Modern, Post-Modern, & Contemporary Poetry

Modern, Post-Modern,&Contemporary Poetry

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

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

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

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

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

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”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

William Carlos Williams • Imagist—known for short, lyric poems which focused on a single image • Precise wording • Detailed imagery • Poems were short because Williams was a doctor—wrote many poems on prescription pads.

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

“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

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.

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

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

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

“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

“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

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

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

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Metapoetry • Metapoetry: poetry about poetry • These poems present an artistic philosophy regarding the writing and reading of poetry • As you read, analyze the philosophical arguments that support the poet’s message • Wallace Stevens • Believed the goal of poetry is to capture the interaction between the private world of the mind and reality • Uses elaborate imagery and precise language • Archibald MacLeish • Modernist who used poetry to explore social and political issues • Known for lyric poetry and verse plays • Marianne Moore • Modernist who was known for inventive, precise, and witty poems • Most common subjects of her poems are animals and nature • Animal imagery is one of the hallmarks of her work • Known for objectivist poetry—poems that focus on a single subject and render it objectively and in detail

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

Protest Poetry • Poetry that calls out and talks back to inhumane forces in the world • Expose truths • Raise consciousness • Build united fronts • All warn against complacency—don’t just sit back and watch injustice occurDO SOMETHING • Woody Guthrie • Folk singer of the 1930s and 1940s • Most famous song—This Land is Your Land • Inspired by too much radio play for “God Bless America”thought the lyrics were unrealistic and complacent • Music focused on Dust Bowl Era and Depression • Music protested class inequality and unjust treatment of migrant workers • Allen Ginsberg • Leading figure in the Beat Generation of the 50s and the counterculture revolution of the 60s • Opposed militarism, economic materialism, and sexual repression • Best known for the poem “Howl” which denounced the destructive forces of capitalism and conformity of 1950s America • Bob Dylan • American songwriter and poet; won Pulitzer Prize in 2008 Nobel Prize for Literature in 2016 • Influenced by Woody Guthrie • Music addressed issues of civil rights, breakdown of farming and mining communities, and the 60s counterculture movement

This Land is Your Land When the sun came shining, and I was strolling, And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling, As the fog was lifting a voice was chanting: This land was made for you and me. As I went walking I saw a sign there And on the sign it said "No Trespassing." But on the other side it didn't say nothing, That side was made for you and me. In the shadow of the steeple I saw my people, By the relief office I seen my people; As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking Is this land made for you and me? Nobody living can ever stop me, As I go walking that freedom highway; Nobody living can ever make me turn back This land was made for you and me. This land is your land This land is my landFrom California to the New York island; From the red wood forest to the Gulf Stream waters This land was made for you and Me. As I was walking that ribbon of highway, I saw above me that endless skyway: I saw below me that golden valley: This land was made for you and me. I've roamed and rambled and I followed my footsteps To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts; And all around me a voice was sounding: This land was made for you and me.

“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.

“Blowin’ in the Wind”by Bob Dylan How many roads must a man walk downBefore you call him a man?Yes, ’n’ how many seas must a white dove sailBefore she sleeps in the sand?Yes, ’n’ how many times must the cannonballs flyBefore they’re forever banned?The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the windThe answer is blowin’ in the windHow many years can a mountain existBefore it’s washed to the sea?Yes, ’n’ how many years can some people existBefore they’re allowed to be free?Yes, ’n’ how many times can a man turn his headPretending he just doesn’t see?The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the windThe answer is blowin’ in the windHow many times must a man look upBefore he can see the sky?Yes, ’n’ how many ears must one man haveBefore he can hear people cry?Yes, ’n’ how many deaths will it take till he knowsThat too many people have died?The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the windThe answer is blowin’ in the wind

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, ELIZABETH BISHOP

“Mirror” by Sylvia Plath • Used poetry to express intense feelings of despair and deep inner pan • Struggled with severe depression most of her life • Ended her own life at the age of 31 • 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?

Anne Sexton • Like Plath, Sexton also struggles with severe depression • Came on after the birth of her two daughters • Pursued poetry at the suggestion of her doctors as a way to work through her depression • Poems gave readers an intimate and uncomfortable look at her troubled mind • Poems expressed frustrations of trying to lead a creative life while constrained by society’s expectations for women at the time (1960s) • Also ended her own life at 46

Billy Collins • Born in 1941 in NYC • Published his first collection of poetry in 1977 • Poetry is known for • Conversational tone • Witty humor • Quirky, tender, or profound observations on the everyday

YusefKomunyakaa • Born in Lousiana in 1947 • Joined Army in 1965served in Vietnam, reporting from the front lines of the conflict • Published his first collection of poetry in 1977 • Poetry is known for… • Subject matter: the Vietnam War • Breakthrough publication was in 1988 with collection of war poems DienCai Du (Vietnamese for “This Crazy Head”

Stanley Kunitz • Born in Massachusetts in 1905 • Life was shadowed by the death of his father, who committed suicide shortly before he was born • Worked first as a newspaper journalist, published his first book of poetry in 1930 • Abstract in theme, formal in style • As Kunitz aged, his poetry changed • Later poetry has a clear, spare style • Shorter lines • Subject becomes more human • Early poems have a dark and grieving tone; later poems are clear and luminous or mix elements of the light and the dark

Modern, Post-Modern, & Contemporary Poetry