The Final Exam is on Thursday, December 17th, from 9:00 to 11:00 in room 305.
The exam contains four sections, A to D.
Section A: Sound & Meaning concerns musical devices, including rhythm, rhyme, and so on. The focus will be on poems by Langston Hughes. There are two questions, the first counting three (3) points, and the second six (6) points.
Section B: Meaning & Idea focuses on poems by Wallace Stevens, concerning prose meaning and total meaning, idea, tone and theme. There are three questions, counting six (6), four (4), and three (3) points respectively.
Section C: Imagism will focus on one Imagist poet. There are three questions. The first two questions will focus on poetic devices, counting eight (8) points and five (5) points respectively. The third question requires an explication of an imagist poem and counts five (5) points.
Section D: Race & Gender focuses on two poems by Maya Angelou. There are three questions. The first and second questions each counts five (5) points and will be on poetic devices. The third question requires a comparative paragraph of the two poems in which you discuss the issues of race and gender; it counts ten (10) points.
The exam is an open book exam, so please bring your textbook, notes, and the photocopies of poems that are not in the textbook. You may also use a dictionary. Please remember that most of the questions require your own answers – don’t merely copy material from the textbook or other sources. Give your personal answer and then quote from the poems and use the textbook or other material to augment and motivate your answer.
Good luck.
Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-2000)
(Image Source: Famous Poets & Poems)Gwendolyn Brooks was born in Topeka, Kansas, and raised in Chicago, Illinois. A graduate of Wilson Junior College, she studied modern poetry with Inez Cunning Stark Boulton at Chicago’s Southside Community Art Center. After becoming a writer, she ran workshops for underprivileged youths and taught her craft at various schools, including City College in New York. Brooks’s primary subject was the African-American experience: her first book, A Street in Bronzeville (1945), took its title from the name journalists applied to Chicago’s black ghetto. Like Langston Hughes, Brooks depicted the lives of “ordinary ” people; without succumbing to sentimentality, she celebrated their vitality in the face of hardship. After 1967, when Brooks’s “Blackness..[confronted her] with a shrill spelling of itself,” her work grew more militant and political. Her poetry relies on strong rhythms, and its textured diction derives in part from gospel preachers and from street talk. She increasingly moved away from closed forms to open, improvisational ones. (Biographical Summary from Norton's Anthology of Poetry, 4th Edition.)
Form
Apart from a poem’s internal structure—organization of ideas, images, metaphors, etc.—it also has an “external” structure, or form. When you look at the poem, how does it look? Is it one long strip of lines, or is it broken into stanzas? (A stanza, as you know, is a group of lines that go together.) Are the stanzas different in length or the same? Are the stanzas connected with the same metrical pattern, or is the meter different in different stanzas? These questions may help you to discover the form of the poem.
When no special form is visible, the lines merely flow one into the other with no stanzas to break them apart, we can reform to it as continuous form, for example “The Widow’s Lament in Springtime,” by William Carlos Williams. In Arp & Johnson’s glossary continuous form is described as “That form of a poem in which the lines follow each other without formal grouping, the only breaks being dictated by units of meaning” (p. 422). Similar to continuous form is free verse. This type of form is also without any formal grouping. Arp & Johnson explains it as “Nonmetrical poetry in which the basic rhythmic unit is the line, and in which pauses, line breaks, and formal patterns develop organically from the requirements of the individual poem rather than from established forms” (p. 424). In other words, there are no infringements made on the poem – no specific rhythmic or stanza requirements.
Often poems are structured into stanzas. Arp & Johnson explains that in “stanzaic form the poet writes in a series of stanzas; that is, repeated units having the same number of lines, usually the same metrical pattern, and often an identical rhyme scheme” (p. 244). While modern poetry may make use of stanzaic form, the do not always exhibit precise stanzas with specific metrical patterns or identical rhyme scheme. Modern poets tend to experiment more with the older forms. Nonetheless, it is still necessary to know the basic types of stanzas. Following are some types of stanzas:
Couplet: Two successive lines, usually in the same meter, and often linked by rhyme.
Tercet: A three line stanza.
Quatrain: A four-line stanza. The quatrain can sometimes be part four-line division within a sonnet and identifiable through its rhyme scheme.
Sestet: A six-line stanza. The sestet can also be part of an Italian sonnet – the last six lines.
Octave: An eight-line stanza. The first eight lines of an Italian sonnet is often an octave.
A Fixed form is a traditional pattern that applies to whole poem. The most common fixed form in English poetry is the sonnet, which is a poem that contains exactly fourteen lines and usually in iambic pentameter. There are three types of fixed forms, namely the Italian (or Petrarchan sonnet), the English (or Shakespearean sonnet) and the Spenserian sonnet. The diagram below depicts these sonnets with their individual rhyme schemes and stanzaic structures.
Jon Stalworthy. 1983. “Versification” p. 1416. (In The Norton Anthology of Poetry, 3rd Edition.)
While many modern poets use the sonnet, they often do not stick to the fixed tradition. An example is “Harlem Hopscotch” by Maya Angelou.
The basic forms outlined above is adequate for this course; however, for those of you interested in more types of forms in poetry, refer to the essay “Versification” (p. 1403-1422) by Jon Stallworthy in The Norton Anthology of Poetry, 3rd Edition, specifically the part on “Form” (p. 1431-1422).
When no special form is visible, the lines merely flow one into the other with no stanzas to break them apart, we can reform to it as continuous form, for example “The Widow’s Lament in Springtime,” by William Carlos Williams. In Arp & Johnson’s glossary continuous form is described as “That form of a poem in which the lines follow each other without formal grouping, the only breaks being dictated by units of meaning” (p. 422). Similar to continuous form is free verse. This type of form is also without any formal grouping. Arp & Johnson explains it as “Nonmetrical poetry in which the basic rhythmic unit is the line, and in which pauses, line breaks, and formal patterns develop organically from the requirements of the individual poem rather than from established forms” (p. 424). In other words, there are no infringements made on the poem – no specific rhythmic or stanza requirements.
Often poems are structured into stanzas. Arp & Johnson explains that in “stanzaic form the poet writes in a series of stanzas; that is, repeated units having the same number of lines, usually the same metrical pattern, and often an identical rhyme scheme” (p. 244). While modern poetry may make use of stanzaic form, the do not always exhibit precise stanzas with specific metrical patterns or identical rhyme scheme. Modern poets tend to experiment more with the older forms. Nonetheless, it is still necessary to know the basic types of stanzas. Following are some types of stanzas:
Couplet: Two successive lines, usually in the same meter, and often linked by rhyme.
Tercet: A three line stanza.
Quatrain: A four-line stanza. The quatrain can sometimes be part four-line division within a sonnet and identifiable through its rhyme scheme.
Sestet: A six-line stanza. The sestet can also be part of an Italian sonnet – the last six lines.
Octave: An eight-line stanza. The first eight lines of an Italian sonnet is often an octave.
A Fixed form is a traditional pattern that applies to whole poem. The most common fixed form in English poetry is the sonnet, which is a poem that contains exactly fourteen lines and usually in iambic pentameter. There are three types of fixed forms, namely the Italian (or Petrarchan sonnet), the English (or Shakespearean sonnet) and the Spenserian sonnet. The diagram below depicts these sonnets with their individual rhyme schemes and stanzaic structures.
Jon Stalworthy. 1983. “Versification” p. 1416. (In The Norton Anthology of Poetry, 3rd Edition.)While many modern poets use the sonnet, they often do not stick to the fixed tradition. An example is “Harlem Hopscotch” by Maya Angelou.
The basic forms outlined above is adequate for this course; however, for those of you interested in more types of forms in poetry, refer to the essay “Versification” (p. 1403-1422) by Jon Stallworthy in The Norton Anthology of Poetry, 3rd Edition, specifically the part on “Form” (p. 1431-1422).
Sound & Meaning
In poetry the music quality of words is used to great effect. The purpose is not merely ornamental, but also meaningful. Sound & Sense explains that “Rhythm and sound cooperate to produce what we call the music of poetry. This music, as we have pointed out, may serve two general functions: it may be enjoyable in itself, or it may reinforce meaning and intensify communication” (p. 224). What is important for you is to be able to identify when and how sounds in a poem convey or reinforce meaning in the poem.
The musical quality of a poem is achieved “by the choice and arrangement of sounds and by the arrangement of accents” (p. 181).
Rhyme
When same-sounding (rhyming) vowels are placed in close proximity it is known as assonance. The repetition of initial consonant sounds is known as alliteration. When the consonants repeat at the end of syllables it is called consonance. “Rhyme,” explains Arp & Johnson “is the repetition of the accented vowel sound and any succeeding consonant sounds” (p. 183). Rhyming, therefore requires the repetition of both an accent vowel sound and a consonant sound. You can read more about assonance and alliteration here.
When the rhyme involves only a single syllable it is called masculine, for example “fat” and “cat.” If more than one syllable is involved, like “spitefully” and “delightfully,” it is known as feminine rhyme. You can learn more about masculine and feminine rhyme, as well as end rhyme and approximate (imperfect) rhyme here.
Rhythm
As already mentioned, an important part of the music in poetry is rhythm. Rhythm is concerned with the accents, or stresses, in words. In English, certain syllables in words usually gets stressed more during pronunciation than other syllables. For example we say WONderful, not wonderful, or wonderFUL. The arrangement of such stresses in poetic lines creates a rhythm, known as the lines “Meter.” The meter is made up of a number of feet – each foot is one basic rhythmical unit of syllables. Read more about rhythm and the different types of feet and meter here.
Onomatopoeia
An interesting musical device in poetry is onomatopoeia, which refers to a word that mimics the sound it describes. For example “cock-a-doodle-do” refers to the crow of a rooster, or “woof-woof” to the barking of a dog.
