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Modern Poetry and Poetics
Purpose of Course showclose
The decades between roughly 1890 and 1950 witnessed unprecedented efforts to create new art, new values, and a new culture in Europe and the United States. During this time Western writers, artists, and intellectuals questioned accepted aesthetic norms and produced radically experimental works of art and new understandings of what it means to live in modern times. The first half of the twentieth century also witnessed the most devastating conflicts in Western history – the two World Wars and the Holocaust – and these events accelerated and profoundly influenced cultural changes. Modernist poetry, which emerged during this time, is among the most interesting cultural developments of the last century, and it is the subject of this course.
Critic Cary Nelson has argued that modern poetry—meaning, most generally, poetry from the turn-of-the-century through the 1950s—does not conform to any linear narrative and that it should not be studied as such. However, while it is true that modernist poetic developments sprang up in unlikely and seemingly spontaneous ways, we will attempt to progress through this course in a roughly chronological manner. This is because, in many ways, poetry is a social form that reflects the cultural and political situations in which it is written. This course will invite you to situate poetry within those contexts.
Throughout the course you will explore such questions as: what makes poetry modern? Is artistic innovation influenced by political commitments? Should it be? Does literature have ethical responsibilities? Is it possible to fully reject traditional norms and values? The course starts with a theoretical consideration of modernity and modernism, as well as a historical overview of the period. It then explores fin-de-siècle poetic innovation, World War I, early modernist movements like Imagism and Vorticism as well as the writings of High Modernism. It then analyzes how World War II and the Holocaust affected poetry and how poetic innovation continued in the postwar years. A unit on African American modernism explores another crucially important dimension of what is now recognized, somewhat paradoxically, as the modernist tradition. By the end of the course, you will have studied the work of major American and British modernist writers, and you will have critically explored the characteristic techniques, concerns, and tropes of modern poetry.
Course Information showclose
Primary Resources: This course is composed of a range of different free, online materials. However, it makes primary use of the following materials:
- Yale University: Open Yale Courses: Professor Langdon Hammer’s “Modern Poetry” Course
- Poets.org’s Essays and E-versions of Poems
- The Poetry Foundation’s Biographies and E-versions of Poems
- Bartleby.com’s E-versions of Poems
- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: English Department’s “Modern American Poetry”
- University of Pennsylvania: Dr. Al Filreis’ English 88: “Modern and Contemporary American Poetry”
- The Final Exam
Note that you will only receive an official grade on your Final Exam. However, in order to adequately prepare for this exam, you will need to study all of the resources in this course.
In order to “pass” this course, you will need to earn a 70% or higher on the Final Exam. Your score on the exam will be tabulated as soon as you complete it. If you do not pass the exam, you may take it again.
Time Commitment: This course should take you a total of approximately 118.75 hours to complete. Each unit includes a “time advisory” that lists the amount of time youare expected to spend on each subunit. These should help you plan your time. It may be useful to take a look at these advisories and todetermine how much time you have over the next few weeks to complete eachunit, and then to set goals for yourself. For example, Unit 1 should take you 15.25 hours.Perhaps you can sit down with your calendar and decide to complete subunits 1.1 and 1.2 (2.5 hours) on Monday night, and subunit 1.3 (4.75 hours) on Tuesday night; subunits 1.4 and 1.5 (4.25 hours); etc.
Tips/Suggestions: This course covers a wide variety of literary styles, and it is essential to keep careful notes as you study. Review your notes from previous units before starting a new unit so that comparisons between the various styles and schools of modernist poetry will be more apparent and you will be able to think through them with the necessary materials at hand. These notes will also be useful as a review as you prepare for your Final Exam.
Learning Outcomes showclose
Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Define the terms “modern,” “modernism,” and “modernity,” and describe how they relate to one another.
- Identify and analyze the most important similarities and differences between literary modernism and the cultural traditions of the nineteenth century.
- Analyze the socio-political context of the modernist movements in America and Europe in the first half of the twentieth century.
- Identify the most important British and American modernist movements and poets.
- Analyze a wide variety of modernist poems; compare and contrast them in terms of form, content, and rhetorical aim.
- Analyze the relationship between poetry, the two World Wars, and the Holocaust.
- Identify and analyze political and activist aspects of modernist poetry.
- Analyze how post-1945 American poetry differed from modernism in the first half of the twentieth century.
Course Requirements showclose
√ Have access to a computer.
√ Have continuous broadband Internet access.
√ Have the ability/permission to install plug-ins or software (e.g. Adobe Reader or Flash).
√ Have the ability to download and save files and documents to a computer.
√ Have the ability to open Microsoft files and documents (.doc, .ppt, .xls, etc.).
√ Have competency in the English language.
√ Have read the Saylor Student Handbook.
√ Have completed the following courses from “The Core Program” of the English discipline: ENGL101, ENGL201, ENGL202, ENGL203, ENGL204, and ENGL301.
Unit Outline show close
Expand All Resources Collapse All Resources
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Unit 1: Modern Poetry In Its Historical Context
In this unit, you will begin to develop a sense of what the term “modern” means, and what makes poetry “modern.” With these objectives in mind, you will first define what modern is NOT— that is, you will explore those 19th-century assumptions and conventions that modern poets sought to dissociate themselves from and the socio-historical context in which they had developed. You will then take a thousand-foot-view of the social, cultural, and historical changes that took place between 1900 and 1950, concluding with a general discussion of characteristic “modernist” concerns as they tend to be defined by scholars.
Unit 1 Time Advisory show close
Unit 1 Learning Outcomes show close
- 1.1 What Is Modern?
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1.1.1 Modernism: Historical Background and Preliminary Definitions
- Reading: Sweet Briar College: Dr. Christopher L.C.E. Witcombe’s “The Roots of Modernism”
Link: Sweet Briar College: Dr. Christopher L.C.E. Witcombe’s "The Roots of Modernism" (HTML)
Instructions: Click on the link above, and then please read this text in its entirety. It proposes some preliminary definitions of modernism and provides an overview of transformations of Western culture that took place between the Renaissance and the late nineteenth century. As you read, please focus on the following questions: how does Dr. Witcombe define modernism? What does he identify as the most important reasons for its emergence? Take a moment to write down your answers.
Reading and answering the questions above should take you approximately 30 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: University of Texas at Austin: Harry Ransom Center’s Press Release: “Make it New: The Rise of Modernism” Exhibition
Link: University of Texas at Austin: Harry Ransom Center’s Press Release: “Make it New: The Rise of Modernism” Exhibition (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read this text in its entirety to understand the defining features of the modernist period.
This reading should take you approximately 15 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: Sweet Briar College: Dr. Christopher L.C.E. Witcombe’s “The Roots of Modernism”
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1.1.2 What Modernism Is Not: Differentiating Our Terms
- Reading: Vanderbilt University: Dr. Bill Kupinse’s “Modernism, Modernization, Modernité, Modern: Some Definitions”
Link: Vanderbilt University: Dr. Bill Kupinse’s “Modernism, Modernization, Modernité, Modern: Some Definitions" (HTML)
Instructions: Click on the link above, and then please read this page in its entirety. It proposes various definitions of modernism and modernity. As you read, please think about the following questions: how do these definitions differ from one another? Why do you think they differ? Which of the definitions do you find most useful at this point in the course?
Reading and answering the questions above should take you approximately 15 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: Vanderbilt University: Dr. Bill Kupinse’s “Modernism, Modernization, Modernité, Modern: Some Definitions”
- 1.2 The Victorian Period Comes to a Close
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1.2.1 A Brief Review of the Political History of the Victorian Period
- Reading: The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Norton Topics Online:“The Victorian Age: Introduction”
Link: The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Norton Topics Online: “The Victorian Age: Introduction” (HTML)
Instructions: Please read the entirety of the Norton Anthology of English Literature’s introduction to the Victorian age. What are some of the most important characteristics of the Victorian age? What does the author identify as the four most important controversies that preoccupied Victorian society?
Reading and answering the questions above should take you approximately 15 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Norton Topics Online:“The Victorian Age: Introduction”
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1.2.2 Major Social and Cultural Assumptions of the Victorian Period
- Reading: University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh: Dr. Christine Roth’s “Victorian England: An Introduction”
Link: University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh: Dr. Christine Roth's Victorian England: An Introduction” (HTML)
Instructions: Please read this brief text in its entirety. What does Dr. Roth identify as the most important social and cultural assumptions of the Victorian period?
Reading and answering the questions above should take you approximately 15-20 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh: Dr. Christine Roth’s “Victorian England: An Introduction”
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1.2.3 Visions of Empire
- Reading: Victorian Station’s “The British Empire”
Link: Victoria Station’s “The British Empire” (HTML)
Instructions: Please read this text in its entirety. What were the most important changes that took place throughout the British Empire during the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901)?
Reading and answering the question above should take you approximately 15-20 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: Victorian Station’s “The British Empire”
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1.2.4 Principal Poets and Poetic Conventions of the Victorian Period
- Reading: Selections from Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s “In Memoriam” and Robert Browning’s “My Last Duchess”
Links: Bartleby’s version of Selections from Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s “In Memoriam” (HTML)
Also available in:
eText format on the Kindle ($2.99)
and Bartleby’s version of Robert Browning’s “My Last Duchess” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the links above, and read both poems in their entirety. As you read, please consider the following questions: what images dominate Tennyson’s “In Memoriam?” What is the poem’s rhyme scheme and rhythm? What are the central metaphors and similes in Browning’s “My Last Duchess?” How does the structure of Browning’s poem relate to its theme? What do these poems tell you about the characteristics of Victorian poetry?
These readings and questions should take you approximately 45 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyrights and terms of use displayed on the webpages above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: Selections from Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s “In Memoriam” and Robert Browning’s “My Last Duchess”
- 1.3 Turn-of-the-century Innovations in Poetry
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1.3.1 Concepts of Truth and Elements of Mystery in French Symbolist Poetry
- Reading: Poets.org: The Academy of American Poets' “A Brief Guide to the Symbolists”
Link: Poets.org: The Academy of American Poets' “A Brief Guide to the Symbolists” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read this text in its entirety. Then, follow the links in the left column under “Related Authors” to read the full entries about Charles Baudelaire, Arthur Rimbaud, and Stéphane Mallarmé. As you read, focus on the following questions: what were the most important characteristics of French Symbolism? How did Baudelaire, Rimbaud, and Mallarmé contribute to symbolist poetics? What connections do you see between each of their lives and their literary experiments?
These texts and questions should take you approximately 1 hour to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: Poets.org: The Academy of American Poets' “A Brief Guide to the Symbolists”
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1.3.2 Charles Baudelaire, Father of Modern Poetry
- Reading: Poem Hunter’s version of Charles Baudelaire’s “Correspondences,” “Invitation to a Voyage,” and “Cats”
Links: Poem Hunter’s version of Charles Baudelaire’s “Correspondences,” (HTML) “Invitation to a Voyage,” (HTML) and “Cats” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the links above, and read “Correspondences” and “Invitation to a Voyage,” as well as all the provided translations of “Cats.” As you read the poems ask yourself the following questions: why are the translations different from one another? Why is symbolist poetry particularly difficult to translate? What are the most important stylistic and imagery-related differences between “Correspondences” and “Invitation to a Voyage?” When you compare Baudelaire’s poems with the Victorian poems you studied in sub-subunit 1.2.4, what are the most important differences? Do you perceive any similarities? Take a moment to write down a paragraph in which you summarize your analysis.
These readings and questions should take you approximately 1 hour to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyrights and terms of use displayed on the webpages above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: Poem Hunter’s version of Charles Baudelaire’s “Correspondences,” “Invitation to a Voyage,” and “Cats”
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1.3.3 Arthur Rimbaud, Stéphane Mallarmé, and the French Symbolistes
- Reading: Black Cat Poems’ version of Arthur Rimbaud’s “Dawn,” “Departure,” “Eternity,” and “Sleep” as well as Angelfire’s version of Stéphane Mallarmé’s “Afternoon of a Faun”
Links: Black Cat Poems’ version of Arthur Rimbaud’s “Dawn," (HTML) "Departure," (HTML) "Eternity," (HTML) and "Sleep" (HTML) as well as Angelfire’s version of Stéphane Mallarmé’s “Afternoon of a Faun" (HTML)
Instructions: Click on the links above to access the poems, and please read all four poems in their entirety. Note that a literary “symbol” is something, such as an object, picture, written word, or sound, which represents something else by association, resemblance, or convention. As you read these poems, ask yourself the ways in which Rimbaud and Mallarmé use symbols and/or symbolic language to engage their readers.Identify the symbols used by Rimbaud and Mallarmé, and write down all associations that they elicit in your mind.
These poems and questions should take you approximately 45 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyrights and terms of use displayed on the webpages above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: Black Cat Poems’ version of Arthur Rimbaud’s “Dawn,” “Departure,” “Eternity,” and “Sleep” as well as Angelfire’s version of Stéphane Mallarmé’s “Afternoon of a Faun”
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1.3.4 Aestheticism, Dandyism, and Decadence
- Reading: Briar College: Dr. Christopher L.C.E. Whitcombe’s “Art for Art’s Sake” and Project Gutenberg’s version of J.K. Huysmans’ Against the Grain: “Chapters 1 and 2”
Links: Sweet Briar College: Dr. Christopher L.C.E. Whitcombe’s "Art for Art’s Sake” (HTML) and Project Gutenberg’s version of J.K. Huysmans’ Against the Grain: “Chapters 1 and 2” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the links above, and read the texts in their entirety. J.K. Huysmans’ Against Natureis a quintessential example of “decadent literature.” Making a complete break from the naturalist tradition in literature, Huysmans largely dispenses of plot and concentrates instead on the inner life and aesthetic tastes of the novel’s main character, Des Esseintes. The term “dandy” refers to a man who places particular importance on physical appearance, refined language, and leisure. He is also someone who favors artifice above nature and opposes the nineteenth-century discourse of progress with emphasis on illness, death, and decay. After reading Huysmans’ text, translated by John Howard, take a moment to write a paragraph about how it illustrates these characteristics.
