The Oxford Book of American Poetry

📅 1950 ✏️ F. O. Matthiessen (1950); Richard Ellmann (1976 revision); David Lehman (2006 revision) 📖 Oxford University Press 📚 3 major editions: Matthiessen (1950), Ellmann (1976), Lehman (2006)

AmericanAcademicCanon-defining20th Century21st Century

The Oxford Book of American Poetry has been substantially reinvented three times since its original 1950 edition by F. O. Matthiessen: Richard Ellmann's 1976 revision and David Lehman's 2006 edition, which nearly tripled the number of poets covered. Its editorial history — each editor reshaping the American poetic canon for a new generation — makes it a direct case study in how anthologies actively construct, rather than passively record, literary canons.

Overview

First published by Oxford University Press in 1950 (some sources cite 1950–52) as The Oxford Book of American Verse, the anthology was edited by literary critic F. O. Matthiessen, best known for his influential study American Renaissance. Matthiessen's edition surveyed American poetry from the colonial period forward, devoting substantial space to the first half of the 20th century — effectively certifying modernist American poets (Eliot, Stevens, Frost, Pound) as canonical figures within an academic reference work only decades after their most controversial work appeared.

The Ellmann Revision (1976)

Literary biographer Richard Ellmann substantially revised the anthology in 1976, updating it to reflect the postwar expansion of American poetry — confessional poets, the Beat Generation, Black Mountain poets, and others who had emerged since Matthiessen's edition but were absent from it. Ellmann's edition became the standard reference for a generation of American literature students.

The Lehman Revision (2006)

David Lehman — founder and longtime series editor of The Best American Poetry — undertook a dramatically expanded revision in 2006, featuring more than 200 poets, nearly three times as many as Ellmann's 1976 edition. Lehman's edition deliberately corrected historical gaps around women poets, poets of color, and popular or vernacular American poetic traditions that earlier editions had marginalized or excluded, while also extending coverage into the contemporary period.

Historical Significance

Because the same title has been substantially rebuilt three times by three different editors across more than 50 years, The Oxford Book of American Poetry offers an unusually direct, traceable record of how the American poetic canon has been redefined generation by generation. Comparing the Matthiessen, Ellmann, and Lehman editions side by side shows concretely which poets gained or lost canonical standing, and how quickly editorial consensus about "major" American poets can shift.

Legacy

The anthology's repeated reinvention under new editors demonstrates a broader truth about anthology-making: canon formation is an ongoing, contested editorial process rather than a settled historical fact. Each revision did not simply add new poets — it actively reassessed and reweighted the significance of poets already included, a dynamic visible across nearly every major anthology's edition history, from Palgrave's Golden Treasury to the Norton Anthology of Poetry.

Related Anthologies

The Best American Poetry Series, The Norton Anthology of Poetry

Frequently Asked Questions

Who edited The Oxford Book of American Poetry?

F. O. Matthiessen edited the original 1950 edition (then titled The Oxford Book of American Verse). Richard Ellmann substantially revised it in 1976. David Lehman produced a dramatically expanded edition in 2006 featuring over 200 poets.

How much did the anthology change between editions?

David Lehman's 2006 edition included nearly three times as many poets as Richard Ellmann's 1976 edition, correcting historical gaps around women poets, poets of color, and vernacular American poetic traditions.

Why does this anthology matter for understanding literary canons?

Because it has been substantially rebuilt three times under three different editors, it offers a directly comparable record of how the American poetic canon has shifted generation by generation — showing that anthology-making actively constructs canon rather than simply recording it.

Last updated: 2026-07-01