Modern, Post-Modern, & Contemporary Poetry

1. Modern, Post-Modern,&Contemporary Poetry

2. Modern Poetry (1900-1950) • Follows basic characteristics of Modernism • Rejection of traditional form and content • Generally speaking, Modern poetry offers • Social critique • Introspection • Experimental form • Untraditional sources for inspiration • Free verse

3. Edwin Arlington Robinson • Content was bold and experimental • Characters who experience personal defeats and have generally a pessimistic outlook on life • Known for his wise and ironic views of human behavior (this is what makes him fit the modern period) • Strove for realism in his poetry • Narrative Poetry • Poetry that tells a story and has elements of plot, setting, and character • Speaker: the voice that tells the story

4. Edgar Lee Masters • Product of the Midwest—found small town life oppressive • Became a lawyer in Chicago and began writing poems, plays, and essays • In 1914, a friend gave him a copy of Select Epigrams from the Greek Anthology • Collection of epigraphs—a short poem, usually engraved on a gravestone, which sums up an individual’s life

5. Edgar Lee Masters • Decided to write a book of epigraphs that would reveal the dark underside of small town life • Gossip/Rumors --Affairs --Abortions • Addictions --Rape --Murder • Published Spoon River Anthology in 1915 • Created fictional town of Spoon River, IL • Rejected traditional forms—all poems are in free verse • Over 250 epigraphs create the town through the dead • Epigraphs are written in the voice of the dead, and an entire life is usually revealed through one incident that is remembered even in death

6. Dramatic Monologue/Epitaphs • Audience is implied • No dialogue • Poet speaks through the voice of a fictional character (persona)

7. Robert Frost—tradition in a Modernist world • Characteristics of Frost’s Poetry • Popular with critics and public • Devoted to traditional forms • Used conversational language • Focused on American landscapes, specifically New England • Known for “cranky realism” • Influenced heavily by Emerson and “Self Reliance”

8. Robert Frost • “Birches” and “Mending Wall” • Style: Blank Verse • Unrhymed iambic pentameter • Sounds like conversational English • Relies on other sound effects than rhyme to create poetic elements • Alliteration • Onomatopoeia • Auditory imagery • Assonance • Consonance • Parallelism/anaphora • Poem categorized as a pastoral: a poem that deals with a rural setting

9. Imagism • Reject the Romantics’ focus on nature as a source of solace • Movement begins in France in 1875…American writers are first introduced to French Symbolist poets during expatriate movement after WWI • Symbolism: a form of expression in which the world of appearances is violently rearranged in order to depict a different and more truthful version of reality • This violent rearrangement was visually apparent in the work of Picasso; e.e. cummings attempts to do in poetry what Picasso was doing in painting

10. Imagism • Started by Ezra Pound and TS Eliot • Also heavily influenced by Japanese haiku • Imagism: believed poetry could be made purer by concentrating on the precise, clear, unqualified image • imagery alone can carry a poem’s message • Sought to rid poetry of its prettiness, sentimentality, and artificiality • Famous imagists: Pound, William Carlos Williams, Marianne Moore, Wallace Stevens, Archibald MacLeish

11. Ezra Pound “A Few Don’ts”—essay on writing Imagist Poetry • What rules does Pound ask the reader to consider when writing imagist poems? • Direct treatment of the topic • Present the concrete object rather than describing it • No extra words • Natural musical rhythm of language (cadence) • Do not mix the abstract (peace, love) with the concrete (the image) • Imagists seek to capture emotion in concrete images, not abstractions • If using rhyme, it must have some element of surprise

12. Ezra Pound • “In a Station of the Metro” • Originally 30 lines longfinal poem is only 14 words long • What images does Pound present in this poem? • The appearance of faces in the crowd • Petals • Wet, black tree branch • How does this poem capture a single moment? • It captures the crowd at the stationfaces appearing as the trains pull in and stop • Which of the three images is surprising, considering the poem’s setting is a subway station? • The rain covered tree branch • Metaphor—what two things does Pound compare in this poem? • The people’s faces with the petals on a wet, black bough

13. William Carlos Williams • Imagist—known for short, lyric poems which focused on a single image • Poems were short because Williams was a doctor—wrote many poems on prescription pads. • Poems reflected Williams desire to portray and celebrate everyday life. • Believed that common experiences contain the seeds of the extraordinary

