The poems in Uncommon Wealth were written over a period of four hundred years by four hundred and twenty-six authors from countries and territories on almost every continent. Beginning with the early colonial period, British, American, and Canadian poetry is represented alongside the work of poets from the Caribbean, Australia, New Zealand, Africa, South Asia, and indigenous peoples' communities. Uncommon Wealth offers readers new ways of exploring poetic practice and changing forms of poetic expression in English from various regional, national, and international perspectives.
In addition to classical works of poetry - by Shakespeare, Bradstreet, Keats, Eliot, Whitman, and Plath, to name but a few - Uncommon Wealth features an extraordinary cross-section of both canonical and less familiar texts. Readers will encounter Henry Kelsey's 'Prologue', Sarojini Naidu's 'Bangle-Sellers', Sojournor Truth's 'Ain't I a Woman?', and the Iroquois Confederacy's 'Condolence Ceremony'. An international selection of the work of poets, both established and emerging, is included: Simon J. Ortiz, Amelia Blossom House, Thomas King, Sujata Bhatt, Kojo Laing, M. Nourbese Philip, Sheenagh Pugh, Vikram Seth, David Dabydeen, Anne French, Li-Young Lee, Jackie Kay, Miguel Pinero, Kristjana Gunnars, Ray A. Young Bear, Joy Harjo, Susan Musgrave, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Christine Qunta, and many more.
As the guiding principle shaping the content of Uncommon Wealth, the editors have included poems worth reading, discussing, and remembering - regardless of their positions in or out of a canon, or their indebtedness to local or foreign traditions.