| 1929 | Angel Arms. Fearing's first published volume introduces his characteristic theme of urban, mechanized society in angry, harshly realistic glimpses. Born in Illinois, Fearing would also publish novels, including The Hospital (1939) and The Big Clock (1946). |
| 1935 | Poems. The poet's second collection is a bitter attack on middle-class life. |
| 1938 | Dead Reckoning. Fearing's realistic and satirical poems of modern urban life help solidify his reputation as one of the most significant poets of the Depression. |
| 1939 | The Hospital. Fearing's first novel treats events in a large metropolitan hospital from multiple perspectives. It would be followed by his first attempt at a thriller, Dagger of the Mind (1941), and Clark Gifford's Body (1942), the story of a modern-day John Brown who attacks a radio station. |
| 1940 | Collected Poems. The collection reflects Fearing's leftist and satirical critique of America's preoccupation with wealth and success. |
| 1942 | Clark Gifford's Body. Fearing's experimental novel is a modern echoing of John Brown's raid and concerns the abortive seizure of a radio station. |
| 1943 | Afternoon of a Pawnbroker and Other Poems. The poet takes aim at modern urban society in a series of sharply realized portraits. As critic Dudley Fitts observes, "It is a frightening poetry, thank God, a poetry of angry conviction, few manners and no winsome graces." |
| 1946 | The Big Clock. The poet and novelist's best-known work is a murder mystery featuring the detective as the one framed for the crime. It would be adapted as a film in 1948 and again in 1987, as No Way Out. |
| 1949 | Stranger at Coney Island and Other Poems. Criticism of this volume of urban scenes suggests that the poet's best work is behind him, a sentiment that contributes to Fearing's abandonment of poetry for fiction until 1955. |
The Chronology of American Literature, edited by Daniel S. Burt. Copyright © 2004 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