14. The Red Wheelbarrow so much depends upon a red wheel barrow glazed with rain water beside the white chickens.

15. The Red Wheelbarrow • What images does Williams capture in this poem? • Red wheelbarrow • White chickens • What depends on the “red wheelbarrow” • The wheelbarrow makes essential farm work easier, so in fact, much of a farmer’s work depends on using that wheelbarrow • What words does Williams split to run on two lines? • Wheelbarrow and rainwater • Why do that? What does it force you to do as a reader? • It forces the reader to slow down and take notice

16. “This is Just to Say” I have eaten the plums that were in the icebox and which you were probably saving for breakfast Forgive me they were delicious so sweet and so cold

17. “This is Just to Say” • What images are presented in this poem? • Plums • Icebox • To what senses does the central image in the poem appeal to? • Taste “so sweet” and “delicious” • Touch “so cold” • What is the intention of the speaker? • To apologize for eating all the plums • Is the speaker really sorry?

18. The Great Figure Among the rain and lights I saw the figure 5 in gold on a red firetruck moving tense unheeded to gong clangs siren howls and wheels rumbling through the dark city.

19. “The Great Figure” • What visual images are presented in this poem? • Rain • Lights • 5 • Fire truck • Dark city • What auditory images are presented in this poem? • Gong clangs • Siren howls • Wheels rumbling

20. H.D. • Protégé of Ezra Pound real name, Hilda Doolittle • Publication of three of her poems kicked off the Imagist Movement • Poems are brief, precise, and direct • Poems emphasize light, color, and physical textures

21. “Pear Tree” Silver dust lifted from the earth, higher than my arms reach, you have mounted, O silver, higher than my arms reach you front us with great mass; no flower ever opened so staunch a white leaf no flower ever parted silver from such a rare silver; O white pear, your flower-tufts thick on the branch bring summer and ripe fruits in their purple hearts.

22. “Pear Tree” • What is the “silver dust”? • It is the leaves and flowers of the pear tree • What does the pear tree’s blossom precede? • Summer and the ripe fruit from the tree

23. The Harlem Renaissance • Period when African American Artists were taken seriously for the first time • First chance for group expression of African American values • No shared style among all artists • Instead, shared the desire to document the experiences of African Americans through multiple styles

24. The Harlem Renaissance • Roots of the movement • Began with Great Migrationearly 1900s • Hundreds of thousands of African Americans moved from rural South to industrialized cities in the North for job opportunities • Brought African Americans together into smaller communities, like Harlem • Becomes a meeting ground for writers, artists, and musicians • Depended on one another for inspiration and support • The change in living conditions and community stimulated creativity

25. The Harlem Renaissance • 1920s-1930s • Writers celebrated racial identity • Over 50 volumes of poetry and fiction produced • Did not just affect literatureAfrican American artists also influenced visual arts, and led to the creation of Jazz Music • Legacy of HR • Opened doors of acceptance to African American Artists • Gave Americans a language to begin a discussion of racism • Broke ground for next generation of African American artists—Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou, Alice Walker, Ralph Ellison

26. Langston Hughes (1902-1967) • The most successful writer of the HR and the African American experience • After graduating from HS, published “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” • Moved to NYC and attended Columbia Universityfirst introduction to Harlem • Quit school after first year worked/traveled to Africa and Europe • After returning from Europe, moved to DC • Discovered by poet Vachel Lindsay in 1925 • Published first collection of poetry The Weary Blues in 1926 • Earned a scholarship to continue education

27. Langston Hughes • Impact and Legacy • Helped define the spirit of HR: “express our individual dark-skinned selves without fear or shame” • Intentionally echoed rhythms of Jazz and Blues in his poetry • Traditional Blues song 12 bars of music, in 4/4 time, using three simple chords • Hughes used this structure in at least half his poems • Forced readers to look at poetry with a • social perspective: how the lit reflects issues in society at time when it is written • Archetypal perspective: how the lit expresses archetypes—characters, symbols, or patterns that cross cultures • Biographical perspective: how lit is an expression of events and issues in the writer’s personal life

28. Countee Cullen • Used traditional forms and structure for poetry (rhyme and meter) • Stanza structure • Two lines: couplet • Four lines: quatrain • Six lines: sestet • Eight lines: octave

29. Claude McKay • Born in Jamaica, considered Harlem his spiritual home • Emigrated to US after publishing his first collection of poems, Songs of Jamaica • Poetry focused on the social injustices experienced by African Americans • Form and structure: sonnet—14 lines, iambic pentameter • Two types • Shakespearean • Petrarchan

