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The Language poets (often written L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poets) were a loose avant-garde literary movement that emerged mainly in the United States during the 1970s and 1980s. They were less a unified school than a network of poets, small magazines, readings, and theoretical conversations reacting against what they saw as the transparency and emotional naturalness of mainstream lyric poetry. Their central suspicion was this: ordinary poetry often pretends language is a clear window into authentic feeling or reality. Language poets argued that language is never neutral. Words are social, ideological, unstable, already shaped by politics, media, class, institutions, and prior texts. So instead of hiding language beneath “voice” or “personal expression,” they foregrounded it. Some major figures include: Charles Bernstein Lyn Hejinian Ron Silliman Barrett Watten Bob Perelman Susan Howe (adjacent but often associated) Bruce Andrews A crucial publication was the magazine L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E, edited by ...