The Lyric's Shifting Voices

Lesley Wheeler's Voicing American Poetry is a synthetic investigation into the several meanings of "voice" in the context of written, spoken and recorded poetry of the twentieth century. In five case studies, Wheeler interrelates textual manifestations of voice, technologies of sound production and dissemination, and collaborative poetics that call attention to the bodies that produce poetry. By doing so, Wheeler aims to demonstrate and encourage conversation among communities of poets, listeners, and readers that often disagree about the proper uses of and audiences for poetry. While the work sometimes loses its focus on these goals, the insightful and engaging case studies indicate the fruitfulness and future potential of Wheeler's synthetic approach to poetic voice.