This essay studies the formal and thematic diversity in Telugu progressive poetry. While previous writers have read Telugu progressivism through an emphasis on the phonetic affects this poetry produces, I focus on the range that constitutes the work of even the most canonical progressive poets. I present translations and readings of four such poets (Sri Sri [1910–1983], Dasarathi Krishnamacharya [1925–1987], Kaloji Narayana Rao [1914–2002] and Devarakonda Balgangadhar Tilak [1921–1966]) to argue for an expansive understanding of what progressivism entails. In doing this, I also locate these poems and the movement within the regional literary and political influences that shaped it.