These readings and questions should take you approximately 2 hours to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyrights and terms of use displayed on the webpages above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: Briar College: Dr. Christopher L.C.E. Whitcombe’s “Art for Art’s Sake” and Project Gutenberg’s version of J.K. Huysmans’ Against the Grain: “Chapters 1 and 2”
- 1.4 Human Nature “Changed on or about December 1910”
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1.4.1 Edwardian England (1901-1910)
- Reading: PBS’s “Edwardian Life: Introduction,” “Edwardian Life: Royalty and Empire,” “Edwardian Life: Politics,” “Edwardian Life: The Suffragettes,” and “Edwardian Life: Timeline 1905-1914”
Links: PBS’s “Edwardian Life: Introduction” (HTML), “Edwardian Life: Royalty and Empire” (HTML), “Edwardian Life: Politics” (HTML), “Edwardian Life: The Suffragettes” (HTML),
and “Edwardian Life: Timeline 1905-1914” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the links above to access the texts, and then please read these texts in their entirety to learn about social and political life in Edwardian England. According to these readings, what are the most important socio-historical changes that took place in England in the first two decades of the twentieth century?
These readings and the question above should take you approximately 1 hour to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyrights and terms of use displayed on the webpages above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: PBS’s “Edwardian Life: Introduction,” “Edwardian Life: Royalty and Empire,” “Edwardian Life: Politics,” “Edwardian Life: The Suffragettes,” and “Edwardian Life: Timeline 1905-1914”
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1.4.2 The Origins of the Great War
- Reading: BBC: Dr. Gary Sheffield’s “The Origins of World War One”
Link: BBC: Dr. Gary Sheffield’s “The Origins of World War One” (HTML)
Instructions: Click on the link above to access the article, and then please read this text in its entirety. What long-term causes of the Great War does this essay identify? How did the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand escalate the crisis that led to the outbreak of the war in early August 1914?
This reading and these questions should take you approximately 30 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: BBC: Dr. Gary Sheffield’s “The Origins of World War One”
- 1.5 The World Wars
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1.5.1 Georgian England
- Reading: Britannia’s “George V”
Link: Britannia’s “George V” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read this brief text in its entirety. How did England’s relationship with the rest of the Empire change during George V’s reign?
Reading and considering this question should take you approximately 15 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: Britannia’s “George V”
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1.5.2 From Jingoism to Disillusionment: Changes in Spirit Over the Course of WWI
- Reading: FirstWorldWar.com: Edward George Lengel’s “Prose and Poetry: German and British Memoirs of the First World War”
Link: FirstWorldWar.com: Edward George Lengel’s “Prose and Poetry: German and British Memoirs of the First World War” (HTML)
Instructions: Please read this essay in its entirety. What does it say about the German and British writers’ wartime experiences? How does it make connections between writing and the war?
Reading and answering these questions should take you approximately 45 minutes complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: FirstWorldWar.com: Edward George Lengel’s “Prose and Poetry: German and British Memoirs of the First World War”
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1.5.3 World War I and the Lost Generation
- Reading: The British Library’s Essay on the “Lost Generation”
Link: The British Library’s Essay on the "Lost Generation" (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read this brief text in its entirety. How does the information provided here add to what you learned about the cultural effects of World War I in sub-subunit 1.5.2?
This reading and question should take you approximately 15 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: The British Library’s Essay on the “Lost Generation”
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1.5.4 The Depression and Social Changes in the 1930s
- Reading: Modern American Poetry’s “About the Great Depression”
Link: Modern American Poetry’s “About the Great Depression” (HTML)
Instructions: Please read this webpage in its entirety. What caused the Great Depression? How did it change American and international politics? This essay focuses on the economic and political aspects of the Great Depression. How would you expect the Depression to affect culture?
Reading and answering these questions above should take you approximately 30 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: Modern American Poetry’s “About the Great Depression”
- 1.5.5 World War II and the Holocaust
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1.5.5.1 Overview of World War II
- Reading: Bruce Robinson’s “World War Two: Summary Outline of Key Events”
Link: BBC: Bruce Robinson’s "World War Two: Summary Outline of Key Events" (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read this webpage in its entirety to familiarize yourself with the most important turning points of World War II.
This reading should take you approximately 30 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: Bruce Robinson’s “World War Two: Summary Outline of Key Events”
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1.5.5.2 The Holocaust
- Reading: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s “Introduction to the Holocaust”
Link: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s "Introduction to the Holocaust” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read this article in its entirety. Click on any embedded links of interest to read more about associated content.
This reading should take you approximately 30 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s “Introduction to the Holocaust”
- 1.6 Major Features of Modernism
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1.6.1 Major Poets and Literary Figures of the Early 1900s
- Lecture: Yale University: Dr. Langdon Hammer’s “Introduction to Modern Poetry”
Link: Yale University: Dr. Langdon Hammer’s “Introduction to Modern Poetry” (Adobe Flash, Quicktime, HTML, Mp3)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and watch this lecture starting at minute 8 until the end (40 minutes). As you listen, note how Professor Hammer identifies the goals of modernist poets and their means of breaking with traditional forms and conventions. Write a paragraph about each poet discussed in this lecture.
This lecture and writing exercise should take you approximately 1 hour to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: Poets.org’s “A Brief Guide to Modernism”
Link: Poets.org’s “A Brief Guide to Modernism” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read the entirety of Poets.org’s brief introduction to modernism.
This reading should take you approximately 15 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Lecture: Yale University: Dr. Langdon Hammer’s “Introduction to Modern Poetry”
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1.6.2 The Place of God in the Modern World: Art and Religion
- Reading: Blouin Artinfo’s "Holy Inspiration: Religion and Spirituality in Modern Art"
Link: Blouin Artinfo’s "Holy Inspiration: Religion and Spirituality in Modern Art" (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read this article about an exhibition at the Stedejik Museum in Amsterdam in its entirety. It is a case study of the connections between religious ideas and modernist art. Review your notes about Baudelaire’s, Rimbaud’s, and Mallarme’s poems and note any spiritual or religious echoes in symbolist poetry.
This reading and questions should take you approximately 30 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: Blouin Artinfo’s "Holy Inspiration: Religion and Spirituality in Modern Art"
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1.6.3 Concepts of Self
- Reading: Vernon Pratt’s “The Modern Concept of the Mind and the Punctual Self”
Link: Vernon Pratt’s The Modern Concept of the Mind and the Punctual Self” (HTML)
Instructions: Please read this essay in its entirety. How does the author distinguish between traditional and modern concepts of the self?
This reading should take you approximately 30 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: Vernon Pratt’s “The Modern Concept of the Mind and the Punctual Self”
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1.6.4 Identity and Community
- Reading: University of Virginia, The Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture: John Steadman Rice’s “Romantic Modernism and the Self”
Link: University of Virginia, The Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture: John Steadman Rice’s “Romantic Modernism and the Self” (HTML)
Instructions: Please read this essay in its entirety. As you read, please consider the following questions: how does Rice define Romantic Modernism? Based on what you have learned in this unit, how is Romantic Modernism different from other modernist trends in literature? How does Romantic Modernism configure the relationship between the individual and society?
This reading and questions should take you approximately 30 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: University of Virginia, The Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture: John Steadman Rice’s “Romantic Modernism and the Self”
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Unit 2: Working Beyond The Victorian Tradition: Early Modernist Movements
Now that you have a good sense of the conventions and assumptions to which the modernists were responding, you will look at the first modernist experiments in poetry. You will begin with the incorporation of Symbolism into modern British and American poetic expressions and will then turn to the various other “–isms” that were cultivated in the early 1900s, examining their poetics, practices, and concerns.
Unit 2 Time Advisory show close
Unit 2 Learning Outcomes show close
- 2.1 Elements of Symbolism in Modern Poetic Expression in English
- 2.1.1 W.B. Yeats: Symbolism and the Irish Context
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2.1.1.1 Yeats’ Life and Poetic Projects
- Reading: The Poetry Foundation: William Butler Yeats’ Biography and “Modern Classic: William Butler Yeats”
Link: The Poetry Foundation: William Butler Yeats’ Biography (HTML) and “Modern Classic: William Butler Yeats” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the links above, and read both biographical essays in their entirety. Follow the links embedded in the second essay to read Yeats’ a few of Yeats’ best known poems. Take notes as you read, so that you will be able to refer to this context as you study Yeats’ poetry in subsequent subunits.
This reading should take you approximately 1.5 hours to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: The Poetry Foundation: William Butler Yeats’ Biography and “Modern Classic: William Butler Yeats”
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2.1.1.2 Yeats: Symbolism and Mythology
- Reading: W.B. Yeats’ “The Song of Wandering Aengus” and “A Coat”
Link: Bartleby’s version of W.B. Yeats’ “The Song of Wandering Aengus” (HTML) and “A Coat” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the links above, and read both poems in their entirety. For each poem write a paragraph in which you analyze the poem’s formal and sound qualities, as well as its dominant imagery.
Reading these poems and writing about them should take you approximately 30 minutes.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Lecture: Yale University: Dr. Langdon Hammer’s Lecture on the early work of “William Butler Yeats”
Link: Yale University: Dr. Langdon Hammer’s Lecture on the early work of “William Butler Yeats” (Adobe Flash, Quicktime, HTML, Mp3)
Instructions: Please watch the entirety of Dr. Hammer’s lecture online (47 minutes) by clicking on the hyperlink above to the video lecture and then clicking on the play tool to begin the lecture. Dr. Hammer proposes that Yeats, in a certain sense, identified with King Goll. What does he mean by this? He then analyzes two of Yeats’ poems: “The Song of the Wandering Aengus” and “A Coat.” What are the most important elements of his analysis? How does his analysis differ from yours? Write a paragraph to summarize your thoughts.
This lecture and these questions above should take you approximately 1 hour.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: Poetry Archive’s version of William Butler Yeats’ “To the Rose upon the Rood of Time,” William Butler Yeats’ “The Wild Swans at Coole,” and a version of W.B. Yeats’ “The Symbolism of Poetry”
Links: Poetry Archive’s version of William Butler Yeats’ "To the Rose upon the Rood of Time" (HTML), Bartleby's version of William Butler Yeats’ "The Wild Swans at Coole" (HTML), and a version of W.B. Yeats’ “The Symbolism of Poetry” (HTML)
“The Symbolism of Poetry” also available in:
Microsoft Word
PDF
“To the Rose upon the Rood of Time” also available in:
ePub format on Google Books
MP3 ($0.99)
“The Wild Swans at Coole” also available in:
ePub format on Google Books
eText format on the Kindle ($0.00)
Instructions: Please read both of Yeats’ poems before you read his essay “The Symbolism of Poetry.” As you read the poems, identify their formal features, their themes, and their use of symbolism and imagery. Once you have done this, read Yeats’ essay and take careful notes on his understanding of symbolism. How is his approach to symbolism different from that of Baudelaire, Rimbaud, and Mallarme?
These readings and questions should take you approximately 1 hour.
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- Reading: W.B. Yeats’ “The Song of Wandering Aengus” and “A Coat”
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2.1.2 Ezra Pound’s Early Experiments with Symbolism
- Reading: The Poetry Foundation’s Biography of Ezra Pound
Link: The Poetry Foundation’s Biography of Ezra Pound (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read this biographical essay in its entirety. Take notes on the text as you read.
This reading should take you approximately 45 minutes to complete.
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- Reading: Internet Archive’s Selected Poems from Ezra Pound’s Ripostes
Link: Internet Archive’s Selected Poems from Ezra Pound’s Ripostes (HTML)
Also available in:
PDF
ePub format
eText format on the Kindle (Free)
Instructions: Please read the first 30 pages of Pound’s Ripostes. You will find navigation buttons on the right both at the top and at the bottom of the page. How would you describe Pound’s style in your own words? How would you compare it to Yeats’ style?
This reading and these questions above should take you approximately 1 hour to complete.
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- Reading: The Poetry Foundation’s Biography of Ezra Pound
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2.1.3 Symbolist Echoes in Later Modern Poets: Wallace Stevens
- Reading: Poem Hunter’s version of Wallace Stevens’ “Sunday Morning” and “The Man on the Dump”
Links: Poem Hunter’s version of Wallace Stevens’ “Sunday Morning” (HTML) and “The Man on the Dump” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the links above, and read both poems in their entirety. What symbolist elements to you notice? Write a brief paragraph to summarize your thoughts.
These readings and writing assignment should take you approximately 45 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Lecture: Yale University: Dr. Langdon Hammer’s Lecture 19: “Wallace Stevens”
Link: Yale University: Dr. Langdon Hammer’s Lecture 19: “Wallace Stevens” (Adobe Flash, Quicktime, HTML, Mp3)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and listen to this lecture in its entirety. Note any similarities and differences between your own analysis of Stevens’ poems and the analysis provided by Dr. Hammer. Write a paragraph to summarize your thoughts.
This lecture and writing assignment should take you approximately 1 hour.
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- Reading: University of Pennsylvania: Dr. Al Filreis’ version of Wallace Stevens’ “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird”
Link: University of Pennsylvania: Dr. Al Filreis’ version of Wallace Stevens’ “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird” (HTML)
Also available in:
ePub format on Google Books
Instructions: Please read this poem in its entirety. What is the subject of the poem? What symbols does Stevens use? What is the effect of this symbolism on you, the reader?
Reading and analyzing this poem, as well as answering the questions above, should take you approximately 30 minutes to complete.
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- Reading: Poem Hunter’s version of Wallace Stevens’ “Sunday Morning” and “The Man on the Dump”
- 2.2 Experiments with Imagism
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2.2.1 What Is Imagism?—Some Definitions
- Reading: University of Pennsylvania: Dr. Al Filreis’ “Imagism”
Link: University of Pennsylvania: Dr. Al Filreis’ “Imagism” (HTML)
Instructions: Click on the link above, and please read this text in its entirety. Write a paragraph that defines the imagist movement in your own words. The work of the Imagists opposed which movements?
This reading and assignment should take you approximately 15 minutes to complete.
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- Lecture: Yale University: Dr. Langdon Hammer’s Lecture 8: “Imagism”
Link: Yale University: Dr. Langdon Hammer’s Lecture 8: “Imagism” (Adobe Flash, Quicktime, HTML, Mp3)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and listen to this lecture in its entirety, focusing on how Dr. Hammer defines Imagism and what he identifies as the most important characteristics of Imagist poems. After listening to the lecture write a paragraph characterizing Imagism in your own words.
This lecture and questions should take you approximately 1 hour.
