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Yvor Winters is a modern poet, but he is very much a traditionalist. His poems, written in the traditional form, are works of art. Poetry is a stimulating art that when properly mastered can exhume beautiful emotions from its readers. Proper forms, structure, grammar, rhyme scheme, all are elements of traditional poetry, and all, in my opinion, are elements of lovely poetry. I will argue that Yvor Winters poetic theory, The Fallacy of Expressive Form, written in 1939, arguing that poetry must be traditionally written can be tested using a Non Traditional song, Seven Nation Army by The White Stripe, and a Traditional poem, Incident by Countee Cullen; I will then explicate each poem to further explain my thesis. I find the traditional form of poetry much more pleasurable to read because of the intellect it shows and the beauty it creates. “To let the form of a poem succumb to its matter is and always will be the destruction of poetry”
Seven Nation Army is an intriguing piece of work by The White Stripes in 2003. Songs are often full of poetic elements, imagery, and further meaning than what appears in front of you. Songs may have the qualities of a poem but they are not poetry. This song, Seven Nation Army, is no exception. Symbolism is one poetic element that is very important in this song. One example is “I’m bleeding… right before the Lord”, obviously The White Stripes are not literally bleeding before their Lord. In fact, I think this whole song is symbolism. I personally want it to symbolize the author’s frustration with fame. I believe “Bleeding before the Lord” could be representative of feeling judged. Besides the symbolism, I see that in this song there is another poetic element; personification of his bones, blood, and ...
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...as also able to get his point across. He breached topic that were edgy and new but he did so in a manner that deemed him intelligent and a worthwhile read. Had it been written differently the poem would not hold the same meaning.
In conclusion, I have found that Yvor Winters, The Fallacy of Expressive Form, holds true to poetry. Traditional form and style can always be used, even for new, edgy topics. I have learned that I find the traditional style of poetry, although more challenging, much more pleasurable to read. I think it shows true intellect. I think that what I find truly remarkable is the ability of a traditional poet to take such rough subject and mannerist and turn it into something graceful and appealing. Anyone can string together words and call it a poem, but a true poet can string together those same words in such a form that they can astound you.
Throughout history there have been many poets and some have succeeded while other didn’t have the same luck. But in history e.e. Cummings has stunned people with his creativity and exposure to the real world and not living in the fantasy people imagine they live in. Cummings was a great poet, and was able to make his own way of writing while he was also involved greatly in the modernist movement. But he demonstrates all his uniqueness in all and every poem, delivering people with knowledge and making them see the world with different eyes as in the poem “Since feeling is first”.
When I read poetry, I often tend to look first at its meaning and second at how it is written, or its form. The mistake I make when I do this is in assuming that the two are separate, when, in fact, often the meaning of poetry is supported or even defined by its form. I will discuss two poems that embody this close connection between meaning and form in their central use of imagery and repetition. One is a tribute to Janis Joplin, written in 1983 by Alice Fulton, entitled “You Can’t Rhumboogie in a Ball and Chain.” The second is a section from Walt Whitman’s 1,336-line masterpiece, “Song of Myself,” first published in 1855. The imagery in each poem differs in purpose and effect, and the rhythms, though created through repetition in both poems, are quite different as well. As I reach the end of each poem, however, I am left with a powerful human presence lingering in the words. In Fulton’s poem, that presence is the live-hard-and-die-young Janis Joplin; in Whitman’s poem, the presence created is an aspect of the poet himself.
Strand, Mark and Evan Boland. The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms. New
69. Print. Strand, Mark, and Eavan Boland. The Making of a Poem: a Norton Anthology of Poetic
...us 75.1 (Jan. 1991): 150-159. Rpt. in Poetry Criticism. Ed. Lawrence J. Trudeau. Vol. 58. Detroit: Gale, 2005. Literature Resource Center. Web. 25 Feb. 2011.
During the time period of the emancipation proclamation multiple black authors were becoming educated enough to write works of poetry. Such works have influenced and persuaded the minds of white people all over America to this very day. It also gave their own people a work of art to turn to for their own history. The poets have ventured into modern day eras also, and still have the same topics at hand. The main idea of these poetry pieces was on their ancestors in Africa but also of course of the modern problem of slavery. Langston Hughes was the first influential black poet. Lucille Clifton and Colleen McElroy are modern poets but is a black woman who has other views on slavery but also very similar looks on their historical past. All of the poets all mentioned their historical background in Africa. Langston Hughes, Lucille Clifton, and Colleen McElroy all wrote about their ancestors and of slavery, and some of the same references were of the rivers, and the connection between the people even though they are literally worlds apart; a difference between the poems was the desire for freedom and the freedom that was already existing in the modern day poetry of Lucille Clifton and Colleen McElroy.
