Stephen Burt, a poet and Harvard professor of English, has compared the now famous poet John Ashbery(1927- ) to T. S. Eliot, calling Ashbery "the last figure whom half the English-language poets alive thought a great model, and the other half thought incomprehensible." Ashbery's ncreasing critical recognition by the 1970s transformed him from an obscure avant-garde experimentalist into one of America's most important poets, though still one of its most controversial.
I am in the group who has always and at least, thusfar, found him incomprehensible. He and his work intrigue me more and more since I first came across him while teaching English Literature in the 1990s to matriculation students in Perth Western Australia and now, in these years of my retirement from the world of FT, PT and casual-paid employment: 2006 to 2014.
The play of the human mind, which is the subject of a great many of his poems, is also the subject of my poems. Ashbery once said that his goal was "to produce a poem that the critic cannot even talk about." I, too, find it difficult to talk about his poetry, but I talk about what others say and have written about his work because I find their talk, their writing, throws light, in an indirect sort of way, on my pieces of poetic-writing.
biography of s.t coleridge
introduction to biographia literaria
synopsis of chap 14
critical analysis
literary devices
objections and defence
fancy and imagination
primary and secondary imagination
Stephen Burt, a poet and Harvard professor of English, has compared the now famous poet John Ashbery(1927- ) to T. S. Eliot, calling Ashbery "the last figure whom half the English-language poets alive thought a great model, and the other half thought incomprehensible." Ashbery's ncreasing critical recognition by the 1970s transformed him from an obscure avant-garde experimentalist into one of America's most important poets, though still one of its most controversial.
I am in the group who has always and at least, thusfar, found him incomprehensible. He and his work intrigue me more and more since I first came across him while teaching English Literature in the 1990s to matriculation students in Perth Western Australia and now, in these years of my retirement from the world of FT, PT and casual-paid employment: 2006 to 2014.
The play of the human mind, which is the subject of a great many of his poems, is also the subject of my poems. Ashbery once said that his goal was "to produce a poem that the critic cannot even talk about." I, too, find it difficult to talk about his poetry, but I talk about what others say and have written about his work because I find their talk, their writing, throws light, in an indirect sort of way, on my pieces of poetic-writing.
biography of s.t coleridge
introduction to biographia literaria
synopsis of chap 14
critical analysis
literary devices
objections and defence
fancy and imagination
primary and secondary imagination
"For poetry the idea is everything; the rest is a world of illusion, of divine illusion. Poetry attaches its emotion to the idea; the idea is fact."
This is said by Matthew Arnold. According to him, IDEA is supreme and in poetry, it is the idea that matters, that are attached by poetry through emotions. According to him THE FUNCTION OF POETRY is to interpret life for us, to console us, to sustain us. He says if SCIENCE IS APPEARANCE then the POETRY IS EXPRESSION and there is no appearance without expression.
Then Arnold talks about setting our standard for poetry high. We must accustom ourselves to HIGH STANDARD and STRICT JUDGEMENT and there is no place for CHARLATANISM in poetry. Charlatanism is for confusing the difference between excellent and inferior, sound and unsound or only half sound, true and untrue or only half true. Judging with little differences has paramount importance, so there is no place for charlatanism in poetry.
It is best to know the branches of literature since it evolves and involves our everyday life that connects individuals with larger truths and ideas in a society as it creates a way for people to record their thoughts and experiences that is accessible to others, through fictionalized accounts of the experience.
The Merits of Shakespeare's The Tempest as a Poem - إمكانية إعتبار مسرحية ’ال...Al Baha University
The Tempest is one of the greatest comic plays of the English writer William Shakespeare. The significance of this play, I feel, is not only being a drama but also poetic. This study attempts to disclose the poetic elements of the play as proof to be called a long poem. The paper is an attempt to show the formations of poetry in the play and to ascertain the dominance of verse such as blank verse in Shakespeare’s time, which was introduced in place of the rhyme, and poetic variations such as accent variation, inversion, deletion of syllables, and additional syllables.
The researcher applies the critical and analytical approach as a literary technique of the study. The paper starts with an introduction about Shakespeare and the composing of The Tempest; then, it sheds light briefly on some verse instances. Afterward, the point is shifted to illustrate the core of the study Discussion on Making Verse in which the researcher sheds light on some essential poetic elements such as blank verse, normal variations, and sporadic variations as instances proofing his arguments.
