For the first time, “The New York Poets” gathers in a single volume the best work of four extraordinary poets: Frank O’Hara, John Ashbery, Kenneth Koch, and James Schuyler. By the early 1950s all four were settled in Manhattan, collaborating, competing and encouraging each other’s radical experiments with language and form. Much of their work reflects their participation in the creative energies of the New York art scene, ‘the floods of paint’, to quote James Schuyler, ‘in whose crashing surf we all scramble’.

Believing that anything could be material for a poem, they transformed American poetry with their irreverent wit and daring. Mark Ford’s anthology is an essential introduction to four poets whose work has influenced poetry around the world. It includes detailed background information and a substantial bibliography.