Phonetic Intensives
In many Western languages certain sounds seem to indicate similar ideas.
For example:
The initial fl sound depicts moving light, e.g. flame, flicker, flash. An initial gl sound depicts unmoving light: glow, gleam, glint, glare. Or the initial str sound refers to long lines: street, stream, stripe, streak. For more, see Arp & Johnson, p. 225 and 226.
Euphony & Cacophony
Some sounds are pleasing (euphonious) and other sounds are non-pleasing (cacophonous). A poet can use this to emphasize the meaning in a poem. For example in the poem “Spring and All” by William Carlos Williams, the dead plants are described with words that contain many strong (plosive) consonants: “brown with dried weeds,” “forked, upstanding, twiggy / stuff of bushes.” These cacophonic sounds give emphasis to ugliness of the dead plants. Generally long vowels are more euphonic than shorter vowels, and smooth sounding consonants, like the liquids (l, m, n, and r) and other soft consonants like v, f are more euphonic than the plosives (b, d, g, k, p, and t), which are usually more cacophonic.
The musical quality of a poem is achieved “by the choice and arrangement of sounds and by the arrangement of accents” (p. 181).
Rhyme
When same-sounding (rhyming) vowels are placed in close proximity it is known as assonance. The repetition of initial consonant sounds is known as alliteration. When the consonants repeat at the end of syllables it is called consonance. “Rhyme,” explains Arp & Johnson “is the repetition of the accented vowel sound and any succeeding consonant sounds” (p. 183). Rhyming, therefore requires the repetition of both an accent vowel sound and a consonant sound. You can read more about assonance and alliteration here.
When the rhyme involves only a single syllable it is called masculine, for example “fat” and “cat.” If more than one syllable is involved, like “spitefully” and “delightfully,” it is known as feminine rhyme. You can learn more about masculine and feminine rhyme, as well as end rhyme and approximate (imperfect) rhyme here.
Rhythm
As already mentioned, an important part of the music in poetry is rhythm. Rhythm is concerned with the accents, or stresses, in words. In English, certain syllables in words usually gets stressed more during pronunciation than other syllables. For example we say WONderful, not wonderful, or wonderFUL. The arrangement of such stresses in poetic lines creates a rhythm, known as the lines “Meter.” The meter is made up of a number of feet – each foot is one basic rhythmical unit of syllables. Read more about rhythm and the different types of feet and meter here.
Onomatopoeia
An interesting musical device in poetry is onomatopoeia, which refers to a word that mimics the sound it describes. For example “cock-a-doodle-do” refers to the crow of a rooster, or “woof-woof” to the barking of a dog.
Phonetic Intensives
In many Western languages certain sounds seem to indicate similar ideas.
For example:
The initial fl sound depicts moving light, e.g. flame, flicker, flash. An initial gl sound depicts unmoving light: glow, gleam, glint, glare. Or the initial str sound refers to long lines: street, stream, stripe, streak. For more, see Arp & Johnson, p. 225 and 226.
Euphony & Cacophony
Some sounds are pleasing (euphonious) and other sounds are non-pleasing (cacophonous). A poet can use this to emphasize the meaning in a poem. For example in the poem “Spring and All” by William Carlos Williams, the dead plants are described with words that contain many strong (plosive) consonants: “brown with dried weeds,” “forked, upstanding, twiggy / stuff of bushes.” These cacophonic sounds give emphasis to ugliness of the dead plants. Generally long vowels are more euphonic than shorter vowels, and smooth sounding consonants, like the liquids (l, m, n, and r) and other soft consonants like v, f are more euphonic than the plosives (b, d, g, k, p, and t), which are usually more cacophonic.
Langston Hughes (1902-1967)
Langston Hughes was born in Joplin, Missouri, and raised in Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, and Ohio. He attended Columbia University from 1921 until 1922, then traveled extensively in South America and Europe before moving to Washington, D.C., in 1925. The next year Hughes published his first collection of poems, The Weary Blues, to great acclaim. In 1929 he received a B.A. from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, but from 1928 until 1930 he lived in New York City and was a prominent figure in the Harlem Renaissance. In addition to poetry, he wrote fiction, drama, screenplays, essays, and autobiography. Because of his journalistic work in support of the Republican side during the Spanish Civil War and his sympathies for the American Communists, in 1953 he was called to testify before Senator Joseph McCarthy’s committee on subversive activities, and for many years following he worked to restore his reputation. Always concerned “largely … with the depicting of Negro life in America,” Hughes – like Whitman, Sandburg, and Dunbar – populated his poems with urban figures, such as busboys, elevator operators, cabaret singers, and streetwalkers. He documented their troubles in social-protest poems, drawing his meters and moods from street language, jazz, and the blues. (Biographical Summary from Norton's Anthology of Poetry, 4th Edition.)
Assignment:Themes in "The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock"
Write an essay in which you identify and discuss three themes in the poem "The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T. S. Eliot.
Your essay should have a clear introductory paragraph with a thesis statement that gives a scope of the three themes you will discuss. It should have three body paragraphs, each discussing one theme; and finally, a concluding paragraph that reviews what you discussed. In all, five paragraphs.
Your essay should have a clear introductory paragraph with a thesis statement that gives a scope of the three themes you will discuss. It should have three body paragraphs, each discussing one theme; and finally, a concluding paragraph that reviews what you discussed. In all, five paragraphs.
T.S. Eliot (1888-1965)
T(homas) S(tearns) Eliot was born to a distinguished New England family, raised in St. Louis, Missouri, and educated at Havard University, the Sorbonne, and Oxford University, where he wrote his Ph.D. dissertation on the English logician and metaphysician F.H. Bradly. The critic Arthur Symons’ work on the French symbolists was a seminal influence on Eliot, as was the poet Ezra Pound, who encouraged him to stay in Europe. From 1917 until 1925 he worked in the International Department at Lloyd’s Bank, after which he joined the publishing the work of W. H. Auden, Stephen Spender, Louis MacNeice, and other young poets. He also edited the Egoist magazine and founded the influential Criterion. In 1927 Eliot took British citizenship and joined the Church of England. In his later years, he wrote compelling critical studies on literature, culture, society, and religion, ad generally is considered the most influential critic of the century. In addition, he dismissed The Waste Land, which he wrote largely while hospitalized for a breakdown in 1921, as “the relief of a personal and wholly insignificant grouse against life,” his generation considered it a definitive explication of its distress. Eliot intended to amalgamate the disparate “fragments” in the poem- taken from classical, English, and European literature, Hindu texts, and popular culture, and spoken by multiple voices and characters – into a new whole offering a form of spiritual renewal. The Waste Land (which Pound helped edit), like “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” (which Pound helped publish) and other early poems of Eliot’s, comments on the barrenness of modern civilization and displays a rich complexity of tone, which ranges from satiric to lyrical and elegiac. Eliot’s later work documents his conversion to Christianity and culminates in Four Quartets, which he considered his masterpiece. (Biographical Summary from Norton's Anthology of Poetry, 4th Edition.)
William Carlos Williams (1883-1963)
William Carlos Williams was born in Rutherford, New Jersey. In 1906 he earned an M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, where he met the poet Ezra Pound and H.D. and the painter Charles Demuth. In 1910 he opened a pediatric practice in Rutherford, where, except for a year’s “sabbatical” in Europe, he lived and practice medicine for the rest of his life. Although strongly established in Rutherford, Williams was hardly provincial. He moved in New York’s avant-grade circles- along with the poets Marianne Moore and Wallace Stevens and the artist Marcel Duchamp- and was affiliated with several short-lived but influential journals. In addition to poetry, he wrote fiction, drama, and essays. Influenced by Pound, Williams was an early proponent of imagism, a movement he valued for its stripping away of conventions that obfuscated the true significance of things. Later he regretted that imagism had “dribbled off into so called ‘free verse’ ” and declared himself an objectivist, valuing the rigor of form. Williams called on his contemporaries to create a distinctly American art, arising out of the materials of the place, responding to contemporary necessities, firmly rooted in particulars: “No ideas but in things,” he insisted time and again. These edits find their culmination in Williams’ masterpiece Paterson (1946-58), a five-volume poem that recounts the history of Rutherford and nearby Paterson and transforms the locale into the embodiment of modern humanity.(Biographical Summary from Norton's Anthology of Poetry, 4th Edition.)
Topic, Idea, Theme
When I ask you what a poem is about, you can answer me by giving me the topic, the main idea, or a theme.
The topic is the subject(s) discussed in the poem. For instance, in “The Anecdote of a Jar” the topic is a “jar” placed upon a hill.
We already covered idea, in a previous post. The (main) idea of the poem tells us about the purpose of the poem. By figuring out the idea, we are figuring out the message that the poet or the narrator (speaker in the poem) is conveying to the reader. An idea in “Anecdote of the Jar” may be the interrelation between man, art, and nature. Man creates art using material from nature; therefore the artist (man), the artifact (in this case the “jar”), and nature (the “clay” used to make the jar) are all connected. Another idea in this poem can be man’s dominion over nature, with the “jar” becoming a symbol for man; or man’s domestication of nature: "the wilderness rose up to" the jar, "no longer wild" (lines 5 & 6).
A theme is any broad idea which is common in literature. There are many themes in literature and with a little practice and lots of reading you will start to recognize them easily. For instance a popular theme is the Forcefulness of Love (think for example of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”), the Inevitability of Death (Wallace Steven’s “The Death of a Soldier”), or Man versus Nature which is the theme in “Anecdote of the Jar.” Another theme, related to Man versus Nature, is Natural versus Artificial. A poem may have more than one theme. Whenever you want to discuss the contents of a poem, it is important to figure out what its themes are.