The Preface to the Lyrical Ballads is an essay, composed by William Wordsworth, for the second edition of the poetry collection Lyrical Ballads, and then greatly expanded in the third edition of 1802. It has come to be seen as a de facto manifesto of the Romantic movement.
Cleanth Brooks - The Language of ParadoxDilip Barad
This presentation is based on Cleanth Brooks's essay "The Language of Paradox,", wherein Cleanth Brooks emphasizes how the language of poetry is different from that of the sciences, claiming that he is interested in our seeing that the paradoxes spring from the very nature of the poet's language: “it is a language in which the connotations play as great a part as the denotations. And I do not mean that the connotations are important as supplying some sort of frill or trimming, something external to the real matter in hand. I mean that the poet does not use a notation at all--as a scientist may properly be said to do so. The poet, within limits, has to make up his language as he goes.”
Shakespeare's Othello: Misrepresentations of the Arab Moors - عطيل لشكسبير: إ...Al Baha University
كثير من مسرحيي العصر الإليزابيثي شوهوا المصادر الأدبية التي كانت في منأى عن الحقيقة، فهؤلاء المسرحيين – بقصد أو بدون قصد – صوّروا العرب بوصف مليء بالمعلومات الخاطئة وكذلك الإسلام كديانة شرقية ومثل ذلك الشخصيات المغربية والتركية، كثير من المسرحيين صوّروا العرب بشكل منافٍ للحقيقة ومليء بالتشويهات مثل (فاسقين وجشعين وقساة وقتلة ومغتصبين وشهوانيين) خلافاً للواقع. الدراسة عبارة عن محاولة لتوضيح الصورة الانحيازية لمثل أولئك الكتاب المسرحيين في مسرحياتهم في إشارة إلى مسرحية ’عطيل‘ ’Othello‘ للكاتب المسرحي الإنجليزي وليم شكسبير كمثال على ذلك.
يستخدم الباحث في دراسته منهج التحليل كوسيلة تقنية للدراسة حيث تبدأ الدراسة بمقدمة عن الكاتب المسرحي شكسبير ثم تتبع بفاصل مختصر كمقارنة بين الشرق والغرب ملقياً الضوء على إسهامات وتأثير الحضارة الشرقية (العربية الإسلامية) على الغرب، بعد ذلك الانتقال إلى الجزء الرئيسي المتمثل في إظهار فكرة الكاتب المشوهة في هجومه على بطل المسرحية العربي ’عطيل‘.
Many Elizabethan playwrights demoralized the sources that were outlying from reality. They intentionally or unintentionally dramatized misinforming descriptions of Arabs and Islam as an oriental religion, character, Moors, and Turks. Several Elizabethan dramatists portrayed them fallaciously as lascivious, avaricious, envious, cruel, murderers, usurpers, pleasure-seekers, converters, and lusty. The study is an attempt to illustrate the partiality of such dramatists in their plays with reference to Shakespeare's Othello as an instance.
The researcher utilizes the critical-analytical literary device as a technique of the study. The study starts with an introduction to the dramatist William Shakespeare, to be followed by a brief section on Orient and Occident, shedding light on the contribution and influence of Oriental civilization on the occident. The central part of the study, so to speak, is made to illustrate the dramatist's notions attacking the hero Othello, the Arab.
"For poetry the idea is everything; the rest is a world of illusion, of divine illusion. Poetry attaches its emotion to the idea; the idea is fact."
This is said by Matthew Arnold. According to him, IDEA is supreme and in poetry, it is the idea that matters, that are attached by poetry through emotions. According to him THE FUNCTION OF POETRY is to interpret life for us, to console us, to sustain us. He says if SCIENCE IS APPEARANCE then the POETRY IS EXPRESSION and there is no appearance without expression.
Then Arnold talks about setting our standard for poetry high. We must accustom ourselves to HIGH STANDARD and STRICT JUDGEMENT and there is no place for CHARLATANISM in poetry. Charlatanism is for confusing the difference between excellent and inferior, sound and unsound or only half sound, true and untrue or only half true. Judging with little differences has paramount importance, so there is no place for charlatanism in poetry.
It is best to know the branches of literature since it evolves and involves our everyday life that connects individuals with larger truths and ideas in a society as it creates a way for people to record their thoughts and experiences that is accessible to others, through fictionalized accounts of the experience.