Poe’s poem, “The Raven,” was received extremely well and swiftly made its author famous. One year passed and Poe popped out an essay called “The Philosophy of Composition,” which claimed to enlighten its readers on Poe’s technique writing “The Raven,” a method Poe suggested all writers’ use. As described in the essay’s tedious prose writing should be strictly methodical. First, one decides one’s intention. Poe’s was to compose a poem that would suit popular and critical taste. Next one must consider how long the piece is to be. Poe decided to write something short enough to be read in a sitting. Next, the writer chooses a desired tone. Using the power of logic, Poe bombastically concludes that melancholy is “the most legitimate of all the poetical tones.” Poe, who was never one to half-ass poetical tone, asks himself, “of all melancholy topics, what, according to the universal understanding of mankind, is the most melancholy?”
“Poe’s Theory of Poetry.” The Big Read. Handout One. N.d.. 16. Web. 19 April 2014.
Reading is part of everyday life, but understanding what you have read is something less common. There are a lot of different types of literate that you can read. One of the most popular types of reading that people do would be to read poetry, but almost everyone that reads poetry reads the most common type; the ones that rhyme and are easy to read. These are very good poems, but when you begin to read different types of poetry you start to figure out that a lot of it seems to be nonsense and this is not the case. “Poetry might be defined as the clear expression of mixed feelings.” (Auden) This is a very good point because poetry is something that seems to be very clear, until you get to feelings and everyone has different feelings. Poetry is something that can be written in a lot of different ways, in fact there is even poetry about how to write poetry. Archibald MacLeish and Marianne Moore all manage to tie in how poetry is supposed to work in their own poetry. They both do have conflict in some of their ideas in how to write poetry and some ideas are the same. Marianne Moore, and Archibald MacLeish share the same love and passion for poetry but have different opinions on how they should be different.
...for another man, and he still loved her with all his heart, that shows how much passion he had in his life. He transferred this passion throughout all of his work. This passion in my opinion is what made his poems as good as they are. Without that passion, and how devoted he gets to people and things, he never would have been as successful of a poet as he was, and still is to this day.
Poetry can serve as cautionary tales, a declaration of love and many other types of expression. Poems can discuss several themes from love and life to death and religion; however two poems with the same themes can have two different messages. Thomas Grey’s “Elegy Written in a Church Courtyard” and “Beowulf” author unknown, express themes such as death and the value of life; however their use of figurative language and choice of form convey two different messages. Figurative language can deepen the meaning of a message, while form can give the reader a hint about the poem’s theme.
In both, out of some onomatopoeic words for a bird song and realistic sceneries of nature, the true beauty and ugliness is doubted. While we all suppose spring to be the most beautiful fantastic global fete, the poet shows us a mocking unpleasing view out of that. Or on the other hand he shows us a delicate heartsome scene in the lifeless vapid "Winter."
When we first started the poetry unit, I felt that I would hate reading and creating poetry. When I heard we had to read poetry I was very disappointed. Every other year we did poetry units, I hated it. I hated every part of it. I dreaded reading poetry and answering the questions. I mostly felt this way because I am a factual person. I always have to have one right answer. I do not like when there are more than one answer choices that are correct. Poetry always has more than one interpretation.This year, however, hearing poetry and writing my own poetry has changed my opinion on poetry. Although I still hate answering questions on the poems I love to listen to poetry and write my own poetry. But, even when you read the poems that I write they are very straightforward and there are usually no other ways to interpret it.
In his introduction to the Norton Anthology of English Literature M. H. Abrams attempts to overcome these difficulties by identifying the 'five cardinal elements' of Romantic poetry. According to Abrams, Romantic poetry is distinguished by the belief that poetry is not an "imitation of nature" but a "representation of the poet's internal emotions". Secondly, that the writing of poetry should be "an effortless expression" and not an "arduous exercise". The prevalence of nature in Romantic poetry and what Abrams calls "the glorification of the ordinary and the outcast" are identified as two further common elements, as is the sense of a "supernatural" or "satanic presence" (Abrams, 2000, pp. 7-11). It is with regard to this elemental understanding of Romantic poetry that I will conduct my close critical analysis of 'Frost at Midnight' to examine the extent to which the poem embodie...
The New Critics, just like Wimsatt and Beardsley put forward in their essay, also believed in the ‘organicity’ of the text. In the essay, they write, “A poem should not mean but be.” And, since the meaning of the poem or the text is the medium through which it can exist, and words, in turn, is the medium through which the meaning is expressed, the poem or the text b...