Who Is America's Great Poet? A Multi-Voice Inquiry

A feature in Plough magazine presents multiple perspectives on the question of America's national poet, akin to Homer. Contributors include Joseph M. Keegin, who argues for Robert Frost based on criteria of excellence, depth, abundance, versatility, and precedence. Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House books are proposed as a national epic by an unnamed contributor, citing their Homeric qualities. William Carlos Williams is championed by another voice for his ability to capture ordinary American life. Tracy Chapman's song "Fast Car" is nominated as a single American epic song. Jane Clark Scharl contends that no American epic exists yet, as true epics emerge after civilizational collapse. Others suggest Emily Dickinson, Hart Crane, or Frank O'Hara. The piece reflects on the difficulty of identifying a unifying poet for a diverse and individualistic nation, referencing Alexis de Tocqueville, Herman Melville, and Czeslaw Milosz.