Conviction's Net of Branches: Essays on the Objectivist Poets and Poetry

This is the first book devoted to Objectivist poets Louis Zukofsky, George Oppen, Charles Reznikoff, Carl Rakosi, and Lorine Niedecker, who initially were influenced by early American modernist poets William Carlos Williams, Ezra Pound, and the Imagist poets. Heller examines the contribution and continuing influence of the Objectivist movement on contemporary poetry. Though not a historical study, his work explores the roots of the Objectivist poetry and poetics in the Pound-Williams tradition, discusses significant divergences from the tradition, and suggests through individual studies of each of the poets the existence of an Objectivist tradition. Heller concludes his study by examining considerations and implications that may be drawn from the work of the Objectivists. He explores the meaning and importance of their tradition not only for writers and scholars but for poetry itself as significant knowledge of our world.