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- Reading: University of Pennsylvania: Dr. Al Filreis’ “Imagism”
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2.2.2 Some Imagist Poems
- Reading: University of Pennsylvania: Dr. Al Filreis’ version of H.D.’s “Sea Rose” and H.D.’s “Oread”
Links: University of Pennsylvania: Dr. Al Filreis’ version of H.D.’s “Sea Rose" (HTML) and Bartleby’s version of H.D.’s "Oread" (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the links above to access these texts, and read both poems in their entirety. As you read, please consider the following questions: what is the dominant imagery in each poem? Does it allow you to form unambiguous images in your mind? How are these poems different from Yeats’ poem which you read in sub-subunit 2.1.1? How do these poems help you to understand the definition of imagism provided in sub-subunit 1.2.3? Write a brief analysis of each poem which answers these questions; your analysis should be approximately 1 to 2 paragraphs.
This reading and questions should take you approximately 30 minutes to complete.
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- Reading: University of Pennsylvania: Dr. Al Filreis’ version of H.D.’s “Sea Rose” and H.D.’s “Oread”
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2.2.3 Ezra Pound Defines Imagism
- Reading: The Poetry Foundation’s version of Ezra Pound’s “A Few Don’ts by an Imagiste”
Link: The Poetry Foundation’s version of Ezra Pound’s “A Few Don’ts by an Imagiste” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read this essay in its entirety. How does Pound define Imagism? How does he discuss the process of translating poetry? Write a brief paragraph to summarize your thoughts.
This reading and questions should take you approximately 30 minutes to complete.
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- Reading: Ezra Pound’s “In a Station of the Metro” and “The River-Merchant’s Wife: A Letter”
Links: Bartleby’s version of Ezra Pound’s "In a Station of the Metro" (HTML)
Also available in:
ePub format on Google Books (pg. 82)
and "The River-Merchant’s Wife: A Letter" (HTML)
Also available in:
ePub format on Google Books (pg. 39)
Instructions: Click on the links above to access these texts, and then please read both poems in their entirety. What do these poems express about the modern condition? In what ways does the form of both poems depart from traditional poetic norms? What is the effect of introducing references to Chinese culture in the second poem?
These readings and questions should take you approximately 30 minutes to complete.
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- Reading: The Poetry Foundation’s version of Ezra Pound’s “A Few Don’ts by an Imagiste”
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2.2.4 Amy Lowell’s Version of Imagism (Amygism)
- Reading: Modern American Poetry: Amy Lowell’s Essay “On Imagism” as well as American Poems’ version of Lowell’s “The Green Bowl” and “Patterns”
Links: Modern American Poetry: Amy Lowell’s Essay "On Imagism" (HTML) as well as American Poems’ version of Lowell’s "The Green Bowl" (HTML) and "Patterns" (HTML)
Instructions: Click on the links above to access these texts, and then please read Lowell’s essay and poems in their entirety. How is “Amygism” both similar to yet different from Imagism? Does the essay help you understand Lowell’s poems? If so, how? What are the most important differences between these poems and the poems by Browning and Tennyson, which you read in sub-subunit 1.2.4?
These readings and questions should take you approximately 1 hour to complete.
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- Reading: Modern American Poetry: Amy Lowell’s Essay “On Imagism” as well as American Poems’ version of Lowell’s “The Green Bowl” and “Patterns”
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2.2.5 William Carlos Williams: Movement and Stasis
- Reading: The Poetry Foundation: William Carlos Williams’ Biography
Link: The Poetry Foundation: William Carlos Williams’ Biography (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read this biographical essay in its entirety. As you read, take notes about the most important turning points in Williams’ life and writing.
This reading should take you approximately 1 hour to complete.
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- Lecture: Yale University: Dr. Langdon Hammer’s Lecture 16: “William Carlos Williams”
Link: Yale University: Dr. Langdon Hammer’s Lecture 16: “William Carlos Williams” (Adobe Flash, Quicktime, HTML, Mp3)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and listen to this lecture in its entirety, focusing on how Dr. Hammer characterizes Williams’ poems. What do you see as the most important differences between Williams’ poems and the poems of other Imagists?
This lecture and question should take you approximately 1 hour to complete.
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- Reading: The Poetry Foundation’s version of William Carlos Williams’ “The Poem as a Field of Action” (1948)
Link: The Poetry Foundation’s version of William Carlos Williams’ “The Poem as a Field of Action” (1948) (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read the introductory note and this essay in their entirety. How are ideas presented in this essay related to Imagist theories you studied earlier in this subunit? What elements are new here? Write a paragraph or two to summarize your thoughts.
This reading and these questions should take you approximately 45 minutes to complete.
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- Reading: University of Pennsylvania: Dr. Al Filreis’ version of William Carlos Williams’ “The Red Wheelbarrow” and Poets.org’s version of “This Is Just to Say”
Links: University of Pennsylvania: Dr. Al Filreis’ version of “The Red Wheelbarrow” (HTML) and Poets.org’s version of “This Is Just to Say” (HTML)
Instructions: Click on the links above, and then please read both poems in their entirety. In “The Red Wheelbarrow,” the first stanza is very different from the ones that follow – what is the difference? What is the effect of this juxtaposition on the reader? How does “This Is Just to Say” illustrate the principles of Imagism?
These readings should take you approximately 15 minutes to complete.
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- Reading: The Poetry Foundation: William Carlos Williams’ Biography
- 2.3 Movement Afoot: Futurism and Vorticism
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2.3.1 What Is Futurism?
- Reading: wendtroot.com: “Italian Futurism”Link: wendtroot.com: “Italian Futurism” (HTML)
Instructions: Please read the entire webpage.
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- Reading: UPENN: Dr. Jim English’s version of Filippo Marinetti’s “The Joy of Mechanical Force” and “Futuristic Manifesto”
Link: UPENN: Dr. Jim English’s version of Filippo Marinetti’s “The Joy of Mechanical Force” and “Futuristic Manifesto” (HTML)
Instructions: These texts are the two parts of Filippo Marinetti’s hugely influential 1909 “Futurist Manifesto.” Please click on the link above, and read this page in its entirety. Why, do you think, was there such an emphasis on the future during this era? As you read, please consider the following questions: what are the dominant images in this manifesto? How does it represent modernity? Is the individual person important? Are there any anti-humanist or violent elements in this text? What should a futurist poet strive for in his or her art?
Reading and answering these questions should take you approximately 30 minutes to complete.
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- Reading: Princeton University Press: Christine Poggi’s Inventing Futurism: The Art and Politics of Artificial Optimism: “Chapter 1: Futurist Velocities”
Link: Princeton University Press: Christine Poggi’s Inventing Futurism: The Art and Politics of Artificial Optimism: “Chapter 1: Futurist Velocities” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read this chapter in its entirety. Take careful notes on the futurist movement as you read. How did Futurism differ from Imagism on the one hand and nineteenth-century Symbolism on the other? What did these movements have in common? Write a paragraph to summarize your thoughts.
Reading and answering these questions should take you approximately 2 hours to complete.
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- Reading: The Poetry Foundation’s version of Mina Loy’s “Aphorisms on Futurism,” “Lunar Baedeker,” and “Giovanni Franchi”
Link: The Poetry Foundation’s version of Mina Loy’s “Aphorisms on Futurism” (HTML), “Lunar Baedeker” (HTML), and “Giovanni Franchi” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the links above, and read Loy’s “Aphorisms on Futurism” first (2 pages, navigation buttons to the second page are at the bottom of the first page), and then read her poems. How do Loy’s “Aphorisms on Futurism” compare to Marinetti’s “Futuristic Manifesto? What are the most important differences between the two texts? What are Loy’s two poems about? How does gender figure in these poems? Write a paragraph to summarize your thoughts.
Reading and answering these questions should take you approximately 1 hour to complete.
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- Reading: wendtroot.com: “Italian Futurism”
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2.3.2 Futurism’s Political Ballast: The Movement in Context
- Reading: Poets.org’s “A Brief Guide to Futurism”
Link: Poets.org’s “A Brief Guide to Futurism” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read this text in its entirety. Then, read the essay on Vladimir Mayakovsky (by following the link in the left-hand column). What were the most important differences between Russian and Italian Futurism?
These readings and the question above should take you approximately 30 minutes to complete.
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- Reading: History Today: Richard Jensen’s “Futurism and Fascism”
Link: History Today: Richard Jensen’s “Futurism and Fascism” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read this essay in its entirety. What is its main argument? Do you find it convincing? Why, or why not? Please write a brief paragraph to summarize your thoughts.
Reading and answering these questions should take you approximately 30 minutes to complete.
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- Reading: Poets.org’s “A Brief Guide to Futurism”
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2.3.3 What Is Vorticism?
- Reading: Vorticism’s “Introduction [to Vorticism]” and “Modern Vorticists,” and The Poetry Foundation’s version of Wyndham Lewis’ “Long Live the Vortex!” and Our Vortex”
Links: Vorticism’s “Introduction [to Vorticism]” (HTML) and “Modern Vorticists” (HTML), and The Poetry Foundation’s version of Wyndham Lewis’ “Long Live the Vortex!” and “Our Vortex” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link to “Introduction [to Vorticism]” above, and read this webpage. Then, click on the link to “Modern Vorticists” above, select “New Vorticists” from the left side of the webpage, and read this entire text. Finally, read the Poetry Foundation’s “Long Live the Vortex!” and “Our Vortex” in its entirety. Pay particular attention to the early stages of the evolution of the Vorticist movement and its relationship to World War I.
These readings should take you approximately 30 minutes to complete.
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- Reading: Vorticism’s “Introduction [to Vorticism]” and “Modern Vorticists,” and The Poetry Foundation’s version of Wyndham Lewis’ “Long Live the Vortex!” and Our Vortex”
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2.3.4 BLAST Magazine
- Reading: Brown University & the University of Tulsa: The Modernist Journals Project’s version of BLAST (No. 1, Ed. Wyndham Lewis)
Link: Brown University & the University of Tulsa: The Modernist Journals Project’s version of BLAST (No. 1, Ed. Wyndham Lewis) (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above. Then, using the scrolling tool on the left-hand side of the webpage, go to page 9 (“Long Live the Vortex!”), and read the manifesto in its entirety (pp. 9-45). What are the most important claims this manifesto makes about art? How are these different from the creed of the Symbolists and the Imagists? Once you have read the manifesto, explore the magazine’s other pages, paying attention to both the language of the poems and the visual aesthetic of this publication. What do you think was revolutionary about BLAST?
This reading and these questions should take you approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: Brown University & the University of Tulsa: The Modernist Journals Project’s version of BLAST (No. 1, Ed. Wyndham Lewis)
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2.3.5 Ezra Pound’s First Canto in Relation to the Vorticist Movement
- Reading: Poets.org’s version of selections from Ezra Pound’s Canto I from The Cantos and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: Modern American Poetry’s “On Canto I”
Links: Poets.org’s version of selections from Ezra Pound’s Canto I from The Cantos (HTML)
Also available:
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: Modern American Poetry’s “On Canto I” (HTML)
Instructions: Please read Pound’s Canto Iin its entirety before you read Modern American Poetry’s analysis of the poem. As you read Pound’s poem, pay attention to its formal qualities and rhythm, and write down the dominant images and themes. Do you notice any words that are particularly important in conveying the poem’s message? Once you have done this, please study the above interpretations of Canto I and compare them with your own. Write a brief analysis of the most important similarities and differences among these interpretations. Do you find any of them particularly compelling? If so, why?
This reading should take you approximately 1 hour to complete.
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- Lecture: Yale University: Dr. Langdon Hammer’s Lecture on “Ezra Pound”
Link: Yale University: Dr. Langdon Hammer’s Lecture on “Ezra Pound” (Adobe Flash, Quicktime, HTML, Mp3)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and watch this lecture in its entirety, focusing on Dr. Hammer’s analysis of Pound’s Canto I. Please note that this lecture also contains material you will need for sub-subunit 4.1.3.
This lecture should take you approximately 1 hour to complete.
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- Reading: Poets.org’s version of selections from Ezra Pound’s Canto I from The Cantos and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: Modern American Poetry’s “On Canto I”
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Unit 3: Poetry Of World War I
While poets experimented with new poetic forms and styles, Europe was consumed by war. In this unit, you will chart the progression of attitudes toward the war as expressed through poetry, beginning with the patriotic verses of the early war years and continuing through some of the more bitter, disillusioned lyrical poems of the late war years. You will attend to changes in form, tone, and style, all the while noting the degree to which the war’s major poets adhered to traditional (19th-century) conventions and hypothesizing reasons for that allegiance despite the explosion of avant-garde trends.
Unit 3 Time Advisory show close
Unit 3 Learning Outcomes show close
- 3.1 Visions of Empire and Pride in National Identity
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3.1.1 Overview of Colonialism and Empire in England
- Reading: Victorian Web’s “The British Empire”
Link: Victorian Web’s "The British Empire" (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read this text in its entirety. In addition, please review the history of the British Empire and World War I, which you studied in sub-subunits 1.2.3 and 1.4.2.
This reading and review should take you approximately 30 minutes to complete.
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- Reading: Victorian Web’s “The British Empire”
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3.1.2 Imperialist Ideologies
- Reading: Suffolk Community College: Professor West’s History 102: “European Imperialism in the 19th Century” and The Financial Times: Pankag Mishra’s “Guilt and Glory”
Links: Suffolk Community College: Professor West’s History 102: “European Imperialism in the 19thCentury” (HTML) and The Financial Times: Pankaj Mishra’s “Guilt and Glory” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on both links above, and read both texts in their entirety. How did the Europeans justify imperial conquests in the 1890s and in the early 20thcentury? How did they treat the indigenous populations? How would you expect writers and poets to react to this situation? Please write a paragraph to summarize your thoughts.