The idea of a poem is usually based on a theme, but is more specific than a theme. In "Anecdote of the Jar" the theme may be Man versus Nature; but more specifically, the idea is Man's Domestication of Nature. The theme tells us that there is a figurative battle between man and nature, and the idea tells us who is winning this battle. In the context of this poem it is man who is winning, as the jar, which is a symbol (metonomy) for man, takes "dominion everywhere" (line 9).
The topic is the subject(s) discussed in the poem. For instance, in “The Anecdote of a Jar” the topic is a “jar” placed upon a hill.
We already covered idea, in a previous post. The (main) idea of the poem tells us about the purpose of the poem. By figuring out the idea, we are figuring out the message that the poet or the narrator (speaker in the poem) is conveying to the reader. An idea in “Anecdote of the Jar” may be the interrelation between man, art, and nature. Man creates art using material from nature; therefore the artist (man), the artifact (in this case the “jar”), and nature (the “clay” used to make the jar) are all connected. Another idea in this poem can be man’s dominion over nature, with the “jar” becoming a symbol for man; or man’s domestication of nature: "the wilderness rose up to" the jar, "no longer wild" (lines 5 & 6).
A theme is any broad idea which is common in literature. There are many themes in literature and with a little practice and lots of reading you will start to recognize them easily. For instance a popular theme is the Forcefulness of Love (think for example of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”), the Inevitability of Death (Wallace Steven’s “The Death of a Soldier”), or Man versus Nature which is the theme in “Anecdote of the Jar.” Another theme, related to Man versus Nature, is Natural versus Artificial. A poem may have more than one theme. Whenever you want to discuss the contents of a poem, it is important to figure out what its themes are.
The idea of a poem is usually based on a theme, but is more specific than a theme. In "Anecdote of the Jar" the theme may be Man versus Nature; but more specifically, the idea is Man's Domestication of Nature. The theme tells us that there is a figurative battle between man and nature, and the idea tells us who is winning this battle. In the context of this poem it is man who is winning, as the jar, which is a symbol (metonomy) for man, takes "dominion everywhere" (line 9).
Prose Meaning, Idea, Total Meaning, and Tone
It is possible to get a meaning of a poem by writing a prose paraphrase of the poem. Through this summary of the poem one gets what is known as the prose meaning of the poem. If one is to summarize the poem even further, into a single thought, or in one or two sentences, one is left with the main idea of the poem.
The prose meaning, however, loses much of the original poems richness. The richness of the poem is contained in the specific words chosen and their connotative meanings, the various images, the poetic devices used, the sound quality of the poem when read, and so on. The prose meaning does not convey these truly poetic qualities of the poem. To really understand the poem in all its richness, one need to do an explication (detailed explanation) of the poem, which take into account all the poetic elements in the poem. Such an explication will give us the total meaning of the poem.
Such an understanding of the poem may also give as a prominent feeling, an emotional quality that seems inherent in the poem. This feeling is known as the poem’s tone.
Exercise 1: Explain how a poem that expresses an idea with which you do not agree may, nevertheless, be a source of appreciation and enjoyment. (From “Reviewing Chapter Nine,” Sound & Sense, p. 152.)
Exercise 2: How is tone conveyed in spoken language? How is tone conveyed in written language?
Exercise 3: Tone is usually identified by an adjective. With what adjectives would you describe the tone in Wallace Stevens’ poem “Snow Man”?
Assignment: Read Wallace Steven’s poem “Anecdote of the Jar.” In a paragraph explain the prose meaning of the poem (in other words, give a summary of the poem.) Also indicate the main idea and the tone of the poem.
The prose meaning, however, loses much of the original poems richness. The richness of the poem is contained in the specific words chosen and their connotative meanings, the various images, the poetic devices used, the sound quality of the poem when read, and so on. The prose meaning does not convey these truly poetic qualities of the poem. To really understand the poem in all its richness, one need to do an explication (detailed explanation) of the poem, which take into account all the poetic elements in the poem. Such an explication will give us the total meaning of the poem.
Such an understanding of the poem may also give as a prominent feeling, an emotional quality that seems inherent in the poem. This feeling is known as the poem’s tone.
Exercise 1: Explain how a poem that expresses an idea with which you do not agree may, nevertheless, be a source of appreciation and enjoyment. (From “Reviewing Chapter Nine,” Sound & Sense, p. 152.)
Exercise 2: How is tone conveyed in spoken language? How is tone conveyed in written language?
Exercise 3: Tone is usually identified by an adjective. With what adjectives would you describe the tone in Wallace Stevens’ poem “Snow Man”?
Assignment: Read Wallace Steven’s poem “Anecdote of the Jar.” In a paragraph explain the prose meaning of the poem (in other words, give a summary of the poem.) Also indicate the main idea and the tone of the poem.
Wallace Stevens (1879-1955)
Wallace Stevens was born and raised in Reading, Pennsylvania. After attending Harvard University for three years, Stevens moved to New York City, where he went to law school, worked in a number of law firms, and associated with prominent avant-grade artists, including the poets William Carlos Williams and Marianne Moore. In 1916, he went to work for the Harford Accident and Indemnity Company, and he stayed with the firm for the rest of his life, becoming a vice president in 1934. His quiet life in an upper-class neighborhood in Harford, Connecticut, seemed in sharp contrast with the vitality and sensuousness of so many of his poems. In his early work- dandified, ornate, and musical-Stevens explored the dynamic interplay between reality and the imagination. He adopted a plainer but more abstract style in his later work, both praised and criticized as a “poetry of ideas.” In place of conventional faiths, Stevens posited a Romantic’s belief in poetry, or more precisely, in the regenerative and redemptive act of imaging and reimagining. The poet, Stevens believed, “creates the world to which we turn incessantly and without knowing I and … gives to life the supreme fictions without which we are unable to conceive of it.” (Biographical Summary from Norton's Anthology of Poetry, 4th Edition.)
Some Thoughts on Ezra Pound
Imagism was a poetic movement started by Ezra Pound which focused on concrete and clear imagery. The Norton Anthology of American Literature explains: "Pound first campaigned for 'imagistic,' his name for a new kind of poetry. Rather than describing something - an object or situation - and then generalizing about it, imagist poets attempted to present the object directly, avoiding the ornate diction and complex but predictable verse forms of traditional poetry." Pound explained it as follows: “The point of Imagism is that it does not use images as ornaments. The image is itself the speech. The image is the word beyond formulated language.”
Pound was especially influenced by the vivid imagery used in Oriental poetry.
Look at his poem “In a Station of a Metro”:
The poem is a type of Haiku (a very short poem in the Japanese tradition). The words are simple and clear, with vivid imagery used.
Look at Pound’s poem “Ts’ai Chi’h” in which he describes falling rose petals:
The poem is made-up almost exclusively of vivid images.
Now consider a longer poem by Pound. Take, for instance, “The River-Merchant’s Wife: A Letter.” This poem is an adaptation by Pound from a poem originally by the Chinese poet Li Po. This poem is also full of vivid imagery. Unlike the previous haiku-poems listed above, where the images are used merely to capture a visual impression in time, in “The River-Merchant’s Wife” the images have a deeper function. Many of the images in the poem show the relationship and feelings between the River-Merchant and his wife (the speaker in the poem).
Exercise 1: See if you can identify these images that show the relationship and / or feelings of the River-Merchant and his wife towards each other.
Exercise 2: A reoccurring theme in Ezra Pound’s ouvre is the idea that riches and status does not equal happiness. Keeping this theme in mind, look at the poems “Salutation” and “The Garden.” Explain how this theme is applicable in these two poems.
Exercise 3: In “The Garden” the woman is described as “a skein of loose silk blown against a wall.” Elaborate on this image, and different connotative meanings of silk, and how this characterizes the woman. In other words, what can we infer about the woman from this image.
Exercise 4: The poem “The Garden” contains an allusion. Identify the allusion, mention where it is from, and describe what it may mean within the context of this poem.
Pound was especially influenced by the vivid imagery used in Oriental poetry.
Look at his poem “In a Station of a Metro”:
The apparition of these faces in the crowd;
Petals on a wet, black bough.
The poem is a type of Haiku (a very short poem in the Japanese tradition). The words are simple and clear, with vivid imagery used.
Look at Pound’s poem “Ts’ai Chi’h” in which he describes falling rose petals:
The petals fall in the fountain,
the orange-colored rose-leaves,
Their ochre clings to the stone.
The poem is made-up almost exclusively of vivid images.
Now consider a longer poem by Pound. Take, for instance, “The River-Merchant’s Wife: A Letter.” This poem is an adaptation by Pound from a poem originally by the Chinese poet Li Po. This poem is also full of vivid imagery. Unlike the previous haiku-poems listed above, where the images are used merely to capture a visual impression in time, in “The River-Merchant’s Wife” the images have a deeper function. Many of the images in the poem show the relationship and feelings between the River-Merchant and his wife (the speaker in the poem).
Exercise 1: See if you can identify these images that show the relationship and / or feelings of the River-Merchant and his wife towards each other.
Exercise 2: A reoccurring theme in Ezra Pound’s ouvre is the idea that riches and status does not equal happiness. Keeping this theme in mind, look at the poems “Salutation” and “The Garden.” Explain how this theme is applicable in these two poems.
Exercise 3: In “The Garden” the woman is described as “a skein of loose silk blown against a wall.” Elaborate on this image, and different connotative meanings of silk, and how this characterizes the woman. In other words, what can we infer about the woman from this image.
Exercise 4: The poem “The Garden” contains an allusion. Identify the allusion, mention where it is from, and describe what it may mean within the context of this poem.