The Merits of Shakespeare's The Tempest as a Poem - إمكانية إعتبار مسرحية ’ال...Al Baha University
The Tempest is one of the greatest comic plays of the English writer William Shakespeare. The significance of this play, I feel, is not only being a drama but also poetic. This study attempts to disclose the poetic elements of the play as proof to be called a long poem. The paper is an attempt to show the formations of poetry in the play and to ascertain the dominance of verse such as blank verse in Shakespeare’s time, which was introduced in place of the rhyme, and poetic variations such as accent variation, inversion, deletion of syllables, and additional syllables.
The researcher applies the critical and analytical approach as a literary technique of the study. The paper starts with an introduction about Shakespeare and the composing of The Tempest; then, it sheds light briefly on some verse instances. Afterward, the point is shifted to illustrate the core of the study Discussion on Making Verse in which the researcher sheds light on some essential poetic elements such as blank verse, normal variations, and sporadic variations as instances proofing his arguments.
The Preface to the Lyrical Ballads is an essay, composed by William Wordsworth, for the second edition of the poetry collection Lyrical Ballads, and then greatly expanded in the third edition of 1802. It has come to be seen as a de facto manifesto of the Romantic movement.
Cleanth Brooks - The Language of ParadoxDilip Barad
This presentation is based on Cleanth Brooks's essay "The Language of Paradox,", wherein Cleanth Brooks emphasizes how the language of poetry is different from that of the sciences, claiming that he is interested in our seeing that the paradoxes spring from the very nature of the poet's language: “it is a language in which the connotations play as great a part as the denotations. And I do not mean that the connotations are important as supplying some sort of frill or trimming, something external to the real matter in hand. I mean that the poet does not use a notation at all--as a scientist may properly be said to do so. The poet, within limits, has to make up his language as he goes.”
Shakespeare's Othello: Misrepresentations of the Arab Moors - عطيل لشكسبير: إ...Al Baha University
كثير من مسرحيي العصر الإليزابيثي شوهوا المصادر الأدبية التي كانت في منأى عن الحقيقة، فهؤلاء المسرحيين – بقصد أو بدون قصد – صوّروا العرب بوصف مليء بالمعلومات الخاطئة وكذلك الإسلام كديانة شرقية ومثل ذلك الشخصيات المغربية والتركية، كثير من المسرحيين صوّروا العرب بشكل منافٍ للحقيقة ومليء بالتشويهات مثل (فاسقين وجشعين وقساة وقتلة ومغتصبين وشهوانيين) خلافاً للواقع. الدراسة عبارة عن محاولة لتوضيح الصورة الانحيازية لمثل أولئك الكتاب المسرحيين في مسرحياتهم في إشارة إلى مسرحية ’عطيل‘ ’Othello‘ للكاتب المسرحي الإنجليزي وليم شكسبير كمثال على ذلك.
يستخدم الباحث في دراسته منهج التحليل كوسيلة تقنية للدراسة حيث تبدأ الدراسة بمقدمة عن الكاتب المسرحي شكسبير ثم تتبع بفاصل مختصر كمقارنة بين الشرق والغرب ملقياً الضوء على إسهامات وتأثير الحضارة الشرقية (العربية الإسلامية) على الغرب، بعد ذلك الانتقال إلى الجزء الرئيسي المتمثل في إظهار فكرة الكاتب المشوهة في هجومه على بطل المسرحية العربي ’عطيل‘.
Many Elizabethan playwrights demoralized the sources that were outlying from reality. They intentionally or unintentionally dramatized misinforming descriptions of Arabs and Islam as an oriental religion, character, Moors, and Turks. Several Elizabethan dramatists portrayed them fallaciously as lascivious, avaricious, envious, cruel, murderers, usurpers, pleasure-seekers, converters, and lusty. The study is an attempt to illustrate the partiality of such dramatists in their plays with reference to Shakespeare's Othello as an instance.
The researcher utilizes the critical-analytical literary device as a technique of the study. The study starts with an introduction to the dramatist William Shakespeare, to be followed by a brief section on Orient and Occident, shedding light on the contribution and influence of Oriental civilization on the occident. The central part of the study, so to speak, is made to illustrate the dramatist's notions attacking the hero Othello, the Arab.
