Pulitzer Prize Poetry Winner
At the End of the Open Road
by Louis Simpson
Summary
Simpson interrogates the postwar American Dream, taking Whitman's open road as both inheritance and indictment. He moves between surreal vignette, deadpan irony, and quiet narrative, registering the disquiet of suburbs, highways, and Cold War prosperity. The book brought a wry, immigrant-inflected skepticism to the national self-image of the early 1960s.
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Historical Context & Significance
Simpson was born in Jamaica and served in WWII; his win reflected a growing internationalism in American verse.