These readings and questions should take you approximately 30 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: Suffolk Community College: Professor West’s History 102: “European Imperialism in the 19th Century” and The Financial Times: Pankag Mishra’s “Guilt and Glory”
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3.1.3 Rudyard Kipling
- Reading: Fordham University’s Internet Modern History Sourcebook: Paul Halsall’s version of Rudyard Kipling’s “The White Man’s Burden”; and Rudyard Kipling’s “The Recessional” and “Danny Deever”
Links: Fordham University’s Internet Modern History Sourcebook: Paul Halsall’s version of Rudyard Kipling’s “The White Man’s Burden” (HTML) and Bartleby’s version of Rudyard Kipling’s “The Recessional” (HTML) and “Danny Deever” (HTML)
Also available in:
MP3
Instructions: Please click on the links above, and read all three poems in their entirety. Pay close attention to the rhyme scheme and rhythm. How would you describe the style of these poems? What is the message of “The White Man’s Burden”? What is the effect of repeated rhymes in “Danny Deever?”
These readings and questions should take you approximately 1 hour to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyrights and terms of use displayed on the webpages above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: Fordham University’s Internet Modern History Sourcebook: Paul Halsall’s version of Rudyard Kipling’s “The White Man’s Burden”; and Rudyard Kipling’s “The Recessional” and “Danny Deever”
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3.1.4 Off to War—the Chivalric Ideal
- Reading: Siegfried Sassoon’s “The Dragon and the Undying” and Rupert Brooke’s “The Soldier”
Links: Bartleby’s version of Siegfried Sassoon’s “The Dragon and the Undying” (HTML) and Bartleby’s version of Rupert Brooke’s “The Soldier” (HTML)
Also available in:
ePub format on Google Books (pg. 15)
Also available in:
eText format on the Kindle ($0.99)
PDF
ePub format on Google Books (pg. 115)
Instructions: Please click on the links above, and read both poems in their entirety. Do these poems attempt to provide a realistic depiction of modern war? What words and phrases point to a romanticized vision of battle? What emotional effects do these poems produce in the reader? How do you think they were received by English audiences in 1914?
These readings and questions should take you approximately 30 minutes to complete.
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- Reading: Siegfried Sassoon’s “The Dragon and the Undying” and Rupert Brooke’s “The Soldier”
- 3.2 On the Battlefield
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3.2.1 Overview of the War’s Progression
- Reading: BBC: Dr. Stephen Badsey’s “The Western Front and the Birth of Total War,” Dr. Joanna Bourke’s “Shell Shock during World War One,” and Dr. Ruth Henig’s “Versailles and Peacemaking”
Links: BBC: Dr. Stephen Badsey’s “The Western Front and the Birth of Total War,” (HTML) Dr. Joanna Bourke’s “Shell Shock during World War One,” (HTML) and Dr. Ruth Henig’s “Versailles and Peacemaking” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the links above, and read these texts in their entirety to understand the realities of the Great War. How do these readings help you understand the poems analyzed by Professor Hammer in his lecture assigned below sub-subunit 3.1.4?
Reading and answering the question above should take you approximately 1 hour to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyrights and terms of use displayed on the webpages above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: BBC: Dr. Stephen Badsey’s “The Western Front and the Birth of Total War,” Dr. Joanna Bourke’s “Shell Shock during World War One,” and Dr. Ruth Henig’s “Versailles and Peacemaking”
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3.2.2 Realities of Modern Warfare
- Reading: The Long, Long Trail: Chris Baker’s “In the Trenches”
Link: The Long, Long Trail: Chris Baker’s “In the Trenches” (HTML)
Instructions: Please read the entirety of this explanation of trench warfare during the Great War.
Reading and note-taking should take you approximately 30 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: The Long, Long Trail: Chris Baker’s “In the Trenches”
- 3.3 The Great War and Poetry: Reflection, Disillusionment and Bitter Critique
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3.3.1 Overview of Major World War I Poets
- Reading: The Poetry Foundation’s Biographies of Wilfred Owen, Thomas Hardy, Siegfried Sassoon, and Isaac Rosenberg
Links: The Poetry Foundation’s Biographies of Wilfred Owen (HTML), Thomas Hardy (HTML), Siegfried Sassoon (HTML), and Isaac Rosenberg (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the links above, and read these biographical essays in their entirety. Together, they provide a narrative of various experiences of the Great War and the end of the Victorian Era. After you finish reading write a paragraph or two to summarize what you consider to be the most important historical and cultural characteristics of this time.
These readings and summary should take you approximately 2 hours to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyrights and terms of use displayed on the webpages above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Lecture: Yale University: Dr. Langdon Hammer’s Lecture on “World War I Poetry in England”
Link: Yale University: Dr. Langdon Hammer’s Lecture on “World War I Poetry in England” (Adobe Flash, Quicktime, HTML, Mp3)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and listen to this lecture in its entirety (53 minutes). As you listen take notes on Dr. Hammer’s analysis of the poems of Wilfred Owen, Thomas Hardy, Edward Thomas, Siegfried Sassoon, and Isaac Rosenberg. How would you characterize the most important differences among these writers?
This lecture and question should take you approximately 1 hour to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyrights and terms of use displayed on the webpages above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: The Poetry Foundation’s Biographies of Wilfred Owen, Thomas Hardy, Siegfried Sassoon, and Isaac Rosenberg
- 3.3.2 Poetry as Indictment of European Civilization
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3.3.2.1 Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon
- Reading: Siegfried Sassoon’s “Repression of War Experience” and “The Rear-Guard;” AftermathWWI.com’s version of Siegfried Sassoon’s “On Passing the New Menin Gate;” and Project Gutenberg’s version of Wilfred Owen’s “Arms and the Boy,” “Anthem for Doomed Youth,” and “Dulce et Decorum Est”
Links: Bartleby’s version of Siegfried Sassoon’s “Repression of War Experience" (HTML)
Also available in:
ePub format on Google Books (pg. 58)
Bartleby’s version of Siegfried Sassoon’s “The Rear-Guard” (HTML)
AftermathWWI.com’s version of Siegfried Sassoon’s “On Passing the New Menin Gate” (HTML); and Project Gutenberg’s versions of Wilfred Owen’s “Arms and the Boy” (HTML)
Also available in:
ePub format on Google Books (pg. 43)
PDF (pg. 12)
“Anthem for Doomed Youth” (HTML)
Also available in:
ePub format on Google Books (pg. 44)
PDF (pg. 13)
and “Dulce et Decorum Est” (HTML)
Also available in:
ePub format on Google Books (pg. 55)
PDF (pg. 15)
Instructions: Please click on the links to the title of each poem above, and read the full text of each poem. For each poem answer the following questions: what does this poem say about the Great War? Who is the intended audience? How would you characterize the writer’s relationship to that audience? How would you explain the sources of these various writer-audience relationships? Collectively, what do these poems say about European culture? Write two or three paragraphs to summarize your insights and conclusions.
These readings and questions should take you approximately 1 hour to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyrights and terms of use displayed on the webpages above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: Siegfried Sassoon’s “Repression of War Experience” and “The Rear-Guard;” AftermathWWI.com’s version of Siegfried Sassoon’s “On Passing the New Menin Gate;” and Project Gutenberg’s version of Wilfred Owen’s “Arms and the Boy,” “Anthem for Doomed Youth,” and “Dulce et Decorum Est”
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3.3.2.2 John McCrae
- Reading: John McCrae’s “In Flanders Fields”
Link: Bartleby’s version of John McCrae’s “In Flanders Fields” (HTML)
Also available in:
eText format on the Kindle ($0.99)
ePub format on Google Books (pg. 3)
PDF
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read the entirety of McCrae’s poem. In what ways do you see McCrae challenging the concept of “war” in this text?
This reading and question should take you approximately 15 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: John McCrae’s “In Flanders Fields”
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3.3.2.3 Rudyard Kipling’s Change in Heart
- Reading: Web-Books.com’s version Rudyard Kipling’s “Epitaphs of the War”
Link: Web-Books.com’s version Rudyard Kipling’s “Epitaphs of the War” (HTML)
Also available in:
ePub format on Google Books (pg. 399)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read this poem in its entirety. How does it differ from Kipling’s poems you read in sub-subunit 3.1.2? How does it differ from other Great War poems you studied in sub-subunits 3.1.4 and 3.2.3? Write a brief paragraph to summarize your insights.
This reading and these questions should take you approximately 30 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: Web-Books.com’s version Rudyard Kipling’s “Epitaphs of the War”
- 3.4 Post-War Poetry by the War Poets: The Georgian Tradition
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3.4.1 Key Features and Characteristics of Georgian Poetry
- Reading: Literature Study Online: Stephen Colbourn’s “The Georgian Poets and the War Poets”
Link: Literature Study Online: Stephen Colbourn’s “The Georgian Poets and the War Poets” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read the entirety of the essay on the Georgian and War poets.
This reading should take you approximately 30 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: Literature Study Online: Stephen Colbourn’s “The Georgian Poets and the War Poets”
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3.4.2 Who Were the Georgian Poets?
- Reading: Poetry X’s version of Walter de la Mare’s “The Truants” and Grand Valley State University: Dr. Michael Webster’s “Poetic Modes in the Late 19th and Early 20th Century”
Links: Poetry X’s version of Walter de la Mare’s “The Truants” (HTML) and Grand Valley State University: Dr. Michael Webster’s “Poetic Modes in the Late 19th and Early 20th Century” (HTML)
Also available in:
ePub format on Google Books (pg. 156)
Instructions: Please read Walter de la Mare’s poem (written in 1920) first, and then read the brief characterization of the Georgian poets found in the essay above. What are the most important differences between this poem and the war-time poems you studied in this subunit?
Reading and answering the question above should take you approximately 30 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyrights and terms of use displayed on the webpages above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: Poetry X’s version of Walter de la Mare’s “The Truants” and Grand Valley State University: Dr. Michael Webster’s “Poetic Modes in the Late 19th and Early 20th Century”
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3.5 William Butler Yeats
- Reading: The Literature Network’s version of W.B. Yeats’ “Easter, 1916” and “The Second Coming”
Links: The Literature Network’s of W.B. Yeats’ “Easter, 1916” (HTML) and “The Second Coming” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the links above, and read both poems carefully in their entirety. How would you relate “The Second Coming” to the events and aftermath of the Great War? How does Yeats use biblical imagery in this poem? How does the poem’s form work to support or subvert its message? Write a paragraph or two to summarize your ideas.
These readings and questions should take you approximately 30 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyrights and terms of use displayed on the webpages above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Lecture: Yale University: Dr. Langdon Hammer’s Lecture 5: “William Butler Yeats (cont.)”
Link: Yale University: Dr. Langdon Hammer’s second Lecture 5: “William Butler Yeats (cont.)” (Adobe Flash, Quicktime, HTML, Mp3)
Instructions: Please watch this lecture in its entirety. Note how Dr. Hammer interprets Yeats’ poetry during the Great War and in its aftermath, and how he relates the poems to their historical context.
This lecture should take you approximately 1 hour.
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- Reading: The Literature Network’s version of W.B. Yeats’ “Easter, 1916” and “The Second Coming”
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Unit 4: High Modernism
The poetry you will read in this unit differs markedly in terms of style, form, and theme from the more conventional poems you read in the previous unit. Your central task in this unit will be to define these differences and to shape our own working definition of “high modernism”—its characteristic devices, practitioners, and concerns. You will progress through the unit by looking at a variety of features which characterize “high modernist” expression.
Unit 4 Time Advisory show close
Unit 4 Learning Outcomes show close
- 4.1 “Make It New:” The Complicated Relationship between High Modernism and Earlier Texts
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4.1.1 High Modernism as an Analytical Category
- Reading: The Science Encyclopedia: Net Industries’ “Modernism, High Modernism, and the Avant-Garde, 1914-1930”
Link: The Science Encyclopedia: Net Industries’ “Modernism, High Modernism, and the Avant-Garde, 1914-1930” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read this page in its entirety. Review the definitions of modernism you studied in Unit 1, and write a paragraph in which you explain how “High Modernism” was different from earlier forms of literary modernism.
This reading and questions should take you approximately 30 minutes to complete.
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- Reading: The Science Encyclopedia: Net Industries’ “Modernism, High Modernism, and the Avant-Garde, 1914-1930”
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4.1.2 The Epic Form in Modern Poetry
- Reading: Poets.org’s version of selections from Ezra Pound’s Canto XIV from The Cantos
Link: Poets.org’s version of selections from Ezra Pound’s Canto XIV from The Cantos (HTML)
Also available in:
ePub format on Google Books (pg. 23)
Instructions: Before doing the readings for this sub-subunit, please review your notes on Dr. Langdon Hammer’s lecture on Ezra Pound to which you listened in sub-subunit 2.3.5.Please click on the link above, and read Canto XIV in its entirety. Write a brief analysis of the rhetorical goals of this poem, as well as its imagery, form, and tone.
The review and reading should take approximately 1 hour to complete.
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- Reading: Poets.org’s version of selections from Ezra Pound’s Canto XIV from The Cantos
- 4.2 T.S. Eliot and the Objective Correlative
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4.2.1 Eliot’s Concept of the Objective Correlative
- Reading: The Poetry Foundation’s Biography of T.S. Eliot
Link: The Poetry Foundation’s Biography of T.S. Eliot (HTML)
Instructions: Please read this biographical essay in its entirety. What were the most important turning points in Eliot’s life and creative work?
This reading should take you approximately 45 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: HamletGuide: T.S. Eliot’s “Hamlet and His Problems”
Link: HamletGuide: T.S. Eliot’s “Hamlet and His Problems” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read this essay in its entirety. It is Elliot’s reading of Hamlet, which was originally published in his 1922 book, The Sacred Wood: Essays on Poetry and Criticism.What does he mean by the “objective correlative?” How is the “objective correlative” related to the expression of emotion in poetry? How does this concept inform Elliot’s analysis of Hamlet? Write down a paragraph or two to summarize your thoughts.
Reading and answering these questions should take you approximately 1 hour to complete.
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- Reading: The Poetry Foundation’s Biography of T.S. Eliot
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4.2.2 Modern Poetry: Emotions and Individuality
- Reading: T.S. Eliot’s “Tradition and Individual Talent”
Link: Bartleby.com’s version of T.S. Eliot’s “Tradition and Individual Talent” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read Eliot’s text in its entirety. What concept of individuality emerges from this essay? What does this say and imply about the place of emotions in modern poetry? Write a brief paragraph to summarize your thoughts.
This reading and these questions should take you approximately 1 hour to complete.
