Contemporary American poetry has plenty to offer new readers, and plenty more for those who already follow it. Yet its difficulty--and sheer variety--leaves many readers puzzled or overwhelmed. The critic, scholar, and poet Stephen Burt sets out to help.Beginning in the early 1980s where critical consensus ends, Burt canvasses American poetry of the past four decades, from the headline making urgency of Claudia Rankine's Citizen to the stark pathos...