The Singing Word: 168 Years of Atlantic Poetry

An ode to America’s people, land, and spirit, this stunning collection features a breadth of contemporary and historical poetry from the Atlantic magazine’s 168-year archive.

The poetry of The Atlantic has, from the magazine’s first issue in 1857, called attention to the unfinished project of the nation. The magazine’s verse has featured odes to American leaders and landscapes, laments for the dead, and calls for change, appealing to the enduring ideals of Atlantic readers.
This one-of-a-kind collection selects poems of rousing optimism, clear-eyed realism, and moving lyricism--poems infused with the language of America’s songs, myths, and history, from the Civil War up through the present in three rich parts: National Anthems, Natural Lines, and Personal Mythologies. Curated by The Atlantic’s Poetry Editor, this anthology features both world-famous poets--from Longfellow to Limón, including Robert Frost, W. S. Merwin, Sylvia Plath, and Adrienne Rich--as well as poets whose work has never before been published outside of the magazine.
Offering readers an essential understanding of American canon and the evolving nation its poets have yearned to capture--the poetry of The Atlantic is the poetry of America.

Walt Hunter is a professor of twentieth and twenty-first century literature and chair of the department of English at Case Western Reserve University. Hunter is fiction and poetry editor for The Atlantic.