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- Reading: T.S. Eliot’s “Tradition and Individual Talent”
- 4.3 The Artist in Exile
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4.3.1 Ezra Pound’s “Hugh Selwyn Mauberley”
- Reading: Modern American Poetry’s Excerpts from Pound’s "Hugh Selwyn Mauberley"
Link: Modern American Poetry’s Excerpts from Pound’s "Hugh Selwyn Mauberley" (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and scroll down the webpage to find selections from Pound’s Hugh Selwyn Mauberley. As you read, compare this poem to other poems by Pound that you read in earlier sub-subunits. What is unique about his word-choice here? What is the effect of the various phrases borrowed from other languages? Can one say that this poem has formal or thematic unity? If so, why? If not, why not? Write a brief paragraph to summarize your thoughts.
This reading and questions should take you approximately 30 minutes to complete.
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- Reading: Modern American Poetry’s Excerpts from Pound’s "Hugh Selwyn Mauberley"
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4.3.2 The American Expatriates in Europe
- Reading: The Poetry Foundation’s Biographies of Gertrude Stein and H.D.
Link: The Poetry Foundation’s Biographies of Gertrude Stein (HTML) and H.D. (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the links above, and read both biographies in their entirety to better understand the experiences of expatriate women poets.
This reading should take you approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpages above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library’s “Literary Expatriates in Paris”
Link: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library’s “Literary Expatriates in Paris” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read the entirety of this article on literary expatriates in Paris. Why, do you think, would Americans look to leave their country during this era?
This reading and these questions should take you approximately 30 minutes to complete.
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- Reading: The Poetry Foundation’s versions of Gertrude Stein’s “A Carafe, That is a Blind Glass,” “A Little Called Pauline,” and “New”
Links: The Poetry Foundation’s versions of Gertrude Stein’s “A Carafe, That is a Blind Glass” (HTML), “A Little Called Pauline” (HTML), and “New” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the links above, and read all of these poems in their entirety. How do they differ from imagist and other early modernist poems you studied in Unit 2? Write a paragraph to summarize your thoughts.
These readings and questions should take you approximately 1 hour to complete.
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- Reading: The Poetry Foundation’s Biographies of Gertrude Stein and H.D.
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4.3.3 Concepts of Place and Identity
- Reading: The Ohio State University: Keith Manecke’s Dissertation, On Location: The Poetics of Place in Modern American Poetry: “Introduction”
Link: The Ohio State University: Keith Manecke’s Dissertation, On Location: The Poetics of Place in Modern American Poetry: “Introduction” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and then select “Display Full Text” or “Download Full Text” to access the PDF of Manecke’s dissertation. Read only the “Introduction” (pages 1-19) of Manecke’s dissertation on the role of place in modern American poetry. What, do you think, are some of the important features of location and place in Modern poetry?
This reading should take you approximately 1 hour to complete.
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- Reading: The Ohio State University: Keith Manecke’s Dissertation, On Location: The Poetics of Place in Modern American Poetry: “Introduction”
- 4.4 “A Heap of Broken Images:” The Modern World as Waste Land
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4.4.1 T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land: Matters of Form, Style, and Content
- Lecture: Yale University: Dr. Langdon Hammer’s Lecture on “T.S. Eliot,” “T.S. Eliot (cont.),” and “T.S. Eliot (cont.)”
Links: Yale University: Dr. Langdon Hammer’s Lecture on “T.S. Eliot,”(Adobe Flash, Quicktime, HTML, Mp3) “T.S. Eliot (cont.),” (Adobe Flash, Quicktime, HTML, Mp3) and “T.S. Eliot (cont.)” (Adobe Flash, Quicktime, HTML, Mp3)
Instructions: Please click on the links above, and watch Dr. Hammer’s three lectures on T.S. Eliot in their entirety. Take careful notes on the evolution of Eliot’s literary techniques and understanding of modernist poetry.
These lectures and questions should take you approximately 3 hours to complete.
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- Reading: Project Gutenberg’s version of T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land”
Link: Project Gutenberg’s version of T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land” (HTML)
Also available in:
PDF
Instructions: Please read the entirety of Project Gutenberg’s version of Eliot’s poem. As you read this poem, consider the ways in which it creates a sense of the post-WWI mentality. What features of the poem contribute to that mentality?
This reading should take you approximately 2 hours to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Lecture: Yale University: Dr. Langdon Hammer’s Lecture on “T.S. Eliot,” “T.S. Eliot (cont.),” and “T.S. Eliot (cont.)”
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4.4.2 Apocalypse in Modern Poetry
- Reading: Public Domain, Inc.’s “The Puncture Effect: Encrypted Space, Modernism, and the Hoarse Men of the Apocalypse”
Link: Public Domain, Inc.’s “The Puncture Effect: Encrypted Space, Modernism, and the Hoarse Men of the Apocalypse” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read the entirety of this webpage concerning apocalypse in modern literature. Why, do you think, would the literature of this period become concerned with apocalypse?
Reading and answering this question should take approximately 45 minutes to complete.
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- Reading: Public Domain, Inc.’s “The Puncture Effect: Encrypted Space, Modernism, and the Hoarse Men of the Apocalypse”
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4.4.3 Pastiche in Modern Poetry
- Reading: Purdue University: Dr. Dino Felluga’s “Modules on Jameson: II. On Pastiche”
Link: Purdue University: Dr. Dino Felluga’s “Modules on Jameson: II. On Pastiche” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read this text in its entirety. Look back over the poems you have studied in this unit: where do you notice elements of pastiche?
This reading and question should take you approximately 15 minutes to complete.
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- Reading: Purdue University: Dr. Dino Felluga’s “Modules on Jameson: II. On Pastiche”
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4.4.4 Key Expressions of Waste Land Sentiments
- Reading: Poetry X’s version of T.S. Eliot’s “The Hollow Men” and Modern American Poetry’s “On ‘The Hollow Men’” as well as Western Michigan University: Dr. Seamus Cooney’s version of Marianne Moore’s “A Grave”
Links: Poetry X’s version of T.S. Eliot’s “The Hollow Men” (HTML) and Modern American Poetry’s “On ‘The Hollow Men’” (HTML) as well as Western Michigan University: Dr. Seamus Cooney’s version of Marianne Moore’s "A Grave” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read Eliot’s poem, “The Hollow Men.” Write a paragraph analyzing its meaning, form, and imagery. Then, read Modern American poetry’s explication of the poem. How is it similar to yours? Are there any differences? Finally, read Marianne Moore’s poem in its entirety and compare it to Eliot’s “The Hollow Men.”
These readings and questions should take you approximately 1 hour to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyrights and terms of use displayed on the webpages above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Lecture: Yale University: Dr. Langdon Hammer’s Lecture on “Marianne Moore” and “Marianne Moore (cont.)”
Link: Yale University: Dr. Langdon Hammer’s Lecture on “Marianne Moore” (Adobe Flash, Quicktime, HTML, Mp3) and “Marianne Moore (cont.)” (Adobe Flash, Quicktime, HTML, Mp3)
Instructions: Please click on the links above to access the two-part lecture on Marianne Moore. View both lectures in their entirety.
These lectures should take you approximately 2 hours to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyrights and terms of use displayed on the webpages above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: Poetry X’s version of T.S. Eliot’s “The Hollow Men” and Modern American Poetry’s “On ‘The Hollow Men’” as well as Western Michigan University: Dr. Seamus Cooney’s version of Marianne Moore’s “A Grave”
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4.5 Hart Crane
- Reading: The Poetry Foundation’s biography of Hart Crane and The Poetry Foundation’s version of Hart Crane’s “Legend,” selections from “The Bridge,” and “Voyages”
Links: The Poetry Foundation’s biography of Hart Crane and the Poetry Foundation’s version of Hart Crane’s “Legend,” selections from “The Bridge,” and “Voyages”
Instructions: Please click on the first link above, and read the biography of Hart Crane. Then, click on the links to “Legend,” selections from “The Bridge,” and “Voyages,” and read his poems. Note the form and style of the poems, and summarize their content in your own words.
These readings should take you approximately 1 hour to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyrights and terms of use displayed on the webpages above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Lecture: Yale University: Dr. Langdon Hammer’s “Lecture 13: Hart Crane” and “Lecture 14: Hart Crane, (cont.)”
Links: Yale University: Dr. Langdon Hammer’s “Lectures 13: Hart Crane” and “Lecture 14: Hart Crane, (cont.)”
Instructions: Please click on the links above, and listen to both lectures in their entirety (39 minutes and 46 minutes, respectively). As you listen, take careful notes on Dr. Hammer’s analysis of Crane’s poems, paying particular attention to the arguments proposed in the two lectures. You may also download the transcript by clicking on the link to the transcript on the webpage.
Viewing these lectures and pausing to take notes should take you approximately 2 hours to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: The Poetry Foundation’s biography of Hart Crane and The Poetry Foundation’s version of Hart Crane’s “Legend,” selections from “The Bridge,” and “Voyages”
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Unit 5: “Poetry Takes Sides"
In this unit, you will encounter a number of poems that articulate a rather explicit (and often explosive) perspective on controversial contemporary issues. You will read these poems within their socio-historical contexts, discussing ways in which poetry and politics interact, and how these poems achieve (or attempt to achieve) certain political aims.
Unit 5 Time Advisory show close
Unit 5 Learning Outcomes show close
- 5.1 Objectivist Poetry and the Social
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5.1.1 What Is Objectivism?
- Reading: Poets.org’s “A Brief Guide to the Objectivists”
Link: Poets.org’s “A Brief Guide to the Objectivists” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read the entirety of Poets.org’s brief introduction to objectivism and the Objectivist poets. Then, define “Objectivist” art in your own words.
This reading and a paraphrase of the definition of objectivism should take approximately 15 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Web Media: University of Pennsylvania: PennSound’s “Introduction to the Objectivists,” “On Determining Poetic Connections between Reznikoff, Zukofsky, and Oppen,” and “On Jewishness and the Objectivists”
Links: University of Pennsylvania: PennSound’s “Introduction to the Objectivists” (Mp3), “On Determining Poetic Connections between Reznikoff, Zukofsky, and Oppen” (Mp3), and “On Jewishness and the Objectivists” (Mp3)
Instructions: Please click on the links above, and listen to these passages from PennSound’s discussion of the Objectivist movement. Write down the most important distinguishing characteristics of the movement.
Listening to this discussion and taking notes should take you approximately 15 minutes.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: Poets.org’s “A Brief Guide to the Objectivists”
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5.1.2 Objectivists: “The Energies of Words”
- Reading: The Poetry Foundation: Peter O’Leary’s “The Energies of Words”
Link: The Poetry Foundation: Peter O’Leary’s “The Energies of Words” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read this essay in its entirety. How does this essay define Objectivist poetry? How does it characterize connections between Objectivism and other modernist movements?
This reading and question should take you approximately 1 hour to complete.
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- Reading: The Poetry Foundation: Peter O’Leary’s “The Energies of Words”
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5.1.3 Poem as Object
- Reading: Western Michigan University: Dr. Seamus Cooney’s Versions of Charles Reznikoff’s “(1)” and “April”
Link: Western Michigan University: Dr. Seamus Cooney’s Versions of Charles Reznikoff’s “(1)” and “April” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read both poems and answer the questions at the top of the webpage. How would you characterize the difference between Objectivist and Imagist poetry (refer back to subunit 2.2)?
This reading and question should take you approximately 15 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: Western Michigan University: Dr. Seamus Cooney’s Versions of Charles Reznikoff’s “(1)” and “April”
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5.1.4 Looking Clearly at the World: Social Concerns in Objectivist Poetry
- Reading: The Poetry Foundation’s “Louis Zukofsky (1904 - 1978)”
Link: The Poetry Foundation’s “Louis Zukofsky (1904 - 1978)” (HTML)
Instructions: Please read this brief biography in its entirety. What are the most important arguments it makes about connections between Objectivist poetry and the social concerns of the era?
This reading and question should take you approximately 30 minutes to complete.
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- Reading: The Poetry Foundation’s “Louis Zukofsky (1904 - 1978)”
- 5.1.5 Objectivist Poets
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5.1.5.1 Louis Zukofsky
- Reading: The University of Virginia: Excerpts from Louis Zukofsky’s “To My Wash-Stand” and Selections from “A”
Links: The University of Virginia: Excerpts from Louis Zukofsky’s “To My Wash-Stand” (HTML) and Selections from “A” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the links above, and read both poems in their entirety. How would you characterize Zukofsky’s style? Write a paragraph to summarize your analysis of each poem. Note any similarities and differences between these poems and other poems you studied in the course so far.
These readings and questions should take you approximately 1 hour to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyrights and terms of use displayed on the webpages above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Web Media: The Poetry Foundation: “Just Begun to Learn: A Discussion of Section 12 of Louis Zukofsky’s “Anew”
Link: The Poetry Foundation: “Just Begun to Learn: A Discussion of Section 12 of Louis Zukofsky’s “Anew” (Mp3)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and listen to this discussion from minute 2 to the end (26 minutes). Take notes on the discussion, and make your observations about both the sound and the meaning of Zukofsky’s poem.
Listening to this discussion and note-taking should take you approximately 30 minutes.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyrights and terms of use displayed on the webpages above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: The University of Virginia: Excerpts from Louis Zukofsky’s “To My Wash-Stand” and Selections from “A”
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5.1.5.2 Charles Reznikoff
- Reading: The Poetry Foundation’s Biography of Charles Reznikoff
Link: The Poetry Foundation’s Biography of Charles Reznikoff (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read this biography in its entirety to learn about Reznikoff’s life and literary projects.
This reading should take you approximately 45 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyrights and terms of use displayed on the webpages above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: The Poetry Foundation’s version of Charles Reznikoff’s “Slave Sale: New Orleans” and “From a Short History of Israel, Notes and Glosses”
Links: The Poetry Foundation’s version of Charles Reznikoff’s “Slave Sale: New Orleans” (HTML) and “From a Short History of Israel, Notes and Glosses” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the links above, and read both poems in their entirety. How are social concerns present in these poems? How would you compare the political dimension of these poems to the political dimension of poems written during the Great War? Write a paragraph to summarize your thoughts.
These readings and questions should take you approximately 30 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyrights and terms of use displayed on the webpages above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: The Poetry Foundation’s Biography of Charles Reznikoff
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5.1.5.3 George Oppen
- Reading: The Poetry Foundation’s Biography of George Oppen
Link: The Poetry Foundation’s Biography of George Oppen (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read this biographical essay in its entirety. Why did Oppen stop writing poetry? What connections did he postulate between poetry and political activism?