Ezra Pound (1885-1972)
Ezra Pound was born in Hailey, Idaho, and raised in a suburb of Philadelphia. He was educated at Hamilton College and at the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied languages and became lifelong friends with the poet William Carlos Williams. In 1908 Pound moved to London, where he met the most prominent artists and writers of his day, including W. B Yeats, for whom he worked as secretary. He also championed the careers of such promising writers as Robert Frost, T. S Eliot, and James Joyce. Pound moved to Paris in 1920, and to Rapallo, Italy, in 1924. In 1930 he met the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and began to write on economics and politics. During World War Ⅱ he made a series of pro-Fascist and anti-Semitic radio broadcasts that culminated in an indictment for treason. Flown to the United States to stand trial, he was adjudged mentally unfit and sentenced to St. Elizabeth’s Hospital for the Criminally Insane in Washington, D.C., where he remained until 1958. Upon his release he returned to Italy. In 1912, Pound, H. D., and Richard Aldington had launched imagism, a literary movement whose manifesto promised: “1. Direct treatment of the ‘thing’ whether subjective or objective. 2. To use absolutely no word that does not contribute to the presentation. 3. As regarding rhythm: to compose tin the sequence of a musical phrase, not in sequence of a metronome. ” Soon dissatisfied with a slackness he saw creeping into the imagist movement, and increasingly influenced by avant-grade visual artists such as Wyndlham Lewis, Pound moved on to vorticism, whose practitioners strove to depict dynamic energies rather than represent static images. In 1920, Pound’s attempts to modernize his work, to “make it new,” while preserving the best history had to offer, resulted in Hug Selywn Mauberley, whose foreign phrase, literary fragments, and abrupt shifts of scene anticipated Eliot’s The Waste Land (1922), which Pound edited masterfully. The crowning achievement of his career is the Cantos, which he began to write in earnest in 1924 but never finished to his satisfaction. Both turgid and brilliant, the Cantos are “a mosaic of images, ideas phrases-politics, ethics, economics-anecdotes, insults, denunciations-English, Greek, Italian, Provencal, Chinese,” and so on, which attack the corruption Pound thought endemic to modern civilization. The poems follow no easily discernible pattern or line of logic. According to Pound, however, “the forma, the immortal concetto,” or underlying organizing concept, is a dynamic one that might be compared to “the rose-pattern driven into the dead iron filings by the magnet.” (Biographical Summary from Norton's Anthology of Poetry, 4th Edition.)
Figurative Language III: Paradox, Overstatement & Understatement, Irony, Sarcasm & Satire, Allusion
Paradox
A paradox is a contradiction. The paradox may be either a situation (situational paradox) or a statement (verbal paradox / paradoxical statement). “In a paradoxical statement the contradiction usually stems from one of the words being used figuratively” (Sound & Sense, p. 113).
An example of a paradox in poetry can be found in Emily Dickinson’s poem “Much Madness is divinest Sense” (Sound & Sense, p. 114). How can “madness” be “sense”? In the poem the speaker also claims that “Much Sense” is “Madness”; this is also a contradiction.
“The value of paradox is its shock value. Its seeming impossibility startles the reader into attention and, by the fact of its apparent absurdity, underscores the truth of what is being said” (Sound & Sense, p. 113).
Overstatement & Understatement
If you say “I’m so tired I could die!” you are exaggerating. In poetry such exaggeration is called overstatement, or hyperbole. The opposite of overstatement is understatement, which is saying less than what you really mean. For instance, if your mother prepared a feast for her guests but says “It is only a little food,” this would be called understatement.
Irony, Sarcasm, and Satire
Irony (specifically verbal irony) is saying the opposite of what one means. If I visit someone in hospital who is seriously ill and I tell him “You look healthy,” then this is a form of verbal irony. Sometimes a situation can be ironic. “[I]rony of situation, occurs when a discrepancy exists between the actual circumstances and those that would seem appropriate or between what one anticipates and what actually comes to pass. If a man and his second wife, on the first night of their honeymoon, are accidentally seated at the theatre next to the man’s first wife, we should call the situation ironic” (Sound & Sense, p. 121).
The word “sarcasm” comes from a Greek word that means ‘to tear flesh.’ “Sarcasm is simply bitter or cutting speech, intended to wound feelings” (Sound & Sense, p. 117). Often sarcasm distorts the truth in order to ridicule. Satire is word used for certain types of literature. Like sarcasm, satire also intends to ridicule. Unlike sarcasm, which sole intention is to hurt feelings, satire aspires to bring about reform.
“Sarcasm, we may say, is cruel, as a bully is cruel: it intends to give hurt. Satire is both cruel and kind, as a surgeon is cruel and kind: it gives hurt in the interest of the patient or of society. Irony is neither cruel nor kind: it is simply a device, like a surgeon’s scalpel, for performing any operation more skilfully” (Sound & Sense, p. 117).
Allusion
An allusion is a reference to something in history or previous literature (Sound & Sense, p. 135). “Allusions are a means of reinforcing the emotion or the ideas of one’s own work with the emotions or ideas of another work or occasion” (Sound & Sense, p. 136). Allusions are often made from old and classical texts such as Shakespeare, the King James Bible, Greek mythology, folklore, or other famous literature or great historic events.
A paradox is a contradiction. The paradox may be either a situation (situational paradox) or a statement (verbal paradox / paradoxical statement). “In a paradoxical statement the contradiction usually stems from one of the words being used figuratively” (Sound & Sense, p. 113).
An example of a paradox in poetry can be found in Emily Dickinson’s poem “Much Madness is divinest Sense” (Sound & Sense, p. 114). How can “madness” be “sense”? In the poem the speaker also claims that “Much Sense” is “Madness”; this is also a contradiction.
“The value of paradox is its shock value. Its seeming impossibility startles the reader into attention and, by the fact of its apparent absurdity, underscores the truth of what is being said” (Sound & Sense, p. 113).
Overstatement & Understatement
If you say “I’m so tired I could die!” you are exaggerating. In poetry such exaggeration is called overstatement, or hyperbole. The opposite of overstatement is understatement, which is saying less than what you really mean. For instance, if your mother prepared a feast for her guests but says “It is only a little food,” this would be called understatement.
Irony, Sarcasm, and Satire
Irony (specifically verbal irony) is saying the opposite of what one means. If I visit someone in hospital who is seriously ill and I tell him “You look healthy,” then this is a form of verbal irony. Sometimes a situation can be ironic. “[I]rony of situation, occurs when a discrepancy exists between the actual circumstances and those that would seem appropriate or between what one anticipates and what actually comes to pass. If a man and his second wife, on the first night of their honeymoon, are accidentally seated at the theatre next to the man’s first wife, we should call the situation ironic” (Sound & Sense, p. 121).
The word “sarcasm” comes from a Greek word that means ‘to tear flesh.’ “Sarcasm is simply bitter or cutting speech, intended to wound feelings” (Sound & Sense, p. 117). Often sarcasm distorts the truth in order to ridicule. Satire is word used for certain types of literature. Like sarcasm, satire also intends to ridicule. Unlike sarcasm, which sole intention is to hurt feelings, satire aspires to bring about reform.
“Sarcasm, we may say, is cruel, as a bully is cruel: it intends to give hurt. Satire is both cruel and kind, as a surgeon is cruel and kind: it gives hurt in the interest of the patient or of society. Irony is neither cruel nor kind: it is simply a device, like a surgeon’s scalpel, for performing any operation more skilfully” (Sound & Sense, p. 117).
Allusion
An allusion is a reference to something in history or previous literature (Sound & Sense, p. 135). “Allusions are a means of reinforcing the emotion or the ideas of one’s own work with the emotions or ideas of another work or occasion” (Sound & Sense, p. 136). Allusions are often made from old and classical texts such as Shakespeare, the King James Bible, Greek mythology, folklore, or other famous literature or great historic events.
E.E Cummings (1894-1962)
E(dward) E(stlin) Cummings was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and educated at Harvard University. In the early 1920s he lived in both New York City (where he was affiliated with the Dial magazine group, which included the poet Marianne Moore) and Paris (where he met the poets Ezra Pound, Hart Crane, and Archibald MacLeish). In his later years he lived primarily in New York. Cummings has always had a mixed critical reception, but at the time of his death he was one of the best-known and best-liked American poets. Like his paintings, Cummings’ poems reflect his devotion to the advantage; he was influenced by the impressionist and cubist movements in the visual arts and by imagism, vorticism, and futurism in literature. Through his radical experiments with syntax, typography, and line, he defamiliarized common subjects and thus challenged conventional ways of perceiving the world. Yet he respected many poetic conventions: regular rhyme schemes and traditional forms are often discernible under the fractured surface satires of “mostpeople” who blindly make their way thought the “unworld” are often scathing, and his poems convey an anarchistic, rebellious stance toward politics and religion, but Cummings, who celebrated joy, beauty, and sexual love, shared the Transcendentalists’ faith in humanity and their appreciation of the natural world. (Biographical Summary from Norton's Anthology of Poetry, 4th Edition.)
Assignment: Explication Essay (Due Thursday, Oct 15th)
Write an explication (of about 500 to 800 words) of a single poem by any of the poets we have discussed: Poe, Dickinson, Whitman, Frost, Sandburg or Cummings.
Before you write your essay, choose a poem you enjoyed. It should not be too short, because then you may not have enough to write about. Nor should it be too long, lest it take too much time and makes your essay too long. Read the poem you chose a couple of times and then use the “Understanding and Evaluating Poetry” (Sound & Sense, p. 11) questions as an aid to understand the poem better. Considering the answers you were able to give; you will be able to see what features of the poem you have much to say about, and what you have little to say about. Choose the points you can say the most about to use for your explication. You should have at least three main points (three body paragraphs). Find some way to link these points, for instance a theme, idea, function, etc.
