Abstract

Kenneth Rexroth is unique in twentieth-century American literature. He was one of our finest poets as well as an editor, critic, and translator. He wrote poems of love, nature, satire, political protest, and long philosophical reveries. Beginning as an experimentalist, he later settled into a more direct style. His work is characterized by a tone of high seriousness and informed by a comprehensive Weltanschauung. ;Committed to preserving some of the world's major literature for American audiences, Rexroth translated classical and contemporary poetry from both Eastern and Western countries. ;In light of Rexroth's accomplishments, he has received very little critical attention. In this dissertation, I examine his political commitment and mysticism. Rexroth regarded mysticism as a critique of the fragmentation of modern civilization. As a political anarchist, Rexroth attacked the State's coercion in every form. Chapter one defines Rexroth's sense of community, based on ecological principles and heterosexual love. Chapter two explores the ideas of sacramental relationships and erotic mysticism as expressed in Rexroth's work. Chapter three explains Rexroth's nature mysticism as rooted in the particulars of the world and in what Rexroth calls "transcendental calm." The final chapter analyzes Rexroth's personalism as a revolt against modern impersonalism; I show that personalism, though intimate, also has some impersonal elements. ;With an emphasis on close reading, I examine Rexroth's poetry and criticism as cultural documents. I use interviews with the poets Gary Snyder and William Everson in order to gain insights into the work of their older colleague. The dissertation seeks, finally, to place Rexroth in a historical context as a major twentieth-century American poet