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Dr. Bordelon's American Lit II On Campus | ||
Robert Frost; William Carlos Williams; Edna St. Vincent Milay
Terms | Life | Times | Class Discussion | Group Questions | Links | Pictures | Quotes from Critics Terms to Know modernism: A general
term applied retrospectively to the wide range of experimental and avant-garde
trends in the literature
(and other arts) of the early 20th century, including Symbolism
, Futurism
, Expressionism
, Imagism
, Vorticism
, Ultraismo
, Dada
, and Surrealism
, along with the innovations of
unaffiliated writers. Modernist literature is characterized chiefly by
a rejection of 19th-century traditions and of their consensus between
author and reader: the conventions of realism
, for instance, were abandoned by Franz
Kafka and other novelists, and by expressionist drama, while several
poets rejected traditional metres
in favour of free
verse . Modernist writers tended to see
themselves as an avant-garde disengaged from
bourgeois values, and disturbed their readers by adopting complex and
difficult new forms and styles. In fiction, the accepted continuity of
chronological development was upset by Joseph Conrad , Marcel Proust ,
and William Faulkner , while James Joyce and Virginia Woolf attempted
new ways of tracing the flow of characters' thoughts in their stream-of-consciousness
styles. In poetry, Ezra Pound and T. S.
Eliot replaced the logical exposition of thoughts with collages
of fragmentary images and complex allusions
. Luigi Pirandello and Bertolt Brecht
opened up the theatre to new forms of abstraction in place of realist
and naturalist
representation. Imagism: poetic movement of
England and the United States, flourished from 1909 to 1917. Its credo,
expressed in Some Imagist Poets (1915), included the use of the
language of common speech, precision, the creation of new rhythms,
absolute freedom in choice of subject matter, the evocation of images
in hard, clear poetry, and concentration. Originating in the aesthetic
philosophy of T. E. Hulme, the movement soon attracted Ezra Pound, who
became the leader of a small group opposed to the romantic conception
of poetry and inspired by Greek and Roman classics and by Chinese,
Japanese, and modern French poets. In the U.S., the group was
represented in Poetry: A Magazine of Verse by Pound, H. D., John Gould
Fletcher, and Amy Lowell, and by such English poets as F. S. Flint,
Richard Aldington, and D. H. Lawrence. Pound collected some of their
work in Des Imagistes: An Anthology (1914), after which his interest
began to wane; Amy Lowell then assumed active leadership, advocating
that the group subscribe to a fixed program and hold together for at
least three years. Under her guidance were published several
anthologies, all entitled Some Imagist Poets. For a more thorough overview, see Scott Ashley "Imagism and American Poets" The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature . Jay Parini. Oxford University Press 2004. Oxford Reference Online . Oxford University Press. Sonnet: A lyric poem comprising fourteen rhyming lines of equal length: iambic pentameters in English, alexandrines in French, hendecasyllables in Italian. The rhyme schemes of the sonnet follow two basic patterns. 1. The Italian sonnet (also called the Petrarchan
sonnet after the most influential of the Italian sonneteers) comprises
an 8 line ‘octave’ of two quatrains , rhymed abbaabba, followed by a 6
line ‘sestet’ usually rhymed cdecde or cdcdcd. The transition from
octave to sestet usually coincides with a ‘turn’ (Italian, volta) in
the argument or mood of the poem. In a variant form used by the English
poet John Milton , however, the ‘turn’ is delayed to a later position
around the tenth line. Some later poets—notably William Wordsworth
—have employed this feature of the ‘Miltonic sonnet’ while relaxing the
rhyme scheme of the octave to abbaacca. The Italian pattern has
remained the most widely used in English and other languages. http://www.sonnets.org Sonnet Central: archive of sonnets with historical notes and links. "sonnet." The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms. Chris Baldick. Oxford University Press, 2008. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. Ocean County College. 