The most Amazing English Story of all the timeYaseenKhan96
This is one of the best story that you do not need to read at all. Don't waste your time reading stupid english literature. Try exploring your own culture and avoid this devoid of humanity culture. You know why I am writing this description. Just to fill out this description. So in order to increase my scores and your scores, oh not your scores, I am writing these things which doesn't even make sense. Does it make sense to you? Obviosly not at all. So don't waste your time reading this? Are you still reading this? Oh no, You are obsessed with my writing. You made me happy not at all. Since I don't want to waste your time. I am just writing a long description for my own gains and you are here wasting your precious time. May be it's not precious but at least it is valuable and shouldn't be wasted at all. You get it?
Thoughts-1984 to 2014-on the Metaphysical PoetsRon Price
When I was teaching English literature to matriculation students at a polytechnic in Perth Western Australia back in the early 1990s, in my last decade employed as a FT teacher and lecturer, I had my first serious and systematic contact with the metaphysical poets. It was, though, only a brief contact, since I was also up-to-my-ears-and-eyes in many other aspects of literature, to say nothing of the history and psychology courses I was also teaching at the time in a vocational college which did not then, and does not now, expect its charges to be highly-tuned to the intricacies of poetry in particular and literature in general.
Hello Friends, this PPT contains the content about what is literature, definitions of literature, kinds of literature, literary types and examples of renowned literary pieces.....
Part 1:
Laura (Riding) Jackson(1901-1991) was an American poet, critic, novelist, essayist and short story writer whom I came to know about in the first years of my retirement after a 50 year student-and-paid-employment life: 1949 to 1999. In 1938 W.H. Auden called her "the only living philosophical poet, and in 1939 another American poet, Robert Fitzgerald, expressed the hope that with the 1938 publication of her Collected Poems, "the authority and the dignity of truth-telling, lost by poetry to science, may gradually be regained."1
For the last two days I have spent many hours reading about this most philosophical of poets who has come onto the radar of many writers and poets since the early 1990s, partly due to the extensive publication of her work which has continued since her death in 1991. I began reading and writing poetry seriously, myself, in the early 1990s. I first heard of Laura Riding back in the 1990s, but time and circumstance, responsibilities and health issues, prevented me from taking a serious look at her life and work.
Part 1.1:
Jack Blackmore, in a paper given at The Laura (Riding) Jackson Conference in 2010 expressed the view that: "There are affinities between Riding, Coleridge, and William Blake. There is a common optimism and conviction: that one’s self, one self, through the most intense scrutiny of and engagement with language and life, can take the measure of the universe."2 Blackmore included the following quotation from Coleridge to support that poet's affinity with Riding: "The Poet is not only the man who is made to solve the riddle of the Universe, but he is also the man who feels where it is not solved and this continually awakens his feelings …"-Coleridge, Lecture on Poetry, 12 December 1811.
Blackmore went on to say that "more than any poet in recent times Laura Riding conceived of her poems as a whole work, a universe."2 And so, too, do I in relation to what has become a vast corpus, a very large personal oeuvre. There are many aspects of Riding's philosophy of poetry, her view of writing, literature and life that provide parallels with my own way of going about my literary enterprise. It is for this reason that I write this prose-poetic piece.
The Art Pastor's Guide to Sabbath | Steve ThomasonSteve Thomason
What is the purpose of the Sabbath Law in the Torah. It is interesting to compare how the context of the law shifts from Exodus to Deuteronomy. Who gets to rest, and why?
The Indian economy is classified into different sectors to simplify the analysis and understanding of economic activities. For Class 10, it's essential to grasp the sectors of the Indian economy, understand their characteristics, and recognize their importance. This guide will provide detailed notes on the Sectors of the Indian Economy Class 10, using specific long-tail keywords to enhance comprehension.
For more information, visit-www.vavaclasses.com
Palestine last event orientationfvgnh .pptxRaedMohamed3
An EFL lesson about the current events in Palestine. It is intended to be for intermediate students who wish to increase their listening skills through a short lesson in power point.
Unit 8 - Information and Communication Technology (Paper I).pdfThiyagu K
This slides describes the basic concepts of ICT, basics of Email, Emerging Technology and Digital Initiatives in Education. This presentations aligns with the UGC Paper I syllabus.
Ethnobotany and Ethnopharmacology:
Ethnobotany in herbal drug evaluation,
Impact of Ethnobotany in traditional medicine,
New development in herbals,
Bio-prospecting tools for drug discovery,
Role of Ethnopharmacology in drug evaluation,
Reverse Pharmacology.