This reading should take you approximately 15 minutes to complete.
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- Reading: The Poetry Foundation’s version of George Oppen’s “The Mind’s Own Place” (1963)
Link: The Poetry Foundation’s version of George Oppen’s “The Mind’s Own Place” (1963) (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read this essay in its entirety (use the navigation buttons at the bottom of the page to open pages 2, 3, and 4). This is Oppen’s statement about poetry and poetics after his long hiatus. How does the vision of poetry presented here differ from the Objectivist program you studied earlier in this unit? What are the similarities?
Reading this essay and answering these questions should take you approximately 45 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyrights and terms of use displayed on the webpages above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: The Poetry Foundation’s Biography of George Oppen
- 5.2 Poet as Protester: Communist Politics and Poetics
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5.2.1 Defining Communism and Its Popularity among 1930s Intellectuals
- Reading: Marxists.org: George Novak’s “Radical Intellectuals in the 1930s”
Link: Marxists.org: George Novak’s “Radical Intellectuals in the 1930s” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read the entirety of Novak’s essay on modernist intellectuals and communism.
This reading should take you approximately 1 hour to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: Marxists.org: George Novak’s “Radical Intellectuals in the 1930s”
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5.2.2 William Carlos Williams Takes a Stand
- Reading: The Poetry Archive’s version of Williams’ “The Yachts”
Link: The Poetry Archive’s version of Williams’ “The Yachts" (HTML)
Also available in:
ePub format on Google Books (pg 36)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read this poem in its entirety. What social and political concerns does the poem address? What difference does it make that these concerns are addresses in the form of a poem rather than a prose piece? More generally, what do you think is the relationship between poetry and the social world? Can poetry describe the social world? Critique it, reflect it, or shape it? What are its strengths and weaknesses as a vehicle of social critique? Write a paragraph to summarize your thoughts.
This reading, questions, and writing assignment should take you approximately 1 hour to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: The Poetry Archive’s version of Williams’ “The Yachts”
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Unit 6: Poetry Of World War II
In this brief unit, you will take a look at World War II poetry, keeping in mind the representation of war and violence we encountered in the World War I poems so as to compare and contrast. You will approach this unit by topic, looking at particular aspects or sub-genres that emerged in World War II poetry .
Unit 6 Time Advisory show close
Unit 6 Learning Outcomes show close
- 6.1 Introduction to World War II
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6.1.1 World War II: Devastation and European Culture
- Reading: Knesset: The State of Israel’s “The Holocaust – Historical Overview”
Link: Knesset: The State of Israel’s “The Holocaust – Historical Overview” (HTML)
Instructions: Please review the materials you studied in sub-subunits 1.5.5.1 and 1.5.5.2 before proceeding to the readings and lectures in subunit 6.1. Please click on the link above, and read this introduction to the Holocaust by the State of Israel.
This reading should take you approximately 15 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Lecture: Sonoma State University’s Holocaust Lecture Series: Dr. Stephen Bittner’s “Holocaust in Historical Context” Lecture
Link: Sonoma State University’s Holocaust Lecture Series: Dr. Stephen Bittner’s “Holocaust in Historical Context” (YouTube)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and listen to this lecture in its entirety (1 hour 31 minutes) to learn about the history of the Holocaust. Pay particular attention to the ways in which European culture responded to the destruction wrought by the Shoah.
Viewing this lecture should take you approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes to complete.
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- Reading: Knesset: The State of Israel’s “The Holocaust – Historical Overview”
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6.1.2 Representing the Unrepresentable: Poetic Treatments of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust
- Reading: Michigan Quarterly Review: Jay Ladin’s “‘After the End of the World’: Poetry and the Holocaust”
Link: Michigan Quarterly Review: Jay Ladin’s “‘After the End of the World’: Poetry and the Holocaust” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read this essay in its entirety. What arguments does the author make about the possibility of writing poetry after the Holocaust? What do you think is the role of poetry in the face of genocide? Write a paragraph to summarize your thoughts.
This reading and questions should take you approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes to complete.
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- Reading: Student Pulse: Kristina S. Ten’s “Primo Levi's Use of Poetic Language to Promote Cross-Cultural Understanding in "Survival in Auschwitz"”
Link: Student Pulse: Kristina S. Ten’s “Primo Levi's Use of Poetic Language to Promote Cross-Cultural Understanding in "Survival in Auschwitz" (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read this essay in its entirety. What is its main argument? Do you find it compelling? Why, or why not?
This reading should take you approximately 30 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Web Media: The University of Pennsylvania: PENNSOUND’s Audio version of Charles Reznikoff’s “Gas Chambers and Gas Trucks 1”
Link: The University of Pennsylvania: PENNSOUND’s Audio version of Charles Reznikoff’s “Gas Chambers and Gas Trucks 1” (MP3)
Also available in:
ePub format on Google Books (pg. 27)
Instructions: Please scroll down and click on the play function tool to listen to Reznikoff read from his “Gas Chambers and Gas Trucks 1.” Be sure to listen to all the excerpts provided on this page (32 minutes total). How are poetic representations different from prose historical representations of the Holocaust?
Listening to these files should take you approximately 30 minutes.
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- Reading: Michigan Quarterly Review: Jay Ladin’s “‘After the End of the World’: Poetry and the Holocaust”
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6.1.3 The Atom Bomb and Its Impact on Culture
- Reading: The Christian Science Monitor: Jim Regan’s “The Atomic Bomb in American Culture”
Link: The Christian Science Monitor: Jim Regan’s “The Atomic Bomb in American Culture” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read the entirety of The Christian Science Monitor’s article on the atom bomb and its impact on culture. How would you describe the impact that the atomic bomb had on American culture?
This reading should take you approximately 15 minutes to complete.
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- Reading: University of Pennsylvania: Dr. Al Filreis’ “Cultural Aspects of Atomic Anxiety”
Link: University of Pennsylvania: Dr. Al Filreis’ “Cultural Aspects of Atomic Anxiety” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read this essay in its entirety and write a paragraph to summarize the most important ways in which the invention and use of the atomic bomb influenced European and American culture.
This reading should take you approximately 30 minutes to complete.
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- Reading: The Christian Science Monitor: Jim Regan’s “The Atomic Bomb in American Culture”
- 6.2 The Soldier as Poet
- 6.2.1 Key WWII Poets and Their Works
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6.2.1.1 Randall Jarrell
- Reading: Western Michigan University: Dr. Seamus Cooney’s version of Randall Jarrell’s “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner”
Link: Western Michigan University: Dr. Seamus Cooney’s version of Randall Jarrell’s “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner" (HTML)
Also available in:
ePub format on Google Books (pg. 265)
PDF
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read the entirety of Dr. Cooney’s version of Jarrell’s poem. What is the poem about? What does it say about the value of human life during war?
Listening to this poem and answering the questions above should take you approximately 15 minutes.
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- Reading: Western Michigan University: Dr. Seamus Cooney’s version of Randall Jarrell’s “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner”
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6.2.1.2 Keith Douglas
- Reading: Voices [Education Project]: The Poets of World War II: Keith Douglas
Link: Voices [Education Project]: The Poets of World War II: Keith Douglas (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and study all the poems reproduced on this page. How do these poems represent the war experience? What is the effect of their form? How are they different from early modernist and high modernist poems you studied in earlier subunits?
These readings and questions should take you approximately 1 hour to complete.
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- Reading: Voices [Education Project]: The Poets of World War II: Keith Douglas
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6.2.1.3 Karl Shapiro
- Reading: Voices [Education Project]: The Poets of World War II: Karl Shapiro
Link: Voices [Education Project]: The Poets of World War II: Karl Shapiro (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read this page in its entirety. Note both the differences and the similarities between Shapiro’s poems and the poems of both Randall Jarrell and Keith Douglas, which you read above.
These readings and questions should take you approximately 15 minutes to complete.
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- Reading: Voices [Education Project]: The Poets of World War II: Karl Shapiro
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6.2.2 Poet as Internee
- Reading: Modern American Poetry’s version of Randall Jarrell’s “The Refugees”
Link: Modern American Poetry’s version of Randall Jarrell’s “The Refugees” (HTML)
Also available in:
PDF (pg. 28)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read the entirety of Modern American Poetry’s version of Jarrell’s text. Describe this poem’s key themes and ideas in your own words.
This reading should take you approximately 15 minutes to complete.
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- Reading: Modern American Poetry’s version of Randall Jarrell’s “The Refugees”
- 6.3 Japanese-American Internment Camp Poetry
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6.3.1 Brief Overview of the Japanese-American Internment Camps and Executive Order 9066
- Reading: Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies: “Letters from the Japanese American Internment” and George Mason University: History Matters’ “Executive Order 9066: The President Authorizes Japanese Relocation”
Links: Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies: “Letters from the Japanese American Internment” (HTML) and George Mason University: History Matters’ “Executive Order 9066: The President Authorizes Japanese Relocation” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read the “Executive Order 9066” first. Then, read the Smithsonian’s learning module on Japanese-American internment camps in its entirety (5 webpages of text and associated links). Follow the embedded links to read the internee’s letters, and write a paragraph to summarize what you learned from this learning module.
These readings and summary should take you approximately 45 minutes to complete.
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- Reading: Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies: “Letters from the Japanese American Internment” and George Mason University: History Matters’ “Executive Order 9066: The President Authorizes Japanese Relocation”
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6.3.2 Pre-War Kaikos (Free-Style Haikus)
- Reading: Modern American Poetry’s version of Violet Kazue de Cristoforo's “Pre-War Japanese American Haiku”
Link: Modern American Poetry’s version of Violet Kazue de Cristoforo's “Pre-War Japanese American Haiku” (HTML)
Instructions: Please scroll down and read the entirety of Modern American poetry’s document on the pre-war Japanese American Kaikos, or free-style Haikus. What are the major concerns of pre-war Japanese American Haikus? Write a paragraph or two summarizing the themes and imagery of these poems.
This reading and summary should take you approximately 30 minutes to complete.
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- Reading: Modern American Poetry’s version of Violet Kazue de Cristoforo's “Pre-War Japanese American Haiku”
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6.3.3 Internment Haikus
- Reading: Lantern Review Blog: “Poetry in History: Japanese American Internment”
Link: Lantern Review Blog: “Poetry in History: Japanese American Internment” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read this essay in its entirety to learn about the experiences of Japanese American poets in internment camps during World War II.
This reading should take you approximately 15 minutes to complete.
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- Reading: Voices [Education Project]: World War II Poets: Violet Kazue de Cristoforo
Link: Voices [Education Project]: World War II Poets: Violet Kazue de Cristoforo (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read this text in its entirety. How would you describe the relationship of these haikus to the experience of internment?
This reading should take you approximately 15 minutes to complete.
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- Web Media: NPR.org: Sasha Khokha’s “Haiku Poet Documented Life in Japanese Camps”
Link: NPR.org: Sasha Khokha’s “Haiku Poet Documented Life in Japanese Camps” (MP3)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and then select the play tool to listen to the full story concerning the role of haikus in Japanese-American internment camps through NPR.org’s website. What function did the haiku serve in the Japanese American internment camps?
Listening to this file and answering the questions should take you approximately 15 minutes.
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- Reading: Lantern Review Blog: “Poetry in History: Japanese American Internment”
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Unit 7: African American Modernist Poetry
African American modernism is a crucially important current in the history of modernist poetry. Starting in the 1920s and 30s Harlem Renaissance poets like Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, and Jessie Redmon Fauset wrote poems which explored the African American experience and the challenges of modernity. In later years, writers like Gwendolyn Brooks, Margaret Walker, and Robert Hayden created new poetic forms in dialogue with both the Harlem Renaissance and broader developments in American and African American Culture. In this unit, you will explore African American modernist poetry and analyze its development and achievements, its unique features, and its universal aspects.
Unit 7 Time Advisory show close
Unit 7 Learning Outcomes show close
- 7.1 Historical Legacies, Cultural Challenges
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7.1.1 W.E.B. Dubois: “The Strivings of Negro People”
- Reading: The University of Virginia: W.E.B. Du Bois’ “The Strivings of Negro People” (1897)
Link: The University of Virginia: W.E.B. Du Bois’ “The Strivings of Negro People” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read this text in its entirety. This is an influential essay published by W.E.B. Du Bois in the Atlantic Monthlyin 1897. Why do you think this essay became important? How does Du Bois characterize the cultural predicament of African Americans? Write a paragraph to summarize your thoughts.
Reading and answering these questions should take you approximately 30 minutes to complete.
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- Reading: The University of Virginia: W.E.B. Du Bois’ “The Strivings of Negro People” (1897)
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7.1.2 Creating the Canon of Black Poetry
- Reading: James Weldon Johnson’s “The Book of American Negro Poetry” (1922) and his “Preface”
Link: Bartleby’s version of James Weldon Johnson’s “The Book of American Negro Poetry” (1922) (HTML) and his “Preface” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the links above, and read the brief description of how “The Book of American Negro Poetry” influenced twentieth-century African American writers, and then read Johnson’s “Preface” in its entirety. As you read, take notes on the text, focusing on how Johnson’s "Preface" characterizes the achievements and contributions of African Americans.
This reading and note-taking should take you approximately 1 hour to complete.
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- Reading: James Weldon Johnson’s “The Book of American Negro Poetry” (1922) and his “Preface”
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7.1.3 Presenting Black Identity to a White Audience
- Reading: Poetry-Archive’s version of Paul Laurence Dunbar’s “We Wear the Mask” and Afropoets.net’s version of “The Colored Soldiers”
Links: Poetry-Archive’s version of Paul Laurence Dunbar’s “We Wear the Mask” (HTML) and Afropoets.net’s version of “The Colored Soldiers” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the links above, and read both poems in their entirety. Who is the intended audience for each poem? How would you characterize the tone and structure of these poems? How do they address the question of identity?
These readings and questions should take you approximately 30 minutes to complete.