4 March 2009 The Life It's difficult to understand the radicalism of these poets verse unless you compare it with the popular poetry of the period. And so, a sampling from Anthology of Newspaper Verse 1919, purporting to show "those poems which seemed to voice the sentiment of the people." And now, without further ado, the voice of the people. (in PDF for easier reading) A LITTLE WHILE.Hope on, and bid thy soul look up and wait a little while, Thy share of joy He holds for thee, though now the world looks dark. He guides thy bark to seas where thou shalt find thy happy isle. The darkest hour comes just before the dawn then sings the lark! Boston (Mass.) Record. Marie Tello Phillips. ALIENS. Columbia, Columbia, they came across the sea To till your golden prairies and to dwell in amity. They planted friendly orchards; and from East to fertile West Their little ones in gladness knew the shielding of your breast. Columbia, Columbia, another brood is here, Who snatch your love and treasure, and requite you with a sneer, Like snakes they glide in darkness, foul as ghouls that haunt the dead And yield no glad allegiance, save to bloody flags of red. Awake, arise, Columbia! Their dream is all too long -- Call forth your sons of alien race, their arms are leal and strong. Fling out the starry flag again, as in our battle day. While sons who once were aliens sweep the poisoned hordes away! Luella Stewart. New York (N. Y.) Evening Sun. THE GARDEN OF THE HEART. When the springtime is advancing With its warm and glowing showers, When you're planting in your garden Of the various kinds of flowers You are careful, oh, so careful, That the seed will surely start, Just take an extra moment For the garden of the heart. Heart-gardens are oft-times barren Of the sunshine, warmth and cheer; Just moisten up the calloused places With a sympathetic tear, 'Twill start the germ of love to growing, Smother out the hurts that smart, If you plant a little flower In the garden of the heart. South Bend (Ind.) Tribune, Matt. O. Long. YESTERDAY AND TOMORROW. Oh, where, my heart, is the peace you knew When winds were fair and skies were blue? You then were young, and your throb was light, And the future of love and vision was bright. Red horror descended and men went mad Fair fields with millions of slain were clad. The beauty of centuries all in a breath Went hurtling away on the pinions of death. Be strong, my heart! 'tis a world of change, And struggles of Man have long wide range ! Though the darkness fell, gun again shall rise And courage re-glisten in human eyes. Unity (Chicago, HI.) James Hareourt West. DESTINY. Each day unwinds the roll of fate, New pictures shown, by artist time Who frames them later to relate Our life in full a tale sublime. When symbols print through souls of thought And varied colors blend as one, Recalling sunny hours forgot, Through years of toil and duties dark. As fate unwinds life's web, we weave The hit and miss together show Effects whose consequences grieve To pains that balance all we owe. An Angel travels with each one Accounts to keep its time to wait All claims when earth's demands are done Unfurlment at the golden gate. Eager to find our longings met By charity the queen of love, Where mysteries our tears have wet, On earth to bloom our joys above. Buffalo Express Mary J. Scott. FINIS. Let this grand old earth resound with mirth, For the sword is laid aside : Strife is done, our victory's won, Let joy and peace abide; For God has blessed our efforts And our eagle's wings are furled O'er the freedom of all mankind And a liberated world. Now the waves of the sea roll proud and free Far o'er the bounding main, The ships that bear our heroes dear Come sailing home again; And back once more from a distant shore, Thrice welcome will they be. For hard they've toiled to make the world Safe for democracy. And though there's some who 're left behind, Their cross and crown are won; Well bow our heads to Heaven's decree And say "Thy will be done"; For o'er the paths of toil and pain, Their willing feet have trod, They've climbed the height, they're "over the top," And safe in the arms of God. Mobile (Ala.) Register. Agnes Weeks Chambers. DEEP IN THE HEART. Deep in the heart O such a sweetness lies, There is no room for anything of care, Of bitterness or sorrow or despair, In just this little bit of paradise. What dear remembrances are our to prize, To cherish ever and to hold most fair, The little things of life we give and share! Deep in the heart are endless melodies. Deep in the heart are joy and peace and rest So rich and sweet no tongue can ever tell The precious whole or speak it utterly, With faith to bring us to the harbor blest Of hopes and dreams and say that all is well But love, Love only holds the golden key. Detroit Free Press. Myrtella Southerland. THE UNMOWN HIGHWAY. I love the unmown highway where the crimson sumachs blaze, And the golden-rods run riot in their dear familiar ways; Where grapevines drape the fences, and the bittersweet is seen Glossily upon the sapling, while below, -- beneath -- between Peep the saucy Spanish needles with their countless cups of gold, Each one filled with as much nectar as any bee should hold: Oh, the air is full of incense and a chorus sweet and rare All along the unmown highway with its 'dear sweet wild things there. There are fragrant apples falling, tiny, hard, and round and green From the crab-tree that in Maytime was the pinkest, sweetest seen: And the grapevines purple bunches take us back to spring-time, too, When its' mignonette sweet blossoms wafted out their