An explication is a detailed description of a poem, often line by line. For your essay you need to write at least five paragraphs, of which the first is the introduction and the last paragraph is the conclusion. Therefore, you need three or more body paragraphs. Each body paragraph should focus on an important feature of the poem; for instance, the poem’s structure, the use of imagery, rhythm and rhyme, or some other poetic devices.
For an explication, your introductory paragraph should give some background information about the poet and the poem, as well as a summary of the poem – including the major themes in the poem. As an introductory paragraph, it should also include a thesis statement, which introduces the topic of the essay, as well as a preview/scope of what you will discuss in the paragraphs to follow.
The concluding paragraph should give a review of what you discussed and some final thoughts.
Before you write your essay, choose a poem you enjoyed. It should not be too short, because then you may not have enough to write about. Nor should it be too long, lest it take too much time and makes your essay too long. Read the poem you chose a couple of times and then use the “Understanding and Evaluating Poetry” (Sound & Sense, p. 11) questions as an aid to understand the poem better. Considering the answers you were able to give; you will be able to see what features of the poem you have much to say about, and what you have little to say about. Choose the points you can say the most about to use for your explication. You should have at least three main points (three body paragraphs). Find some way to link these points, for instance a theme, idea, function, etc.
An explication is a detailed description of a poem, often line by line. For your essay you need to write at least five paragraphs, of which the first is the introduction and the last paragraph is the conclusion. Therefore, you need three or more body paragraphs. Each body paragraph should focus on an important feature of the poem; for instance, the poem’s structure, the use of imagery, rhythm and rhyme, or some other poetic devices.
For an explication, your introductory paragraph should give some background information about the poet and the poem, as well as a summary of the poem – including the major themes in the poem. As an introductory paragraph, it should also include a thesis statement, which introduces the topic of the essay, as well as a preview/scope of what you will discuss in the paragraphs to follow.
The concluding paragraph should give a review of what you discussed and some final thoughts.
Carl Sandburg (1878-1967)
(Image Source: Chicago Public Radio)
Carl Sandburg was born in Galesburg, Illinois. He left school after the eighth grade to help support his family, but later attended Lombard College. In 1897 he embarked on a series of travels across America. His first collection of poetry, Chicago Poems, was published in 1914 and was followed by several highly acclaimed and immensely popular volumes, including Cornhusker (1918), which documents Sandburg’s war experience, and Smoke and Steel (1920), in which his disillusionment with post-World War Ⅰ America anticipates T.S. Renaissance, along with architect Frank Lloyd Wright, novelist Theodore Dreiser, and poets Vachel Lindsay and Edgar Lee Master. In the 1930s Sandburg became active in the Socialist movement. In addition to writing poetry, he devoted thirty years to the study of Abraham Lincoln and traveled the country in search of folk songs and ballads, which he collected as The American Song-Bag (1927). He also wrote novels and children’s stories. Overall, he shared Walt Whitman’s and the Futurists’ scene and admiration for the spirit of common laborers. Although his work eventually lost its once immense popularity, Sandburg’s interest in and passion for ordinary life never waned. (Biographical Summary from Norton's Anthology of Poetry, 4th Edition.)
Announcement: Lecture Changes
Please note that the order of our lecture plan is changing. Next week (Week 6: Oct 5-9) will switch with Week 7 (Oct 12-16). Also note that Test 1 scheduled for Week 6 has been moved earlier to Week 5.
Test: Poetic Devices -- Figures of Speech
We will have a test on Thursday, October 1st.
The test will cover the poetic devices and figures of speech we have discussed so far, namely: denotation & connotation, imagery, simile, metaphor, personification, apostrophe, metonymy, synecdoche, symbol, and allegory. You should be able to define these terms, as well as identify examples of these in given poems.
The test will cover the poetic devices and figures of speech we have discussed so far, namely: denotation & connotation, imagery, simile, metaphor, personification, apostrophe, metonymy, synecdoche, symbol, and allegory. You should be able to define these terms, as well as identify examples of these in given poems.
Figurative Language II: Symbol & Allegory
Symbolism
When talking about “symbolism” It is necessary to make a distinction between how the word is generally understood, and how it is understood in poetic studies. Generally, a symbol is anything that represents something else. In poetry, however, a symbol is something that “functions literally and figuratively at the same time” (Sound & Sense, p. 91).
In Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken” we find the speaker (a traveler) recounting a time when he had to make a choice between two roads in a wood. He literally had to make a choice about which road to take. This incident also has a figurative meaning of our daily life choices when we have to make a decision between two (or more) options. Choosing which path to talk becomes a symbol for our choices in life.
Allegory
“Allegory is a narrative [i.e. a story] . . . that has a second meaning beneath the surface. Although the surface story or description may have its own interest, the author’s major interest is in the ulterior meaning” (Sound & Sense, p. 99).
An allegory always has two parts: a story/description and a deeper meaning. While we will not be studying specific allegory poems this semester, some poems have embedded within them some allegorical elements.
When talking about “symbolism” It is necessary to make a distinction between how the word is generally understood, and how it is understood in poetic studies. Generally, a symbol is anything that represents something else. In poetry, however, a symbol is something that “functions literally and figuratively at the same time” (Sound & Sense, p. 91).
In Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken” we find the speaker (a traveler) recounting a time when he had to make a choice between two roads in a wood. He literally had to make a choice about which road to take. This incident also has a figurative meaning of our daily life choices when we have to make a decision between two (or more) options. Choosing which path to talk becomes a symbol for our choices in life.
Allegory
“Allegory is a narrative [i.e. a story] . . . that has a second meaning beneath the surface. Although the surface story or description may have its own interest, the author’s major interest is in the ulterior meaning” (Sound & Sense, p. 99).
An allegory always has two parts: a story/description and a deeper meaning. While we will not be studying specific allegory poems this semester, some poems have embedded within them some allegorical elements.
Some Themes in the Poems of Robert Frost
There are a number of reoccurring themes in the work of Robert Frost.
Youth & Aging/Death
Youth and especially the loss of innocence is a key theme in Frost’s poems. Contrasted with youth is aging and death. Think of the poem “Out, Out—“. How do the themes of youth, loss of innocence, and/or death present in this poem?
Boundaries & Liminality
Another common theme in Frost’s work is the theme of boundaries or barriers. Together with this theme is occurrence of liminal spaces, i.e. “in between” spaces. Look at the poem “Desert Places” and try to identify the boundaries in the poem. Now consider the poem “The Road Not Taken,” where would you say is the liminal space in this poem?
Isolation & Loneliness
A major theme in Frost’s work is the idea of isolation, alienation or loneliness. A regular motif used by Frost is the “solitary traveler” or “lonely wanderer.” Read the poem “Acquainted with the Night” and identify the different ways in which Frost highlighted this theme.
Man & Nature
The mystery of nature is a common theme for Frost. Man’s ability to gain self-knowledge from nature is also prevalent. What do you think does each speaker learn from nature in the poems “Design” and “A Considerable Speck”?
Youth & Aging/Death
Youth and especially the loss of innocence is a key theme in Frost’s poems. Contrasted with youth is aging and death. Think of the poem “Out, Out—“. How do the themes of youth, loss of innocence, and/or death present in this poem?
Boundaries & Liminality
Another common theme in Frost’s work is the theme of boundaries or barriers. Together with this theme is occurrence of liminal spaces, i.e. “in between” spaces. Look at the poem “Desert Places” and try to identify the boundaries in the poem. Now consider the poem “The Road Not Taken,” where would you say is the liminal space in this poem?
Isolation & Loneliness
A major theme in Frost’s work is the idea of isolation, alienation or loneliness. A regular motif used by Frost is the “solitary traveler” or “lonely wanderer.” Read the poem “Acquainted with the Night” and identify the different ways in which Frost highlighted this theme.
Man & Nature
The mystery of nature is a common theme for Frost. Man’s ability to gain self-knowledge from nature is also prevalent. What do you think does each speaker learn from nature in the poems “Design” and “A Considerable Speck”?
Robert Frost (1874-1963)
Robert Frost was born and raised (until the age of eleven) in San Francisco. He attended Dartmouth and Harvard College. For a decade, around the turn of the century, he worked as a farmer in New Hampshire. From 1912 until 1915 he, his wife, and their four children lived in England, where he met the poets Ezra Pound and Edward Thomas, both of whose shrewd reviews helped establish his reputation. Upon his return to America, Frost held a number of teaching appointments, his most enduring association being with Amherst College. In the year following the publication of his second book, North of Boston (1914), Frost became one of the best-known and most celebrated of American poets, and in 1961 he read his poem “The Gift Outright” at President John F. Kennedy’s inauguration. Rooted in the rugged New England landscape, his poems were phrased in plain speech, set to traditional meters made to sound classical forms. Some intellectuals dismissed him as provincial, and modernists who preferred conspicuous difficulty and radical innovation thought him conventional. Even Frost’s adoring public was often hoodwinked by his pithiness into missing the menacing forces at work beneath the surface. Astute readers saw an altogether different sensibility, however, one possessed of propensity toward darkness and terror, in which a poem is “a momentary stay against confusion.” (Biographical Summary from Norton's Anthology of Poetry, 4th Edition.)
Figurative Language I
There are many types of figurative language. In this post we will look at six types, namely: metaphor, simile, personification, apostrophe, metonymy, and synecdoche.
Simile & Metaphor
If I say the sun is like an orange, then an orange becomes a symbol for the sun. They are similar in color and in form (spherical). When I use terms such as "like", "as", "than", "resembles", we call it simile. "The sun is like an orange", is an example of a simile. When I omit such words of reference, and merely say X = Y, it is a metaphor. For example, "The sun is an orange" is a metaphor.
Sound & Sense (p. 72-74) explains that metaphor can take one of four forms, “depending on whether the literal and figurative terms are respectively named or implied.”
