The aim of the course is to familiarize students with selected phenomena in contemporary American poetry in relation to the broad cultural, political and social context of the twentieth and twenty-first century. Ezra Pound's slogan “make it new” - points to the constant desire to renew and redefine the tradition that determines the uniqueness and innovative nature of poetry in the US. The selected texts define and problematise the concept of Americanness and the role of poetry in contemporary culture, tapping into a broader dialogue with a monolithic vision of the cultural canon and traditional concepts of social and cultural identity. As will be shown, contemporary poets take up important questions about existential, social, aesthetic, ecological and ideological issues, as they address rapid social changes and problematize the relationship between the past and the present.