Final answer:
The modern poet known for the American Southern Gothic style is Flannery O'Connor, who is recognized for her unique blend of dark humor and moral scrutiny of characters in Southern settings.
Step-by-step explanation:
Southern Gothic Style Poet
The modern poet known for American Southern Gothic style is Flannery O'Connor. Although primarily recognized as a novelist and short story writer, her literary artistry is closely associated with the Southern Gothic tradition, which often highlights the grotesque, ironic, and absurd aspects of life in the American South. O'Connor's work, while predominantly in prose, is exemplary of the Southern Gothic style with her unique blend of dark humor and moral scrutiny of the characters within her Southern settings. Her fiction often focuses on individual characters' struggles with morality and redemption, elements that are reflective of the larger social and cultural complexities of the modern South during the mid-20th century.
William Faulkner is another towering figure within the Southern Literary Renaissance, known for his experimental and modernist prose rather than poetry. Faulkner's narrative techniques, particularly his use of stream of consciousness, deeply influenced the literary landscape, including the realm of Southern Gothic literature.