Personification
When a thing, animal or something abstract (e.g. Truth), is given the attributes of a human, it is called personification. In Dickinson’s poem “Apparently with no surprise” the flowers are described as “happy”; this is an example of personification.
Apostrophe
Apostrophe is a way of speaking to someone (dead) or something which one does not ordinarily speak to. For example, if I speak to my chair, or if I speak to Elvis Presley, it is called apostrophe. When I speak to my pet cat it would not be considered apostrophe because people often speak to their pets. However, if my cat is dead and I then speak to it, it would be considered apostrophe.
Synecdoche & Metonymy
Sound & Sense (p. 78) explains: “In contrast to the preceding figures that compare unlike things are two figures that rest on congruences or correspondences. Synecdoche (the use of the part for the whole) and metonymy (the use of something closely related for the thing actually meant) are alike in that both substitute some significant detail or quality of an experience for the experience itself.”
If I ask you to give me a hand, your "hand" stands for the whole of you – this is called synecdoche. Similarly if you bought a new car and I compliment your new car by saying “Nice wheels!” then the "wheels", which is a part of the car, represents the whole car. This is another example of synecdoche.
When I describe the library as “a house of pens”, it is metonymy. A library is not a house of pens; rather it is a house of books. However, pens are associated with writing and with books. Pens and books are therefore closely related although not actually part of the same thing. When figures are compared that are closely related (although not part of the same thing), it is called metonymy.
Consider the following questions from the "Reviewing Chapter Five" section in Sound & Sense:
Simile & Metaphor
If I say the sun is like an orange, then an orange becomes a symbol for the sun. They are similar in color and in form (spherical). When I use terms such as "like", "as", "than", "resembles", we call it simile. "The sun is like an orange", is an example of a simile. When I omit such words of reference, and merely say X = Y, it is a metaphor. For example, "The sun is an orange" is a metaphor.
Sound & Sense (p. 72-74) explains that metaphor can take one of four forms, “depending on whether the literal and figurative terms are respectively named or implied.”
Personification
When a thing, animal or something abstract (e.g. Truth), is given the attributes of a human, it is called personification. In Dickinson’s poem “Apparently with no surprise” the flowers are described as “happy”; this is an example of personification.
Apostrophe
Apostrophe is a way of speaking to someone (dead) or something which one does not ordinarily speak to. For example, if I speak to my chair, or if I speak to Elvis Presley, it is called apostrophe. When I speak to my pet cat it would not be considered apostrophe because people often speak to their pets. However, if my cat is dead and I then speak to it, it would be considered apostrophe.
Synecdoche & Metonymy
Sound & Sense (p. 78) explains: “In contrast to the preceding figures that compare unlike things are two figures that rest on congruences or correspondences. Synecdoche (the use of the part for the whole) and metonymy (the use of something closely related for the thing actually meant) are alike in that both substitute some significant detail or quality of an experience for the experience itself.”
If I ask you to give me a hand, your "hand" stands for the whole of you – this is called synecdoche. Similarly if you bought a new car and I compliment your new car by saying “Nice wheels!” then the "wheels", which is a part of the car, represents the whole car. This is another example of synecdoche.
When I describe the library as “a house of pens”, it is metonymy. A library is not a house of pens; rather it is a house of books. However, pens are associated with writing and with books. Pens and books are therefore closely related although not actually part of the same thing. When figures are compared that are closely related (although not part of the same thing), it is called metonymy.
Consider the following questions from the "Reviewing Chapter Five" section in Sound & Sense:
- Distinguish between language used literally and language used figuratively, and consider why poetry is often figurative.
- Define the figures of comparison (simile and metaphor, personification and apostrophe), and rank them in order of their emotional effectiveness.
- Define the figures of congruence or correspondence (synecdoche and metonymy).
- Review the four major contributions of figurative language.
Figurative Language & Figures of Speech
Figurative language is language with a deeper and often aesthetic meaning and “cannot be taken literally” (Compare with connotation); a figure of speech is “any way of saying something other than the ordinary way,” (Sound & Sense, p. 71).
Figurative language contributes to poetry in four major ways (Sound & Sense, p. 79, 80):
Figurative language contributes to poetry in four major ways (Sound & Sense, p. 79, 80):
- Figurative language affords us imaginative pleasure by linking different things in interesting ways.
- Figures of speech bring additional imagery into verse, making the abstract more concrete, and making poetry more sensuous.
- Figures of speech add emotional intensity to otherwise informative statements.
- Because figures of speech are so rich in meaning, they can say more in a small space.
More thoughts on Dickinson and Whitman
Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman are considered the two “original voices” in American poetry. Their themes and styles would become the bedrock of future American poetry. Note, however, how vastly different Dickinson and Whitman are in style. Dickinson’s verses read like hymns. She also made use of unconventional capitalization and the frequent use of the dash, especially at the end of verse lines. Whitman’s verses, on the other hand, are almost prose like and have a strong conversational feel to them. Whitman’s themes also differ in that he focused more on relationships and is considered to have been bisexual – his attraction to both men and women seeps through in his poetry.
For self-study try to answer the following exercise questions:
For self-study try to answer the following exercise questions:
- Read Kamilla Denman’s short essay “About Dickinson’s Use of the Dash” and then in your own words describe how you understand Dickinson’s use of the dash.
- Discuss Dickinson’s unconventional use of capitalization in “Apparently with no surprise”.
- Whitman often uses juxtapositions and paradoxes in his poems. See if you can find juxtapositions or paradoxes in the following poems: “Had I the Choice”, “I Saw in Louisiana a Live-Oak Growing”, and “When I heard the Learn’d Astronomer”.
- Discuss the use of androgynous imagery in Whitman’s poem “To a Stranger”.
Two Great Voices: Dickenson & Whitman
Emily Dickenson (1830-1886)
Emily Dickenson was born in Amherst, Massachusetts, to a prominent family. For one year she attended Mount Holyoke Female Seminary (now College), in nearby South Hadley then withdrew and returned to Amherst. Her adult life was as short on external incident as it was long on imagination. Dickenson lived at her family home in Amherst from 1848 on, she rarely received visitors, and in her mature years she never went out. Suffering from agoraphobia (the fear of public place) and perhaps from an eye disorder called exotropia, she became known as “Myth” and “the character of Amherst.” Fewer than a dozen of her poems were published in her lifetime. Such a solitary life hardly dulled her sensibilities, however, for Dickinson’s collected works—nearly two thousand poems, plus voluminous correspondence—brim with intense feeling, from terror to joy. The poems also reveal her intimate knowledge of the Bible, classical myth, and the works of Shakespeare; in addition, she admired the work of Transcendentalists Thoreau and Emerson and read the Brontes, the Brownings, Keats, and George Eliot. In an era marked by its evangelical fervor, Dickinson adopted skepticism—though she did not arrive at it easily—and her poems are remarkable for their irony, ambiguity, paradox, and sardonic wit. She succinctly defined her aesthetic in the epigrammatic lines “Tell the Truth but tell it slant-/ Success in Circuit lies,” and she once told a friend: “If I read a book (and) it makes my whole body so cold no fire ever can warm me I know that is poetry. If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry.” She wrote in the meters of hymns and made masterful use of the ballad stanza, often using slant rhyme. Although her innovations initially baffled critics, the public’s fascination with her life soon extended to her verse. She is, along with Walt Whitman, the most revered and influential of nineteenth-century American poets. (Biographical Summary from Norton's Anthology of Poetry, 4th Edition.)
Walt Whitman (1819-1892)
Walt Whitman was born on Long Island, New York, and raised in Brooklyn. He left school at the age of eleven and worked as an office boy, a printer’s apprentice, and a teacher before establishing himself as a journalist affiliated with several prominent New York newspapers. In 1862, deeply moved by the scenes he witnessed while staying with his brother (a wounded Union soldier) in Washington, D.C., he spent several months visiting and nursing Civil War veterans. After the war, Whitman worked briefly at the Department of the Interior—he was fired for being the author of the “scandalous” Leaves of Grass (1855) – and for several years at the office of the attorney general. After suffering a debilitating stroke in 1873, he moved to his brother’s home in Camden, New Jersey, where he remained until his death. In Leaves of Grass, his masterpiece, Whitman assumed the mantle of the public poet; his preface to the 1855 edition calls “the United States themselves” his subject. Although his poetry offers a Transcendentalist view of the human being as wholly attuned with divine creation, individual poems that celebrated the body and sexuality opened him up to charges of obscenity. His prosody proved as controversial as his subject matter, and one critic stated that he was “as unacquainted with art as a hog is with mathematics.” In fact, Whitman’s refusal to follow the prevailing taste for regular meter, standard forms, and studied artifice was based on long and careful thought. His direct, realistic, intense, and exuberant poems have profoundly influenced modern poetry (for instance, William Carlos Williams’ Paterson and the work of the Beats) as well as American culture. (Biographical Summary from Norton's Anthology of Poetry, 4th Edition.)