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- Reading: Poetry-Archive’s version of Paul Laurence Dunbar’s “We Wear the Mask” and Afropoets.net’s version of “The Colored Soldiers”
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7.1.4 Arthur A. Schomburg: “The Negro Digs Up His Past” (1925)
- Reading: Africa Within: Robert Knight’s “Arthur 'Afroborinqueño' Schomburg” and Africa Within’s version of Arthur A. Schomburg’s “The Negro Digs Up His Past” (1925)
Links: Africa Within: Robert Knight’s “Arthur 'Afroborinqueño' Schomburg” (HTML) and Africa Within’s version of Arthur A. Schomburg’s “The Negro Digs Up His Past” (1925) (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the links above, and read both texts in their entirety. What does Schomburg argue about the relationship between the past and the future? What is his vision for how African American culture should develop? What do these texts and the texts from sub-subunits 7.1.1 through 7.1.3 tell you about African American culture at the beginning of the twentieth century? Write a paragraph or two to summarize your thoughts.
Reading and answering these questions should take you approximately 1 hour to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyrights and terms of use displayed on the webpages above.The Saylor Foundation does not yet have materials for this portion of the course. If you are interested in contributing your content to fill this gap or aware of a resource that could be used here, please submit it here.
- Reading: Africa Within: Robert Knight’s “Arthur 'Afroborinqueño' Schomburg” and Africa Within’s version of Arthur A. Schomburg’s “The Negro Digs Up His Past” (1925)
- 7.2 Harlem Renaissance
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7.2.1 Historical Overview
- Reading: Poets.org’s “A Brief Guide to the Harlem Renaissance”
Link: Poets.org’s “A Brief Guide to the Harlem Renaissance" (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read this text in its entirety. What were the most important characteristics of the Harlem Renaissance?
This reading and question should take you approximately 15 minutes to complete.
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- Reading: Yale New Haven Teachers Institute: Caroline Jackson’s “Harlem Renaissance: Pivotal Period in the Development of Afro-American Culture”
Link: Yale New Haven Teachers Institute: Caroline Jackson’s “Harlem Renaissance: Pivotal Period in the Development of Afro-American Culture” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read this page in its entirety. Take notes on the most influential figures of the Harlem Renaissance and the most important events of this period.
This reading should take you approximately 30 minutes to complete.
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- Reading: John Carroll University’s The Harlem Renaissance Multimedia Resource
Link: John Carroll University’s The Harlem Renaissance Multimedia Resource (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and scroll down the page to read this brief introduction. After reading the introduction, read about the various aspect of the Harlem Renaissance by clicking on the tabs above the text (Education, Performers, French Connection, Literature, Political Issues, Religion, Philosophy). After exploring all these topics write a paragraph in which you describe the most important features of the Harlem Renaissance in your own words.
This reading should take you approximately 1 hour to complete.
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- Lecture: The Forum Network: Richard A. Long’s “Harlem Renaissance and Paris”
Link: The Forum Network: Richard A. Long’s “Harlem Renaissance and Paris” (Adobe Flash)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and listen to this lecture in its entirety (1 hour, 3 minutes). How were modernist developments in Paris important for Harlem Renaissance writers?
Viewing this lecture and answering the question above should take approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes to complete.
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- Reading: Poets.org’s “A Brief Guide to the Harlem Renaissance”
- 7.2.2 Principal Poets
- 7.2.2.1 Langston Hughes
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7.2.2.1.1 Biography
- Reading: The Poetry Foundation’s Biography of Langston Hughes
Link: The Poetry Foundation’s Biography of Langston Hughes (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read this biographical essay in its entirety to learn about Hughes’ life and the role he played in the Harlem Renaissance.
This reading should take you approximately 45 minutes to complete.
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- Reading: The Poetry Foundation’s Biography of Langston Hughes
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7.2.2.1.2 Cultural Vision and Critique
- Reading: The Poetry Foundation’s version of Langston Hughes’ “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain” (1926) and Elizabeth Alexander’s “The Black Poet as Canon-Maker”
Links: The Poetry Foundation’s version of Langston Hughes’ “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain” (1926) (HTML) and Elizabeth Alexander’s “The Black Poet as Canon-Maker” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the links above, and read both essays in their entirety (use navigation buttons at the bottom of the text to display pages 2 and 3 of Hughes’ essay). How does Hughes analyze the relationship between race and poetry? What does Alexander’s essay add to your understanding of the Harlem Renaissance? Write a paragraph to summarize your thoughts.
These readings and questions should take you approximately 1 hour to complete.
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- Reading: The Poetry Foundation’s version of Langston Hughes’ “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain” (1926) and Elizabeth Alexander’s “The Black Poet as Canon-Maker”
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7.2.2.1.3 Literary Style and Voice
- Web Media: Poets.org’s Recording of Langston Hughes’ “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”
Link: Poets.org’s Recording of Langston Hughes’ “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and listen to this recording of Langston Hughes reading “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” in its entirety. Hughes provides an explanation of how the poem came to be and then reads the poem. What is the most important goal of this poem? Who do you think is Hughes’ audience? What aspects of the poem are specific to the time and place of its creation and what aspects are universal? Write a paragraph to summarize your thoughts.
Listening and answering these questions should take you approximately 15 minutes.
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- Reading: The Poetry Foundation’s version of Langston Hughes’ “Theme for English B;” Poets.org’s version of Hughes’ “The Weary Blues;” and Poem Hunter’s version of Hughes’ “Life is Fine”
Link: The Poetry Foundation’s version of Langston Hughes’ “Theme for English B” (HTML), Poets.org’s version of Hughes’ “The Weary Blues” (HTML), and Poem Hunter’s version of Hughes’ “Life is Fine” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the links above, and read all poems in their entirety. What themes appear in these poems? How does Hughes approach rhythm?
This reading and these questions should take you approximately 30 minutes to complete.
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- Lecture: Yale University: Dr. Langdon Hammer’s Lecture on “Langston Hughes”
Link: Yale University: Dr. Langdon Hammer’s Lecture on “Langston Hughes” (Adobe Flash, Quicktime, HTML, Mp3)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and listen to this lecture in its entirety and take notes on Dr. Hammer’s analysis of Hughes’ poetry and his historical context.
This lecture should take you approximately 1 hour to complete.
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- Web Media: Poets.org’s Recording of Langston Hughes’ “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”
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7.2.2.1.4 Langston Hughes’ Turn to Communism in the 1930s
- Reading: Modern American Poetry’s “Langston Hughes in the 1930s”
Link: Modern American Poetry’s “Langston Hughes in the 1930s” (HTML)
Instructions: Please read the entirety of Modern American Poetry’s essay on Langston Hughes.
This reading should take you approximately 30 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: Modern American Poetry’s “Langston Hughes in the 1930s”
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7.2.2.2 Claude McKay
- Reading: The Poetry Foundation’s Biography of Claude McKay
Link: The Poetry Foundation’s Biography of Claude McKay (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read this biographical essay in its entirety to learn about McKay’s life and his poetry.
This reading should take you approximately 45 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: Claude McKay’s “If We Must Die” and “The Harlem Dancer”
Links: Bartleby’s version of Claude McKay’s “If We Must Die” (HTML) and “The Harlem Dancer” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the links above, and read both poems in their entirety. How do these poems engage social issues? How does their form affect their message?
These readings and questions should take you approximately 15 minutes to complete.
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- Reading: The Poetry Foundation’s Biography of Claude McKay
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7.2.2.3 Countee Cullen
- Reading: The Poetry Foundation’s Biography of Countee Cullen
Link: The Poetry Foundation’s Biography of Countee Cullen (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read this biographical essay in its entirety.
This reading should take you approximately 45 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyrights and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: The Poetry Foundation’s versions of Countee Cullen’s “A Brown Girl Dead,” “Heritage,” and “For Amy Lowell”
Links: The Poetry Foundation’s versions of Countee Cullen’s “A Brown Girl Dead,” (HTML) “Heritage,” (HTML) and “For Amy Lowell” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the links above, and read these poems in their entirety and compare their formal qualities and their message. What are the universal aspects of these poems? What are their political aspects? How would you characterize their attitude toward life? Based on what you learned about Amy Lowell’s poetry in Unit 2, how do you think she might have responded to Cullen’s poem? Write a paragraph to summarize your thoughts.
Reading and answering these questions should take you approximately 1 hour to complete.
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- Reading: The Poetry Foundation’s Biography of Countee Cullen
- 7.2.2.4 Women Poets
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7.2.2.4.1 Cultural Challenges
- Reading: Poets.org: Anthony Walton’s “Double-Bind: Three Women of the Harlem Renaissance”
Link: Poets.org: Anthony Walton’s “Double-Bind: Three Women of the Harlem Renaissance” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read this essay in its entirety. How does this essay characterize the dilemmas and challenges faced by African American women poets during the Harlem Renaissance? Write a paragraph to summarize your thoughts.
This reading and question should take you approximately 30 minutes to complete.
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- Reading: Poets.org: Anthony Walton’s “Double-Bind: Three Women of the Harlem Renaissance”
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7.2.2.4.2 Jesse Redmon Fauset
- Reading: Poets.org’s version of Jesse Redmon Fauset’s “Dead Fires” and “La Vie C'est La Vie”
Links: Poets.org’s version of Jesse Redmon Fauset’s “Dead Fires” (HTML) and “La Vie C'est La Vie” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the links above, and read both poems in their entirety. What are your interpretations of these poems? What is their formal structure? How would you compare these to other Harlem Renaissance poems you have read so far?
This reading and these questions should take you approximately 15 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: Poets.org’s version of Jesse Redmon Fauset’s “Dead Fires” and “La Vie C'est La Vie”
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7.2.2.4.3 Georgia Douglas Johnson
- Reading: Poet.org’s version of Georgia Douglas Johnson’s “Black Woman” and “The Heart of a Woman,” and The Poetry Foundation’s version of Johnson’s “Common Dust” and “Smothered Fires”
Links: Poet.org’s version of Georgia Douglas Johnson’s “Black Woman” (HTML) and “The Heart of a Woman” (HTML), and The Poetry Foundation’s version of Johnson’s “Common Dust” (HTML) and “Smothered Fires” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the links above, and read these poems in their entirety. Note their formal qualities, their dominant tone, and their imagery. How would you compare them to Jesse Redmon Fauset’s poems you studied in the previous sub-subunit?
This reading and question should take you approximately 15 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: Poet.org’s version of Georgia Douglas Johnson’s “Black Woman” and “The Heart of a Woman,” and The Poetry Foundation’s version of Johnson’s “Common Dust” and “Smothered Fires”
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7.2.2.4.4 Gwendolyn Bennett
- Reading: Poets.org’s version of Gwendolyn Bennett’s “Quatrains,” “Fantasy,” “Sonnet 1” and “Sonnet 2”
Link: Poets.org’s version of Gwendolyn Bennett’s “Quatrains” (HTML), “Fantasy” (HTML), “Sonnet 1” (HTML), and “Sonnet 2” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the links above, and read these poems in their entirety. Note their formal qualities, their dominant tone, and their imagery. How would you compare them with other Harlem Renaissance poems? Write a paragraph to summarize your analysis of the poems of Gwendolyn Bennet, Georgia Douglas Johnson, and Jesse Redmon Fauset.
This reading and these questions should take you approximately 30 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: Poets.org’s version of Gwendolyn Bennett’s “Quatrains,” “Fantasy,” “Sonnet 1” and “Sonnet 2”
- 7.2.3 Poetry and the Blues
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7.2.3.1 The Blues Legacy in African American Culture
- Web Media: YouTube: “Chicago Blues: A Living History (Part I)”
Link: YouTube: “Chicago Blues: A Living History (Part I)” (YouTube)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and watch this video in its entirety. This video provides a sampling of Blues music in America.
Viewing this video should take you approximately 15 minutes to complete.
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- Reading: Piero Scaruffi’s History of Popular Music: “A Brief History of Blues Music”
Link: Piero Scaruffi’s History of Popular Music: “A Brief History of Blues Music” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read this chapter in its entirety. Take notes on the ways in which Blues figured in the history of African Americans.
This reading should take you approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Web Media: YouTube: “Chicago Blues: A Living History (Part I)”
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7.2.3.2 Bluesman Poetry in the Modern Period
- Reading: Poets.org: Poetic Form: “Blues Poem;” Poets.org’s version of Sterling A. Brown’s “Riverbank Blues” and Langston Hughes’ “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” and “The Weary Blues;” Old Poetry: Sterling Brown’s “Memphis Blues;” and Poets.org’s version of Gwendolyn Brooks’ “We Real Cool”
Link: Poets.org: "Poetic Form: Blues Poem” (HTML); Poets.org’s version of Sterling A. Brown’s “Riverbank Blues” (HTML), and Langston Hughes’ “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” (HTML) and “The Weary Blues” (HTML); Old Poetry: Sterling Brown’s “Memphis Blues” (HTML); and Poets.org’s version of Gwendolyn Brooks’ “We Real Cool” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the links above, and read these poems in their entirety. What makes a poem a “Blues poem?” How are these poems different from other poems you have studied in this unit? What are their universal elements? Write a paragraph to summarize your thoughts.
Reading and answering these questions should take you approximately 45 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyrights and terms of use displayed on the webpages above.The Saylor Foundation does not yet have materials for this portion of the course. If you are interested in contributing your content to fill this gap or aware of a resource that could be used here, please submit it here.
- Reading: Poets.org: Poetic Form: “Blues Poem;” Poets.org’s version of Sterling A. Brown’s “Riverbank Blues” and Langston Hughes’ “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” and “The Weary Blues;” Old Poetry: Sterling Brown’s “Memphis Blues;” and Poets.org’s version of Gwendolyn Brooks’ “We Real Cool”
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7.2.3.3 Black Poetry and the Problem of Identity
- Reading: History Matters: The Harlem Renaissance: George Schuyler Argues against “Black Art”
Link: George Mason University: History Matters: The Harlem Renaissance: George Schuyler Argues against “Black Art” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read this essay in its entirety. This is an essay from 1926, a time when debates about the nature of African American art and poetry were gaining momentum. What argument does this text make? How is the argument supported?
This reading and questions should take you approximately 30 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyrights and terms of use displayed on the webpages above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: Webdubois.org’s version of W.E.B. Dubois’ “Criteria of Negro Art” (1926)
Link: Webdubois.org’s version of W.E.B. Dubois’ “Criteria of Negro Art” (1926) (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read this essay in its entirety. What argument does it make about African American art? How does this argument compare with that made by George Schuyler above? Write a paragraph to compare and contrast the two arguments in terms of both content and structure.