30. Claude McKay • Sonnets • Shakespearean: divided into two stanzas • Opening with an octave (8 lines) • Rhyme scheme: ABBAABBA • Followed by a sestet (6 lines) • Rhyme scheme: CDECDE • Petrarchan: divided into 4 stanzas • First three stanzas are quatrains (4 lines) • Rhyme Scheme: ABABCDCDEFEF • Final stanza is a rhyming couplet (2 lines) • Rhyme scheme: GG

31. Futurism and Concrete Poetry • Poetry that considers not just the meaning of the words, but the meaning conveyed through typography (how the poem looks in print) • Created poems that were both textual and visual • Poems take specific shapes that can only be seen in print

32. e.e. cummings • Challenged the conventions of syntax (the rules for the formation of sentences) • Made typography (the general character or appearance of printed matter) and the division of words part of the shape and meaning of the poem • Heavily influenced by French symbolism and Whitman’s free verse

33. e. e. cummings • Characteristics of cummings poetry • Jubilant lyricism: happy, musical, poems • Celebration of love • Beauty of nature • Affirmation of the individual

34. “in Just-”cummings never titled his poems…sorta like Emily Dickinson  when the world is puddle-wonderful the queer old balloonman whistles far and wee and bettyandisabel come dancing from hop-scotch and jump-rope and it’s spring and the goat-footed balloonMan whistles far and wee in Just- spring when the world is mud- luscious the little lame balloonman whistles far and wee and eddieandbill come running from marbles and piracies and it’s spring

35. “the hills” the hills like poets put on purple thought against the magnificent clamor of day tortured in gold, which presently crumpled collapses exhaling a red soul into the dark so duneyed master enter the sweet gates of my heart and take the rose which perfect is With killing hands

36. the sky was can dy lu mi nous ed I ble spry pinks shy lem ons greens cool choco lates un der a lo co mo tive s pout ing vi o lets

37. l(a le af fa ll s) one l iness

38. r-p-o-p-h-e-s-s-a-g-r who a(s w(e loo)k upnowgath PPEGORHRASS eringint(o- aThe):l eA !p: S a (r rIvInG .gRrEaPsPhOs) to rea(be)rran(com)gi(e)ngly ,grasshopper;

39. Post Modern Poetry • 1950-1990 • Reaction against the ordered, rational view of the world • Reaction against stifling conformity of post WWII America • Emphasized the absurd

40. Confessional Poetry • Personal to individual poet’s life and experiences • Subjects previously not discussed openly • Private experiences with feelings about • DEATH • TRAUMA • DEPRESSION • RELATIONSHIPS • Poetry explored the psychological aspects of these types of events on the psyche • CONFESSIONAL POETS: SYLVIA PLATH, ANNE SEXTON, ROBERT LOWELL

41. “Mirror” by Sylvia Plath • Personifies the mirror • In what ways does the mirror describe itself? • Silver, exact • Not cruel, only truthful • The eye of a little god • What does the mirror spend most of its time doing? • Mediating on the opposite wall • When the woman appears in the second stanza, how does she react to the mirror? Why?

42. Beat Poets • Sub-genre of Post Modern Movement • 1940s-1950s—NYC and San Francisco • Questioned mainstream politics and culture • Rejected conformity and tradition • BOTH SOCIAL CONFORMITY AND TRADITION AS WELL AS LITERARY • Goals of the Beat Poets • Changing consciousness through • Use of hallucinogens • Mediation/Eastern Philosophy • Defy conventional writing • Beat Poets: Allen Ginsberg, Gary Snyder, Lawrence Ferlinghetti

43. “Homework” by Allen Ginsberg If I were doing my Laundry I’d wash my dirty Iran I’d throw in my United States, and pour on the Ivory Soap, scrub up Africa, put all the birds and elephants back in the jungle, I’d wash the Amazon river and clean the oily Carib & Gulf of Mexico,    Rub that smog off the North Pole, wipe up all the pipelines in Alaska,    Rub a dub dub for Rocky Flats and Los Alamos, Flush that sparkly Cesium out of Love Canal Rinse down the Acid Rain over the Parthenon & Sphinx, Drain Sludge out of the Mediterranean basin & make it azure again, Put some blueing back into the sky over the Rhine, bleach the little Clouds so snow return white as snow, Cleanse the Hudson Thames & Neckar, Drain the Suds out of Lake Erie    Then I’d throw big Asia in one giant Load & wash out the blood & Agent Orange, Dump the whole mess of Russia and China in the wringer, squeeze out the tattletail Gray of U.S. Central American police state, & put the planet in the drier & let it sit 20 minutes or an Aeon till it came out clean.