fragrance new. And the tiny wrens and bluebirds, flitting, darting, to and fro, Sounded timid notes of warning ; did they take me for a foe? And the thrush, I hear her"tushing"to her eager, hungry brood, While afar her mate swung, thrilling, his own anthem to the Wood. In Midsummer the wild roses nestled there in sweet repose, Shy, sweet, modest, perfect darlings of the dear unkempt hedgerows. Where the thorn-tree snowed its' blossoms on Sweet Williams down below And in fall the purple asters sway on all the winds that blow. Oh, I love an unmown highway with a hedgerow hanging o'er; There are scarlet leaves in autumn, flowers and fruit have gone before; There we found the sweet wild berries in the shade of noon-tide heat; Some may call such road-sides shiftless, but to me they are just sweet! Home Life, Chicago, Ill. Pearl Haley Patrick. Even Williams was not immune to this embrace of an older "poetics." His first, self-published book of poetry (1909), contains the following: "On a Proposed Trip
South" This winter eyrie for a southern flight And truth to tell I tremble with delight At thought of such unheralded reprieve. E'er have I known December in a weave Of blanched crystal, when, thrice one short night Packed full with magic, and O blissful sight! N'er May so warmly doth for April grieve. To in a breath's space wish the winter through And lo, to see it fading! Where, oh, where Is caract could endow this princely boon? Yet I have found it and shall shortly view The lush high grasses, shortly see in air Gay birds and hear the bees make heavy droon. His (and our) friend Ezra Pound did not look kindly on this kind of poetry. The first line of a 1909 letter in response to the book was "I hope to God you have no feelings. If you have, burn this before reading." He added "Individual, original it is not. Great art it is not. Poetic it is, but there are innumerable poetic volumes poured out here in Gomorrah [London] .... Your book would not attract even passing attention here. There are fine lines in it, but nowhere I think do you add anything to the poets you have used as models." Williams was a quick study. By 1914, his verse looked like this "To Mark Antony in Heaven" This quiet morning light reflected, how many times from grass and tress and clouds enters my north room touching the walls with grass and clouds and trees. Anthony, trees and grass and clouds. Why did you follow that beloved body with your ships at Actium? I hope it was because you knew her inch by inch from slanting feet upward to the roots of her hair and down again and that you saw her above the battle's fury --- clouds and trees and grass --- For then you are listening in heaven. This more modern verse was much more appealing to Pound: he published it in his 1914 anthology Des Imagistes. (The comments on Williams'
poetry are from
"Mending Wall"
"Home Burial" "After Apple Picking" "The Road Not Taken" "Birches" "Design" This is an early version of this poem, first published in 1922 In White What had that flower to do with being white, And consider Blake's Tyger Tyger as well -- which seems an earlier evocation of the same theme William Carlos Williams (circa 1920s) "The Red Wheelbarrow" "This is Just to Say" "Spring and All" "The Young Housewife"
"Landscape with the Fall of Icarus" This is the Brueghel's painting refered to in the poem From: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5e/Bruegel%2C_Pieter_de_Oude_-_De_val_van_icarus_-_hi_res.jpg/800px-Bruegel%2C_Pieter_de_Oude_-_De_val_van_icarus_-_hi_res.jpg "Queen-Anne's-Lace"
Consider Shakespeare's sonnet "My Mistress's Eyes" in relation to this poem My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;Coral is far more red than her lips' red; If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head. I have seen roses damasked, red and white, But no such roses see I in her cheeks; And in some perfumes is there more delight Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks. I love to hear her speak, yet well I know That music hath a far more pleasing sound; I grant I never saw a goddess go; My mistress when she walks treads on the ground. And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare As any she belied with false compare. Edna St. Vincent Milay circa 1920s
"I, being born a woman" "Apostrophe to Man" "I Too beneath Your Moon, Almighty Sex" "The Snow Storm" Click on the link for a copy of an early poem by Milay -- and one of her best: Renascence. I find it reminiscent of our friend Edna Pontieller. Views of Women and Sexuality
Group Questions Williams/Milay
Frost page on the Modern American Poetry site (one of the best for . . . Modern American Poetry . . .) Short but detailed biographies and critical commentary on selected poems. Williams page on the Modern American Poetry site. Milay page on the Modern American Poetry site.
Quotes from Critics
© David Bordelon 2009
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