Emily Dickenson was born in Amherst, Massachusetts, to a prominent family. For one year she attended Mount Holyoke Female Seminary (now College), in nearby South Hadley then withdrew and returned to Amherst. Her adult life was as short on external incident as it was long on imagination. Dickenson lived at her family home in Amherst from 1848 on, she rarely received visitors, and in her mature years she never went out. Suffering from agoraphobia (the fear of public place) and perhaps from an eye disorder called exotropia, she became known as “Myth” and “the character of Amherst.” Fewer than a dozen of her poems were published in her lifetime. Such a solitary life hardly dulled her sensibilities, however, for Dickinson’s collected works—nearly two thousand poems, plus voluminous correspondence—brim with intense feeling, from terror to joy. The poems also reveal her intimate knowledge of the Bible, classical myth, and the works of Shakespeare; in addition, she admired the work of Transcendentalists Thoreau and Emerson and read the Brontes, the Brownings, Keats, and George Eliot. In an era marked by its evangelical fervor, Dickinson adopted skepticism—though she did not arrive at it easily—and her poems are remarkable for their irony, ambiguity, paradox, and sardonic wit. She succinctly defined her aesthetic in the epigrammatic lines “Tell the Truth but tell it slant-/ Success in Circuit lies,” and she once told a friend: “If I read a book (and) it makes my whole body so cold no fire ever can warm me I know that is poetry. If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry.” She wrote in the meters of hymns and made masterful use of the ballad stanza, often using slant rhyme. Although her innovations initially baffled critics, the public’s fascination with her life soon extended to her verse. She is, along with Walt Whitman, the most revered and influential of nineteenth-century American poets. (Biographical Summary from Norton's Anthology of Poetry, 4th Edition.)
Walt Whitman (1819-1892)
Walt Whitman was born on Long Island, New York, and raised in Brooklyn. He left school at the age of eleven and worked as an office boy, a printer’s apprentice, and a teacher before establishing himself as a journalist affiliated with several prominent New York newspapers. In 1862, deeply moved by the scenes he witnessed while staying with his brother (a wounded Union soldier) in Washington, D.C., he spent several months visiting and nursing Civil War veterans. After the war, Whitman worked briefly at the Department of the Interior—he was fired for being the author of the “scandalous” Leaves of Grass (1855) – and for several years at the office of the attorney general. After suffering a debilitating stroke in 1873, he moved to his brother’s home in Camden, New Jersey, where he remained until his death. In Leaves of Grass, his masterpiece, Whitman assumed the mantle of the public poet; his preface to the 1855 edition calls “the United States themselves” his subject. Although his poetry offers a Transcendentalist view of the human being as wholly attuned with divine creation, individual poems that celebrated the body and sexuality opened him up to charges of obscenity. His prosody proved as controversial as his subject matter, and one critic stated that he was “as unacquainted with art as a hog is with mathematics.” In fact, Whitman’s refusal to follow the prevailing taste for regular meter, standard forms, and studied artifice was based on long and careful thought. His direct, realistic, intense, and exuberant poems have profoundly influenced modern poetry (for instance, William Carlos Williams’ Paterson and the work of the Beats) as well as American culture. (Biographical Summary from Norton's Anthology of Poetry, 4th Edition.)
Imagery
When language evoke our senses it is called imagery; everytime a poem makes us imagine something – something we can see (visual imagery), touch (tactile imagery), smell (olfactory imagery), taste (gustatory imagery), or hear (auditory imagery). When we can imagine movement it is known as kinesthetic imagery. Also, when the poetry makes us imagine internal sensations such as thirst, hunger, fatique, even nausea, it is known as organic imagery. Sound & Sense describes imagery as “the representation through language of sense experience” (p. 56).
Try to answer the following questions from the “Reviewing Chapter Four” section in Sound & Sense (p. 59):
1. State the definition of poetic imagery.
5. Draw the distinction between abstract statements and concrete, image-bearing statements, providing examples.
6. Demonstrate that ambiguity and multiplicity of meanings contribute to the richness of poetic language.
Try to answer the following questions from the “Reviewing Chapter Four” section in Sound & Sense (p. 59):
1. State the definition of poetic imagery.
5. Draw the distinction between abstract statements and concrete, image-bearing statements, providing examples.
6. Demonstrate that ambiguity and multiplicity of meanings contribute to the richness of poetic language.
Denotation & Connotation
A word has typically three parts; namely its (1) sound, its (2) denotation, and its (3) connotation.
A word's denotative meaning is its basic meaning as you would typically find in a dictionary. Apart from its denotation(s) a word may also have connotative meaning(s). The denotation for “red” is the color it represents. However, “red” can also remind us of other things like “passion”, “love”, “blood”, and “danger”. These latter meanings are connotations to “red”.
Poets often choose words not only for their sound and denotation, but also for their connotations. “A frequent misconception of poetic language is that poets seek always the most beautiful or noble-sounding words. What they really seek are the most meaningful words, and these vary from one context to another” (Sound & Sense, p. 45).
Exercise Questions:
Make sure that you can answer the following questions from the “Reviewing Chapter Three”-section in Sound & Sense, p. 48:
1. Distinguish between connotation and denotation as components of words.
3. Explore the ways in which a word may have multiple denotations, and multiple connotations, showing that different denotations may gave different connotations.
4. Explore the ways in which the context will determine which denotations and which connotations are relevant in a poem.
5. Show how levels of diction may characterize the speaker in a poem. (Compare with question #2 in the previous post.)
A word's denotative meaning is its basic meaning as you would typically find in a dictionary. Apart from its denotation(s) a word may also have connotative meaning(s). The denotation for “red” is the color it represents. However, “red” can also remind us of other things like “passion”, “love”, “blood”, and “danger”. These latter meanings are connotations to “red”.
Poets often choose words not only for their sound and denotation, but also for their connotations. “A frequent misconception of poetic language is that poets seek always the most beautiful or noble-sounding words. What they really seek are the most meaningful words, and these vary from one context to another” (Sound & Sense, p. 45).
Exercise Questions:
Make sure that you can answer the following questions from the “Reviewing Chapter Three”-section in Sound & Sense, p. 48:
1. Distinguish between connotation and denotation as components of words.
3. Explore the ways in which a word may have multiple denotations, and multiple connotations, showing that different denotations may gave different connotations.
4. Explore the ways in which the context will determine which denotations and which connotations are relevant in a poem.
5. Show how levels of diction may characterize the speaker in a poem. (Compare with question #2 in the previous post.)
The Author is not the Speaker
In a previous discussion we looked at "Narrators and Narrative Layers" and the author-reader/speaker-audience relationship. As readers we are tempted to confuse the speaker (i.e. narrator) with the author. Read the following poem by Emily Dickinson:
Now read another poem, also by Emily Dickinson:
In the first poem the author presents faith (to believe in God) as commendable; however, in the second poem the same author presents “Faith” as something that is not of much importance, especially "In an Emergency". How can we resolve this contradiction? One way is to say that the author changed her opinion about faith in between writing the two poems. A better literary understanding is to read the poems, not as the voice of the author, but as the voices of different speakers.
When studying literature it is good practice not to equate the author with the speaker. Just like Hamlet is not William Shakespeare, so too in poetry the speaker in the poem is not the poet.
Exercise Question:
1. Explain the difference between the author of the poem and the speaker in the poem.
2. It is possible to characterize (i.e. describe the character of) the speaker in the poem "I Never Saw a Moor"; however, it is not possible to use the same characterization and impose it on the author. Why not?
I never saw a moor,
I never saw the sea;
Yet know I how the heather looks,
And what a wave must be.
I never spoke with God,
Nor visited in heaven;
Yet certain am I of the spot
As if the chart were given.
Now read another poem, also by Emily Dickinson:
"Faith" is a fine invention
When Gentlemen can see—
But Microscopes are prudent
In an Emergency.
In the first poem the author presents faith (to believe in God) as commendable; however, in the second poem the same author presents “Faith” as something that is not of much importance, especially "In an Emergency". How can we resolve this contradiction? One way is to say that the author changed her opinion about faith in between writing the two poems. A better literary understanding is to read the poems, not as the voice of the author, but as the voices of different speakers.
When studying literature it is good practice not to equate the author with the speaker. Just like Hamlet is not William Shakespeare, so too in poetry the speaker in the poem is not the poet.
Exercise Question:
1. Explain the difference between the author of the poem and the speaker in the poem.
2. It is possible to characterize (i.e. describe the character of) the speaker in the poem "I Never Saw a Moor"; however, it is not possible to use the same characterization and impose it on the author. Why not?
Edgar Allan Poe and Romanticism
Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) is considered a representative of the (American) Romantic poets. “Romantic” refers to Romanticism – an intellectual and artistic movement during the late 18th and early 19th century. Romanticism revolted against the scientific ideals, especially of the Industrial Revolution, that attempted to rationalize everything and move away from nature and the “spiritual”. Hence, Romanticism attempts to return to “nature” and emphasizes "the individual, the subjective, the irrational, the imaginative, the personal, the spontaneous, the emotional, the visionary, and the transcendental” (Encyclopaedia Britannica).
Exercise Questions:
1. Describe Romantic literature.
2. Explain why Poe's “Sonnet – To Science” is a good example of a poem that reflects Romantic ideas?
“Among the characteristic attitudes of Romanticism were the following: a deepened appreciation of the beauties of nature; a general exaltation of emotion over reason and of the senses over intellect; a turning in upon the self and a heightened examination of human personality and its moods and mental potentialities; a preoccupation with the genius, the hero, and the exceptional figure in general, and a focus on his passions and inner struggles; a new view of the artist as a supremely individual creator, whose creative spirit is more important than strict adherence to formal rules and traditional procedures; an emphasis upon imagination as a gateway to transcendent experience and spiritual truth; an obsessive interest in folk culture, national and ethnic cultural origins, and the medieval era; and a predilection for the exotic, the remote, the mysterious, the weird, the occult, the monstrous, the diseased, and even the satanic.” (Encyclopaedia Britannica)
Exercise Questions:
1. Describe Romantic literature.
2. Explain why Poe's “Sonnet – To Science” is a good example of a poem that reflects Romantic ideas?
Sonnet – To Science3. What Romantic themes are present in Poe's "The Raven"?
Science! true daughter of Old Time thou art!
Who alterest all things with thy peering eyes.
Why preyest thou thus upon the poet's heart,
Vulture, whose wings are dull realities?
How should he love thee? or how deem thee wise?
Who wouldst not leave him in his wandering
To seek for treasure in the jewelled skies,
Albeit he soared with an undaunted wing?