This reading and these questions should take you approximately 1 hour to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyrights and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: Afropoets.net’s versions of Countee Cullen’s “Incident” and “Yet Do I Marvel”
Links: Afropoets.net’s versions of Countee Cullen’s “Incident” (HTML) and “Yet Do I Marvel” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the links above, and read both poems in their entirety. How would you characterize each poem in terms of form? In each case, how does the form work with the poem’s message? Do you think conveying the same message in prose would be as effective? If so, why? If not, why not? Write a paragraph to summarize your analysis.
Reading and answering these questions should take you approximately 30 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyrights and terms of use displayed on the webpages above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Web Media: YouTube: Langston Hughes’ “Ku Klux”
Link: Langston Hughes’ “Ku Klux” (YouTube)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and listen to the entirety of this audio version of Hughes’ “Ku Klux” read aloud. How do you understand this poem? What is the mood of this poem? How does irony function in it? Write a paragraph to summarize your ideas. If necessary, listen to the poem read aloud multiple times.
Listening to this recording and answering these questions should take approximately 15 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: Modern American Poetry: Onwucheka Jemie, Bartholomew Brinkman, and John Moore’s “On ‘Ku Klux’”
Link: Modern American Poetry: Onwucheka Jemie, Bartholomew Brinkman, and John Moore’s “On ‘Ku Klux’” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read the collection of analyses compiled by the Modern American Poetry project. What are the similarities and differences between these analyses and your own interpretation of Hughes’ “Ku Klux?”
Reading and answering this question should take approximately 45 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: Afropoets.net’s versions of Jean Toomer’s “Portrait in Georgia,” “Her Lips Are Copper Wire,” and “Reapers,” as well as Claude McKay’s “America” and “The Tropics in New York”
Links: Afropoets.net’s versions of Jean Toomer’s “Portrait in Georgia" (HTML), “Her Lips Are Copper Wire” (HTML), and “Reapers” (HTML), as well as Claude McKay’s “America” (HTML) and “The Tropics in New York” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the links above, and read all these poems in their entirety. What aspects of African American experience does modern poetry capture particularly well? Write a brief analysis focusing on the theme, form, and rhetorical aim of each poem.
These readings and questions should take you approximately 30 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyrights and terms of use displayed on the webpages above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: History Matters: The Harlem Renaissance: George Schuyler Argues against “Black Art”
- 7.3 Beyond the Harlem Renaissance: Legacies and New Possibilities
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7.3.1 Gwendolyn Brooks
- Reading: The Poetry Foundation’s Biography of Gwendolyn Brooks
Link: The Poetry Foundation’s Biography of Gwendolyn Brooks (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read this biographical essay in its entirety. Note the most important turning points in Brooks’ life and her understanding of poetry.
This reading should take you approximately 30 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyrights and terms of use displayed on the webpages above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: The Poetry Foundation’s version of Gwendolyn Brooks’ “Still Do I Keep My Look, My Identity…,” “A Light and Diplomatic Bird,” and “A Sunset of the City”
Link: The Poetry Foundation’s version of Gwendolyn Brooks’ “Still Do I Keep My Look, My Identity…” (HTML), “A Light and Diplomatic Bird” (HTML), and “A Sunset of the City” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the links above, and read these poems in their entirety. How are they similar to the Harlem Renaissance Poems you have read? How are they different?
These readings should take you approximately 30 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyrights and terms of use displayed on the webpages above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: The Poetry Foundation’s Biography of Gwendolyn Brooks
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7.3.2 Robert Hayden
- Reading: The Poetry Foundation’s Biography of Robert Hayden
Link: The Poetry Foundation’s Biography of Robert Hayden (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read this biographical essay in its entirety. Note the most important turning points in Brooks’ life and her understanding of poetry.
This reading should take you approximately 30 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyrights and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: The Poetry Foundation’s version of Robert Hayden’s “Fredrick Douglass,” “Middle Passage,” and “Mourning Poem for the Queen of Sunday”
Link: The Poetry Foundation’s version of Robert Hayden’s “Fredrick Douglass” (HTML), “Middle Passage” (HTML), and “Mourning Poem for the Queen of Sunday” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read these poems in their entirety.
These readings should take you approximately 30 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyrights and terms of use displayed on the webpages above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: The Poetry Foundation’s Biography of Robert Hayden
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Unit 8: Postwar American Identities—The Mainstream And The Avant-Garde
In this final unit, you will explore some of the directions in which poetry was moving at the very end of the modern period—just as post-modern styles and concepts were coming into their own. For the most part, poetry from the post-war period tended to either move in an experimental, rebellious direction, or into a quiet, personal, and more traditional mode.
Unit 8 Time Advisory show close
Unit 8 Learning Outcomes show close
- 8.1 “The Mainstream”
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8.1.1 What Do We Mean by “Mainstream?”
- Reading: National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.: Ruth Fine’s “Expanding the Mainstream: Romare Bearden Revisited”
Link: National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.: Ruth Fine’s “Expanding the Mainstream: Romare Bearden Revisited” (PDF)
Instructions: Please click on the link above to download the PDF file, and read the entirety of Fine’s essay on the concept of the “mainstream” through a reading of Romare Bearden as a case study (16 pages). Then, define “mainstream” in your own words. How does Bearden serve as a useful case study within (and against) this tradition?
This reading and question should take you approximately 1 hour to complete.
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- Reading: National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.: Ruth Fine’s “Expanding the Mainstream: Romare Bearden Revisited”
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8.1.2 1950s Culture: Conformity and Prosperity
- Reading: U.S. Department of State’s Country Studies: “The Culture of the 1950s” and Lone Star College – Kingwood: Becky Bradley’s “American Cultural History: 1950-59”
Links: U.S. Department of State’s Country Studies: “The Culture of the 1950s” (HTML) and Lone Star College – Kingwood: Becky Bradley’s “American Cultural History: 1950-59” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the links above, and read both pages in their entirety. Then, write a paragraph to describe American culture in the 1950s in your own words.
This reading and writing assignment should take you approximately 30 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: U.S. Department of State’s Country Studies: “The Culture of the 1950s” and Lone Star College – Kingwood: Becky Bradley’s “American Cultural History: 1950-59”
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8.1.3 Elizabeth Bishop and the Personal Lyric
- Reading: Poem Hunter: Elizabeth Bishop’s “The Fish,” “Filling Station,” and “One Art”
Links: Poem Hunter: Elizabeth Bishop’s “The Fish” (HTML), “Filling Station” (HTML), and “One Art” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on each link above, and read the entirety of each poem, as made available online by PoemHunter.com. What themes and ideas seem most central to Bishop’s work? Write a brief paragraph to summarize your analysis.
These readings and writing assignment should take you approximately 30 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyrights and terms of use displayed on the webpages above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Lecture: Yale University: Dr. Langdon Hammer’s Lectures “Elizabeth Bishop” and “Elizabeth Bishop (cont.)”
Link: Yale University: Dr. Langdon Hammer’s Lectures “Elizabeth Bishop” (Adobe Flash, Quicktime, HTML, Mp3) and “Elizabeth Bishop (cont.)” (Adobe Flash, Quicktime, HTML, Mp3)
Instructions: Please click on the links above, and listen to both lectures in their entirety.
These lectures should take you approximately 2 hours to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: Poem Hunter: Elizabeth Bishop’s “The Fish,” “Filling Station,” and “One Art”
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8.1.4 The Beginnings of Confessional Poetry
- Reading: Poem Hunter: Robert Lowell’s “Man and Wife” and “The Quaker Graveyard in Nantucket”
Links: Poem Hunter: Robert Lowell’s “Man and Wife” (HTML)
Also available in:
ePub format on Google Books (pg. 168)
and “The Quaker Graveyard in Nantucket” (HTML)
Also available in:
ePub format on Google Books (pg. 91)
Instructions: Please click on the links above, and read both poems in their entirety. Write down key words and images, and analyze each poem’s formal structure. In what ways did the Modern poem serve as a mode of confession?
These readings and questions should take you approximately 30 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyrights and terms of use displayed on the webpages above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: Poem Hunter: Robert Lowell’s “Man and Wife” and “The Quaker Graveyard in Nantucket”
- 8.2 The Avant-Garde
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8.2.1 The Concept of a Counter-Culture
- Reading: Grant L. Allen and Chuck T. Allen’s “Beats & Beatniks: The Digestion of an American Myth”
Link: Grant L. Allen and Chuck T. Allen’s “Beats & Beatniks: The Digestion of an American Myth” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read the entirety of Allen’s essay on counter culture in 1950’s America. Who were the Beats and Beatniks? What were some of their social, political, and cultural goals?
This reading should take you approximately 15 minutes to complete.
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- Reading: Grant L. Allen and Chuck T. Allen’s “Beats & Beatniks: The Digestion of an American Myth”
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8.2.2 The Beats: Psychological Candor, the Commonplace, and Spontaneity
- Web Media: Poets.org: Allen Ginsberg’s Howl, Parts I and II
Link: Poets.org: Allen Ginsberg’s Howl, Parts I and II (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, then select play to launch Ginsberg’s reading of Parts I and II from Howl. Listen to the entirety of Ginsberg’s reading from his famous text. As you listen to the text, read along with the poem on the webpage. Then, try reading the poem by itself on the page.
This listening activity and reading of the poem should take you approximately 45 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Web Media: Poets.org: Allen Ginsberg’s Howl, Parts I and II
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8.2.3 The Black Mountain Poets
- Reading: Poem Hunter: Robert Creeley’s “A Token” and The Poetry Foundation’s versions of Robert Creeley’s “For Love” and “The Language”
Links: Poem Hunter: Robert Creeley’s “A Token” (HTML)
Also available in:
ePub format on Google Books (pg. 221)
MP3
and The Poetry Foundation’s versions of Robert Creeley’s “For Love” (HTML)
Also available in:
MP3
and “The Language” (HTML)
Also available in:
MP3
Instructions: Please click on the links above, and read these poems in their entirety. How to these texts compare to Ginsberg’s work? How would you compare them to Imagist and Objectivist poems you studied earlier in this course?
These readings and questions should take you approximately 30 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyrights and terms of use displayed on the webpages above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: Poem Hunter: Robert Creeley’s “A Token” and The Poetry Foundation’s versions of Robert Creeley’s “For Love” and “The Language”
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8.2.4 Confessionalism Intensified
- Reading: American Poems: Sylvia Plath’s “The Colossus” and Poets.org’s version of Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy”
Links: American Poems: Sylvia Plath’s “The Colossus” (HTML)
Also available in:
ePub format on Google Books (pg. 107)
and Poets.org’s version of Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy” (HTML)
Also available in:
ePub format on Google Books (pg. 164)
PDF
Instructions: Please click on the links above, and read both poems in their entirety. How would you compare them to other poems you read in this subunit? Focus on both form and content in your comparison. How is gender significant in these poems?
These readings and questions should take you approximately 30 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyrights and terms of use displayed on the webpages above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: American Poems: Sylvia Plath’s “The Colossus” and Poets.org’s version of Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy”
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8.2.5 New York School and the Process of Creation
- Reading: Poets.org’s version of John Ashbery’s “Daffy Duck in Hollywood” as well as Frank O’Hara’s “Personism”
Links: Poets.org’s version of John Ashbery’s “Daffy Duck in Hollywood” (HTML) as well as Frank O’Hara’s “Personism” (HTML)
Instructions: Please scroll down and read the entirety of Poets.org’s versions of Ashbery’s poem and O’Hara’s essay. Describe O’Hara’s project in your own words, based on his essay. In addition, ask yourself: what is the role of popular culture in the Modern poem? Use Ashbery’s poem as a case study here to craft your response.
These readings and questions should take you approximately 45 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyrights and terms of use displayed on the webpages above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: Poets.org’s version of John Ashbery’s “Daffy Duck in Hollywood” as well as Frank O’Hara’s “Personism”
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8.2.6 Language Poetry
- Reading: University of Pennsylvania: George Hartley’s “Textual Politics and the Language Poets” and Electronic Poetry Center: Marjorie Perloff’s “Language Poetry and the Lyric Subject: Ron Silliman’s Albany, Susan Howe’s Buffalo”
Link: University of Pennsylvania: George Hartley’s “Textual Politics and the Language Poets” (HTML) and Electronic Poetry Center: Marjorie Perloff’s “Language Poetry and the Lyric Subject: Ron Silliman’s Albany, Susan Howe’s Buffalo” (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the links above, and read these essays in their entirety for an overview of the poetics and theory of L-A-N-G-U-A-G-E poets.
These readings should take approximately 2 hours to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyrights and terms of use displayed on the webpages above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: The Poetry Foundation’s Biography of Bernadette Mayer
Link: The Poetry Foundation’s Biography of Bernadette Mayer (HTML)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read this brief biography of avant-garde poet, Bernadette Mayer.
This reading should take approximately 15 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyrights and terms of use displayed on the webpages above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Web Media: University of Pennsylvania: PENNSOUND’S Audio Recording of Bernadette Mayer’s “Food that we would normally not be eating”
Link: University of Pennsylvania: PENNSOUND’S Audio Recording of Bernadette Mayer’s “Food that we would normally not be eating” (MP3)
Instructions: Please click on the link above, scroll down the webpage to the title of the poem, and click on the play tool to listen to the entirety of Mayer’s reading of her “Food that we would normally not be eating.” In what ways does this text differ from the early texts from the Modern period? How have the themes and ideas of Modernism developed and changed? Write a paragraph or two to summarize your observations.
This listening activity and questions should take you approximately 45 minutes to complete.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: University of Pennsylvania: George Hartley’s “Textual Politics and the Language Poets” and Electronic Poetry Center: Marjorie Perloff’s “Language Poetry and the Lyric Subject: Ron Silliman’s Albany, Susan Howe’s Buffalo”
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Final Exam
- Final Exam: The Saylor Foundation's ENGL408 Final Exam
Link: The Saylor Foundation's ENGL408 Final Exam
Instructions: You must be logged into your Saylor Foundation School account in order to access this exam. If you do not yet have an account, you will be able to create one, free of charge, after clicking the link.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Final Exam: The Saylor Foundation's ENGL408 Final Exam