The Roman Empire A Historical Colossus.pdfkaushalkr1407
The Roman Empire, a vast and enduring power, stands as one of history's most remarkable civilizations, leaving an indelible imprint on the world. It emerged from the Roman Republic, transitioning into an imperial powerhouse under the leadership of Augustus Caesar in 27 BCE. This transformation marked the beginning of an era defined by unprecedented territorial expansion, architectural marvels, and profound cultural influence.
The empire's roots lie in the city of Rome, founded, according to legend, by Romulus in 753 BCE. Over centuries, Rome evolved from a small settlement to a formidable republic, characterized by a complex political system with elected officials and checks on power. However, internal strife, class conflicts, and military ambitions paved the way for the end of the Republic. Julius Caesar’s dictatorship and subsequent assassination in 44 BCE created a power vacuum, leading to a civil war. Octavian, later Augustus, emerged victorious, heralding the Roman Empire’s birth.
Under Augustus, the empire experienced the Pax Romana, a 200-year period of relative peace and stability. Augustus reformed the military, established efficient administrative systems, and initiated grand construction projects. The empire's borders expanded, encompassing territories from Britain to Egypt and from Spain to the Euphrates. Roman legions, renowned for their discipline and engineering prowess, secured and maintained these vast territories, building roads, fortifications, and cities that facilitated control and integration.
The Roman Empire’s society was hierarchical, with a rigid class system. At the top were the patricians, wealthy elites who held significant political power. Below them were the plebeians, free citizens with limited political influence, and the vast numbers of slaves who formed the backbone of the economy. The family unit was central, governed by the paterfamilias, the male head who held absolute authority.
Culturally, the Romans were eclectic, absorbing and adapting elements from the civilizations they encountered, particularly the Greeks. Roman art, literature, and philosophy reflected this synthesis, creating a rich cultural tapestry. Latin, the Roman language, became the lingua franca of the Western world, influencing numerous modern languages.
Roman architecture and engineering achievements were monumental. They perfected the arch, vault, and dome, constructing enduring structures like the Colosseum, Pantheon, and aqueducts. These engineering marvels not only showcased Roman ingenuity but also served practical purposes, from public entertainment to water supply.
The French Revolution, which began in 1789, was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France. It marked the decline of absolute monarchies, the rise of secular and democratic republics, and the eventual rise of Napoleon Bonaparte. This revolutionary period is crucial in understanding the transition from feudalism to modernity in Europe.
For more information, visit-www.vavaclasses.com
Welcome to TechSoup New Member Orientation and Q&A (May 2024).pdfTechSoup
In this webinar you will learn how your organization can access TechSoup's wide variety of product discount and donation programs. From hardware to software, we'll give you a tour of the tools available to help your nonprofit with productivity, collaboration, financial management, donor tracking, security, and more.
Instructions for Submissions thorugh G- Classroom.pptxJheel Barad
This presentation provides a briefing on how to upload submissions and documents in Google Classroom. It was prepared as part of an orientation for new Sainik School in-service teacher trainees. As a training officer, my goal is to ensure that you are comfortable and proficient with this essential tool for managing assignments and fostering student engagement.
3. Carolyn Keen Literature Prize
• Awards: Money! 100-300 bucks!
• Winner published in the Red
Wheelbarrow
• Deadline extended until Tuesday,
May 28
• Requirement 3-10 pages
4. To Apply
1. Submit a one-page, typed cover letter
stating academic and career goals. Please
include your name, email address, home
address, and home phone. Be sure to
identify the course for which you wrote your
essay.
2. Submit two copies of your essays to Amy
Leonard’s mailbox in the Language Arts
Division Office by Tuesday, May 28th
5. Poetry is “a verbal
artifact which must
be as skillfully and
solidly constructed
as a table or a
motorcycle”
-W. H. Auden
8. “(1) the kinetics of the thing. A poem is energy transferred from
where the poet got it” (409).
“(2) the principle, the law which presides conspicuously over
such composition”
– “FORM IS NEVER MORE THAN AN EXTENSION OF
CONTENT” (410).
(3) the process of the thing, how the principle can be made so to
shape the energies that the form is accomplished
– “ONE PERCEPTION MUST IMMEDIATELY AND DIRECTLY
LEAD TO A FURTHER PERCEPTION” (410).
Charles OlsonCharles Olson
Do Olson’s three points apply only to a radically new form of postmodern
poetry, or are these principles that apply to all poetry? Is “projective
verse” a specific kind of poetry, or is it better characterized as a poetic
sensibility?