Hast thou not dragged Diana from her car?
And driven the Hamadryad from the wood
To seek a shelter in some happier star?
Hast thou not torn the Naiad from her flood,
The Elfin from the green grass, and from me
The summer dream beneath the tamarind tree?
Types of Poetry
There are basically three types of poetry; i.e. Lyrical Poetry, Epic Poetry and Dramatic Poetry. There is also a special type known as a Ballad.
Lyrical Poetry
"Lyric", derives from the word "lyre" which is a type of stringed instrument. It therefore refers to music. Lyrical Poetry used to be sung. (That is why the words of songs are often referred to as the "lyrics" of the song.) A lyric tends to be relatively short and often convey the feelings and thoughts of a single speaker.
Most of the poems we will discuss in this course falls within the category of lyrical poetry.
Epic / Narrative Poetry
An epic is a type of story. Epic Poetry, also known as Narrative Poetry, are basically "storytelling poems". They tend to be very long, often several hundred lines, and are usually divided into several sections.
In this course we will not be dicussing any epics.
Dramatic Poetry
Dramatic Poetry is poetry that includes drama, i.e. it is theatrical. This means that it can be performed like a play. Sometimes there are many "characters" that are in dialogue. If only one "character" is speaking, it is called a monologue.
Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" is considered a dramatic poem. Can you explain why?
A Ballad
A ballad is a special type of lyric, that tells a story. A ballad is therefore a mixture of lyrical and epic poetry.
Would you say that Edgar Allan Poe's "Eldorado" is a lyric or ballad?
Lyrical Poetry
"Lyric", derives from the word "lyre" which is a type of stringed instrument. It therefore refers to music. Lyrical Poetry used to be sung. (That is why the words of songs are often referred to as the "lyrics" of the song.) A lyric tends to be relatively short and often convey the feelings and thoughts of a single speaker.
Most of the poems we will discuss in this course falls within the category of lyrical poetry.
Epic / Narrative Poetry
An epic is a type of story. Epic Poetry, also known as Narrative Poetry, are basically "storytelling poems". They tend to be very long, often several hundred lines, and are usually divided into several sections.
In this course we will not be dicussing any epics.
Dramatic Poetry
Dramatic Poetry is poetry that includes drama, i.e. it is theatrical. This means that it can be performed like a play. Sometimes there are many "characters" that are in dialogue. If only one "character" is speaking, it is called a monologue.
Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" is considered a dramatic poem. Can you explain why?
A Ballad
A ballad is a special type of lyric, that tells a story. A ballad is therefore a mixture of lyrical and epic poetry.
Would you say that Edgar Allan Poe's "Eldorado" is a lyric or ballad?
Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven"
Below are two readings/interpretations of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven", viewable on YouTube. The first is a dramatic recital by Vincent Price, directed by Johnny Thompson. The second set of videos is an interpretation of the poem, created by a student for a college project. Which recital do you prefer? Why?
Narrators and Narrative Layers
A narrator (sometimes called a speaker), is basically the “voice” that speaks in a text. The word “narrator” comes from “narrate”, which means to tell a narrative; i.e. to tell a story. The narrator of the poem is therefore the “persona” or “entity” that tells the “story”.
Take for example the poem “Eldorado” by Edgar Allen Poe. Who is telling the “story” of the knight in search of Eldorado? Is it the author (Edgar Allen Poe) that is telling this story? It might be, but it is not necessarily. Rather, Poe created another “voice”, i.e. the narrator, to speak on his behalf.
Also, the narrator in this poem is not the only speaker. There are two other speakers as well, namely the knight and the “pilgrim shadow”.
The following diagram shows a depiction of the three basic narrative layers, each with a pair of entities, namely the (1) author and (2) reader, the (3) narrator and (4) addressee, and (5) character 1 and (6) character 2.
(Diagram from the English Department of TTU)
Exercise:
Use the poem “Eldorado” and replace these entities in the diagram with their proxies. For example, replace character 1 with “the knight”.
When trying to understand a poem it helps to identify the speakers, as well as identify who they are speaking to. Ask yourself: Who is the author? When the author wrote this poem, did he have a specific audience/reader in mind? Who is the narrator? Who is the narrator’s audience; i.e. who are the narrator's addressees? Who are the speakers (i.e. characters)?
Sound & Sense (p. 11) gives 21 points and questions that you can use to understand and evaluate a poem.
Take for example the poem “Eldorado” by Edgar Allen Poe. Who is telling the “story” of the knight in search of Eldorado? Is it the author (Edgar Allen Poe) that is telling this story? It might be, but it is not necessarily. Rather, Poe created another “voice”, i.e. the narrator, to speak on his behalf.
Also, the narrator in this poem is not the only speaker. There are two other speakers as well, namely the knight and the “pilgrim shadow”.
The following diagram shows a depiction of the three basic narrative layers, each with a pair of entities, namely the (1) author and (2) reader, the (3) narrator and (4) addressee, and (5) character 1 and (6) character 2.
(Diagram from the English Department of TTU)Exercise:
Use the poem “Eldorado” and replace these entities in the diagram with their proxies. For example, replace character 1 with “the knight”.
...ooOoo...
When trying to understand a poem it helps to identify the speakers, as well as identify who they are speaking to. Ask yourself: Who is the author? When the author wrote this poem, did he have a specific audience/reader in mind? Who is the narrator? Who is the narrator’s audience; i.e. who are the narrator's addressees? Who are the speakers (i.e. characters)?
Sound & Sense (p. 11) gives 21 points and questions that you can use to understand and evaluate a poem.
Reading the Poem
Sound & Sense (p. 24, 25) lists the following five points that may help you when reading a poem:
1. Read a poem more than once.
2. Keep a dictionary by you and use it.
3. Read so as to hear the sounds of the words in your mind.
4. Always pay close attention to what the poem is saying.
5. Practise reading the poem aloud. ("Read it affectionately, but not affectedly" and do not read it in a "monotone" or with "artificial flourishes and vocal histrionics."
(Later in the semester you may be required to do a presentation. Knowing how to read a poem well will then be of benefit.)
Of course, the main reason you read poetry in this course is to understand it better. When you first read a poem, look for the central idea or theme. Also ask yourself, what is the central purpose of the poem? and by what means is that purpose achieved?
1. Read a poem more than once.
2. Keep a dictionary by you and use it.
3. Read so as to hear the sounds of the words in your mind.
4. Always pay close attention to what the poem is saying.
5. Practise reading the poem aloud. ("Read it affectionately, but not affectedly" and do not read it in a "monotone" or with "artificial flourishes and vocal histrionics."
(Later in the semester you may be required to do a presentation. Knowing how to read a poem well will then be of benefit.)
Of course, the main reason you read poetry in this course is to understand it better. When you first read a poem, look for the central idea or theme. Also ask yourself, what is the central purpose of the poem? and by what means is that purpose achieved?
Timeline
This is the timeline that we created in class today for the poets we will discuss this semester. Notice how the bulk of these poets lived between circa 1870 and 1970. In other words, most of the poets we will be discussing for this course on 19th & 20th Century American Poetry lived within the same one hundred year period.
What was special about this period, 1870-1970? What were the most important social, cultural, historical, and political events during this time?
Compare our timeline with this timeline of American history. When did the major wars take place? Also look at the cultural, scientific, and world events that occurred at the same time that "our" poets lived and wrote their poetry. How do you think these events may have influenced the writing of our poets?
You can also visit this portal site on American history.
What was special about this period, 1870-1970? What were the most important social, cultural, historical, and political events during this time?
Compare our timeline with this timeline of American history. When did the major wars take place? Also look at the cultural, scientific, and world events that occurred at the same time that "our" poets lived and wrote their poetry. How do you think these events may have influenced the writing of our poets?
You can also visit this portal site on American history.
Poetry?
Below is the definition for "poetry" that you came up with in class.
Poetry is a form of literature. A poem is a relatively short aesthetic text that is usually rich in meaning, ideas, images, and emotions. Poetry uses different poetic devices such as metaphor and rhyme. It is often meant to be read vocally, because it includes words chosen for their sound quality.Use this definition as your base and elaborate it to make your own definition of “poetry”. You can expect a question like the following in a future test or exam, counting anything from 5 to 10 points:
- Define “poetry”.
- What is a poem?
...ooOoo...
Make sure that you can answer the following questions from the "Reviewing Chapter One"-section in Sound & Sense, p. 10:
1. Differentiate between ordinary language and poetic language.
4. Explain the distinction between poetry and other imaginative literature.
5. Review the four dimensions of experience that poetry involves.
Introduction
On this blog I will list some (not all) notes for our class about 19th and 20th century American poetry. You will also find links to many of the poems we discuss in class, as well as links to other relevant and/or interesting sites. Make sure that you visit this site on a weekly basis. If you have questions, be sure to email me. My email is provided on your lecture plan.
In this class we will basically enjoy a cursory overview of modern American poetry, starting with the Romantics and working our up through the 20th century. We will touch on fifteen of America’s great poets and look at some of the great themes of the previous two centuries, like Romanticism, Imagism, Modernism, and Race and Gender Issues.
This class will also review the poetic devices and facilitate you to discuss and respond in academic writing to poems and literary topics.
I hope you enjoy this journey with me through some of the greatest modern English poetry.
In this class we will basically enjoy a cursory overview of modern American poetry, starting with the Romantics and working our up through the 20th century. We will touch on fifteen of America’s great poets and look at some of the great themes of the previous two centuries, like Romanticism, Imagism, Modernism, and Race and Gender Issues.
This class will also review the poetic devices and facilitate you to discuss and respond in academic writing to poems and literary topics.
I hope you enjoy this journey with me through some of the greatest modern English poetry.
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