Literary life cycles: Measuring the careers of modern American poets

Each year since 1988, a different American poet has served as guest editor for a series of books titled The Best American Poetry. For the 2000 edition, the series editor asked each of the past guest editors to prepare a list of what they considered the best 15 American poems of the twentieth century.1 Ten of the guest editors submitted such lists, and these were published, together with a similar list chosen by the series editor.