These take a variety of different forms, including manifestos, polemics, critical essays, and extracts from longer works. Texts translated from French, German, Spanish, Italian, and Russian are presented alongside the work of writers from Britain, Ireland, the United States, Africa, India, and the Caribbean. The volume is organized chronologically, with a thematic index, allowing readers to trace continuities and disruptions in poetics over the twentieth century. A general introduction by the editor sets out the uses of the book and outlines Romantic and nineteenth-century precedents for thinking about modern poetry.