Do Olson’s three points apply only to a radically new form of postmodern
poetry, or are these principles that apply to all poetry? Is “projective
verse” a specific kind of poetry, or is it better characterized as a poetic
sensibility?
9. FRANK O’HARAFRANK O’HARA
• In “Personism,” O’Hara defines the poem
as an intimate link connecting two people.
– “I went back to work and wrote a poem for [a
person I was in love with]. While I was writing
it I was realizing that if I wanted to I could use
the telephone instead of writing the poem,
and so Personism was born. It’s a very
exciting movement . . . which puts the poem
squarely between the poet and the person.”
• In “Personism,” O’Hara defines the poem
as an intimate link connecting two people.
– “I went back to work and wrote a poem for [a
person I was in love with]. While I was writing
it I was realizing that if I wanted to I could use
the telephone instead of writing the poem,
and so Personism was born. It’s a very
exciting movement . . . which puts the poem
squarely between the poet and the person.”
10. ELIZABETH BISHOPELIZABETH BISHOP
• “In general, I deplore the ‘confessional.’ ”
• “But now—ye gods—anything goes, and I
am so sick of poems about the students’
mothers & father and sex lives and so on.”
• “I can’t bear to have anything you write tell
—perhaps—what we’re really like in 1972
—perhaps it’s as simple as that.”
• “In general, I deplore the ‘confessional.’ ”
• “But now—ye gods—anything goes, and I
am so sick of poems about the students’
mothers & father and sex lives and so on.”
• “I can’t bear to have anything you write tell
—perhaps—what we’re really like in 1972
—perhaps it’s as simple as that.”
11. In “Personism,” O’Hara defines the poem as an
intimate link connecting two people. In her letter to
Robert Lowell, Elizabeth Bishop rails against what
she considers excessive intimacy in poetic
expression. How can such different opinions
toward the personal in poetry both be considered
under the heading of “postmodern poetry”? Is one
more postmodern than the other? Whether or not
they agree with each other, are they both
responding to a shared set of concerns about
poetry? About life in the post–World War II era?
In “Personism,” O’Hara defines the poem as an
intimate link connecting two people. In her letter to
Robert Lowell, Elizabeth Bishop rails against what
she considers excessive intimacy in poetic
expression. How can such different opinions
toward the personal in poetry both be considered
under the heading of “postmodern poetry”? Is one
more postmodern than the other? Whether or not
they agree with each other, are they both
responding to a shared set of concerns about
poetry? About life in the post–World War II era?
12. A. R. AMMONSA. R. AMMONS
• “How does a poem resemble a walk?”
– “each makes use of the whole body”
– “every walk is unreproducible, as is every
poem”
– “each turns, one or more times, and
eventually returns”
– “the motion occurs only in the body of the
walker or in the body of the words”
• “How does a poem resemble a walk?”
– “each makes use of the whole body”
– “every walk is unreproducible, as is every
poem”
– “each turns, one or more times, and
eventually returns”
– “the motion occurs only in the body of the
walker or in the body of the words”
13. Ammons contends that poetry and walking are alike in that
“both the real and the fictive walk are externalizations of an
inward seeking.”
Let’s talk about that in terms of this: “A poetry . . . centered
in the body became more personal, inviting into the poem
the particulars of a poet’s life.”
How do Ammons’s ideas about the physicality of poetry
illuminate the debate between Bishop and O’Hara about
using poetry to communicate private matters? Would
Ammons agree with Bishop or O’Hara? Or is Ammons
changing the terms of the debate entirely, shifting our
attention to physical experience rather than personal
experience?
14. AUDRE LORDEAUDRE LORDE
• “Poetry is the way we help give name to
the nameless so it can be thought.”
• “We can train ourselves to respect our
feelings and to discipline (transpose) them
into language that catches those feelings
so that they can be shared.”
• “Poetry is not only dream or vision, it is the
skeleton architecture of our lives.”
• “Poetry is the way we help give name to
the nameless so it can be thought.”
• “We can train ourselves to respect our
feelings and to discipline (transpose) them
into language that catches those feelings
so that they can be shared.”
• “Poetry is not only dream or vision, it is the
skeleton architecture of our lives.”
15. Lorde is making some big claims about the
importance of poetry. Is she overstating her case?
Is poetry as important as she claims it to be? If
you don’t think that poetry per se is as important
as Lorde insists, what if we read her manifesto to
be a defense of language as a whole? Do we
need language—and, in particular, the kind of
precise, articulate, and beautiful language that we
find in poetry—to make sense of our existence as
human beings? What would life be like without
language to give meaning to it?
