita Dove ran into. Many people are money hungry, they always seem to want something for little to nothing, hence the reason a lot of authors did not make it into the book. They were just too expensive and Rita Dove had a budget that she had to stick to. The importance of her including this explanation was profound. People love to argue and downplay someone’s work if it does not go with the mainstream of what they see fit. People like to “cancel” or turn against someone who does, as stated, go along with what’s popular which in reality, she did not do. She left out a few major poets that would have fit her criteria simply because she was unable to afford them and they were asking too much for so little. Rita Dove stopped the argument, the berating, before it could even be started. Which is tremendous because even I sat back and wondered why some authors did not make it into the book.

Rita Dove also hit on a major important point that does not further why she picked the authors and poems that she did but slightly explains the implications of the book. Rita Dove, quote, “…viewed not with a scholar’s dissecting eye but from the perspective of a contemporary poet who, although not exactly born into her country’s mainstream, nevertheless took possession of mainstream society’s intellectual shapes and artistic aesthetics to make them her own.” This the sentence that ended the introduction. This simple yet straightforward sentence that informed the reader on how the book is to be read and thought about. It seems as if she is impressing, as she did through her entire introduction, the importance of not only understanding the importance of the book being modern, but the events that took place during this modern time.