17. • What is postmodernism?
– the experimental aesthetic movements of the
post–World War II era
– a multi-faceted engagement with modernist
aesthetics and philosophy
• a rejection of modernism
• a continuation of the “unfinished project” of
modernism
• a self-critical reflection on modernism
From Modernism to Postmodernism
18. • Rejects 19th-century sociological realism
and 20th-century psychological realism
• Considers history and fiction both as
products of the imagination
• Questions whether literature can represent
reality
• Focuses self-reflexively on language itself
Postmodern Fiction
19. In fiction “the issue under debate was realism. Whether
grounded in sociological observation (as some later
nineteenth-century writers would have it) or in psychology
and myth (the favorite of some twentieth-century
moderns), such representation had become, by 1960, an
orientation harder and harder to defend . . . One response
by subsequent writers would be to write what the critic
Linda Hutcheon has called ‘historiographic metafiction,’ in
which the novelist treats actual events and fantasized
material on an equal basis, with an emphasis on how
history and fiction are events created by the
imagination . . . Other writers chose to question the very
presumption of representational literary art . . . Literary
journalism, as always influenced by its fictive cousin, now
centered less on presumed objectivity than on the
experience of the journalist encountering that object”
(NAAL 400–401).
20. • A shift from the poem as artifact to the
poem as open-ended process
• An increasing emphasis on the
unconscious, accident, and chance
• A growing focus on the body, gender, and
women’s experiences
• A greater sense of the poet’s personal life
reflected in the poetry itself
Postmodern Poetry
21. “After several decades in which impersonality and
objectivity were the key values in poetry criticism, poets
shifted the focus from the poem as artifact . . . to the poem
as open-ended process. The unconscious began to take
up a larger place in poetry, and accident and chance
became, at times, structuring principles . . . For some
poets a focus on the body brought attention to issues of
gender and the ways in which the particularity of a
woman’s embodied experiences had been silenced in
poetry . . . A poetry open to the unconscious and centered
in the body became more personal, inviting into the poem
the particulars of a poet’s life” (NAAL 400).
23. Ralph Waldo Ellison was
named after the celebrated
poet Ralph Waldo Emerson,
by his father who wanted his
son to become a poet. Today
Ellison is mostly remembered
as the mastermind who wrote
the emotive and gripping novel
“Invisible Man” (along with
many others) which met with
much critical success, winning
the National Book Award in
1953.
Ellison was born in Oklahoma
City, Oklahoma on 1st
March
1914. He was born to Ida
Millsap and Lewis Alfred
Ellison and had a brother
Herbert Millsap Ellison. In his
initial years Ellison and his
family had to deal with difficult
times. In 1965, Ellison
received the honor of his book
“Invisible Man” being declared
the most important novel since
the end of WW11 by survey of
200 prominent literary figures.
24. HOMEWORK
Read Ralph Ellison, “The Prologue,” and “Battle Royal” from
Invisible Man. 206-224
Post #27 Choose one:
What does the reader know about the narrator solely on the basis of
the Prologue? Explain both what he reveals about himself explicitly
and what inferences can be drawn, justifying your findings as you
go along.
Why would the audience listening to the narrator’s speech have
reacted so strongly to the narrator’s mistake? Discuss the
implications of his slip of the tongue.
QHQ
Editor's Notes
A good place to start a discussion of postmodernism is by wrestling with the term itself. Have any of your students ever encountered the term? Do any of them know what it means? Even if they don’t know, what does the term suggest? If “modern” suggests “the present,” how can you be “post-” the present? What ironies or contradictions are implied by the term? Help your students to see that the contradiction implied by the term is part of its appeal, and that debating the term is as important as defining it. Let your students know that “postmodernism” means different things to different people, and that the lack of consensus over how to define the term itself is what has made postmodernism such a vibrant literary and philosophical movement.
“ After several decades in which impersonality and objectivity were the key values in poetry criticism, poets shifted the focus from the poem as artifact . . . to the poem as open-ended process. The unconscious began to take up a larger place in poetry, and accident and chance became, at times, structuring principles . . . For some poets a focus on the body brought attention to issues of gender and the ways in which the particularity of a woman’s embodied experiences had been silenced in poetry . . . A poetry open to the unconscious and centered in the body became more personal, inviting into the poem the particulars of a poet’s life” ( NAAL 400).