Contemporary American Poetry is Representative Essay Example For Students

Contemporary American Poetry is Representative Essay This magical profusion of thought and feeling-the most ancient form of expressive arts not only depicts the changing rends of time but in its very depiction, it transcends time also. In creating rhythm out of words, acquainted with the divine madness of Plats Ion, our poets create a new world out of the old. In this sojourn of truth and beauty, the poets enkindle the world with the beacon of the poetical utterances. This is the reason that poets like Shakespeare, Aeschylus and T. S. Eliot despite representing the contemporary literary trends remain untrimmed by the dust of the time. Modern civilization is said to have reached at its acme and so does it seem to be true of the todays poetry-the most sophisticated form of mans expression. But this apex is not achieved in a day. It is the convoy of innumerable twists and slips. The traces of this pilgrimage commenced when the first Pilgrim landed at Plymouth. Who knew that this small convoy of few members under Captain Adam Smith will turn out to be worlds largest reading community? After passing through many ebb and flows of time, American poetry like its civilization has reached to a state which is called complex and mature. The road of American literature is filled with the dynamic literary movements, intertwined with the historical changes emerging out of the literature, multiracial and multivalent American society. Ralph Emerson said about this multiculturalism in Viol. IV of the Journals of Ralph Wald Emerson with Annotations that: Man is the most composite of all creatures. Well, as in the old burning of the Temple at Corinth, by the melting and intermixed of silver and gold and other metals a new compound more precious than any, called Corinthian brass was formed; so in this continent,asylum of all nations,the energy of Irish, Germans, Swedes, Poles, and Cossacks, and all the European tribes,of the Africans, and of the Polynesians,will construct a new race, a new religion, a new state, a new literature, which will be as vigorous as the new Europe which came out of the smelting-pot of the Dark Ages, or that which earlier emerged from the Pelagic and Etruscan barbarism. 116) American literature has evolved out of this prismatic melting pot of cultures where under some historical and cultural influence, when a number of writers with similar thematic and stylistic qualities Joined together, form a trend / movement in the trail of evolution. This multiculturalism was the salient feature of American society and is more deeply seeped in today as explained in (What is An American Literature-An Overview): In the past twenty years, the field of American literature has undergone a radical transformation. Just as the mainstream public has begun to understand America as more diverse, so, too, have scholars moved to integrate more texts by women and ethnic minorities into the standard canon of literature taught and studied. These changes can be both exhilarating and disconcerting, as the breadth of American literature appears to be almost limitless. (6)This is page no. Under the vicious circle of Cold War, contemporary American political canvas was painted with no. Of domestic and global activities from Red scare to McCarthy and from the German crisis to the creation of Iron Curtain. America, under the shadow of the nuclear warfare with the volcanic eruption of Korean crisis and caught in the quagmire of Vietnam conflict which according to Thomas A. Bailey and David M. Kennedy in The American Pageant: By January 1970, the Vietnam conflict had become the longest in American history and, with 40,000 killed and over 250,000 wounded, the third most costly war in the nations experience. Disgust with the bloody mess in Vietnam was further deepened by shocking reports of massacre of the innocent women and children by American troops. 883; Chi. 44; viol. 2) Knowing what Eisenhower said, Every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies A theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and never clothed (CTD. In The American Pageant 842), but the hovering Cuban missile crisis and the Sputnik race could not be resisted and could create nothing but the ethnic rage and black revolutionary outburst of the stormy sixties. T. S. Elites need of the rain was no t less let now as in the earlier quarter of the century in The Wasteland: Data. Advantage. Adamant/ Shanties shanties shanties(431-432). Starting with Puritanism in the sixteenth century and then passing through the Enlightenment of the eighteenth and Romanticism and Transcendentalism of the nineteenth centuries, the entourage of the literature seems to have crossed the Modernism. A period of drowsiness loomed over the American poetry and a lull came after the great poems by the modernists in the sass, sass, and sass. American poetry paused, as many poets imitated what had been innovative a few cascades before. The catalog of cultural shocks seems to have created the feeling of disassociated sensibility and have shaken the man to his very soul leaving the prints of the feelings of alienation, loss, despair and annihilation. Importantly, there is rebirth and rejuvenation in ruin and the contemporary literature celebrates the endless cycle of destruction, as it ever gives rise to new forms and creations. At this critical moment of the history, a transformation took place in the American society with the rise of the mass media and mass culture. Radio, movies, and then he most powerful television changed the very foundation of American life and culture. It changed from an individual literary culture of book reading to a media culture harmonize its beat with that of radio, music, film, and television. The vast canopy of American literature like its age seems to be thronged with a host of styles colored with the humdrum of kaleidoscopic activities and with the multitude of its literary movements which seem to have a strong sway over the poetry of contemporaneous era but makes it difficult to give some single term to this poetic era. However, Kathy Evanescences explains in Outlines of American Literature that: It can be arranged along a spectrum, producing three overlapping camps the traditional on one end, the idiosyncratic in the middle, and the experimental on the other hand. Traditional poets have maintained or revalidated poetic traditions. Idiosyncratic poets have used both traditional and innovative techniques in creating unique voices. Experimental poets have courted new cultural styles. (92; chi. ) Swayed by the alienation of Capitalism, Nietzsche objection to the divine patterns, Freudians psychological determinism of man from Inside and Marxist economic determination of man from Outside forces, the men of letters created a world of interior monologue reflecting the inner working of mind, moving at its own whims freely through the past and present by using the technique of the stream of consciousness. This celebration of the inner strength concerned with the unconscious, results in a collage of differen t materials. The belief that the world is created in the act of perceiving and that the truth of everything is relative and is bound to change. What is more important is Perspectives that is to find out the meaning from the viewpoint of the individual. The conflicting perspectives of various narrators and speakers reflect the multiplicities of truth and the diversities of reality. The single third-person narrator is no longer an authority. What we see today is the presence of many narrators located within the action of the fiction and the use of many voices presenting contrasting views. Traditional forms and ideas did not provide meaning to many American poets in the second half of the 20th century. The very sense of history changed after World War II. Each act, emotion, and moment was seen as unique. Style and form now seemed provisional and everything depended on the process of composition and the writers self-awareness. Originality was becoming a new tradition. The break from tradition gathered momentum during the 1957 when Allen Ginsberg poem Howl went through the obscenity trial and triumphed over the censors. It laid more emphasis on the process of perception and knowing by the use of formal, linguistic, representational devices to present more closely the texture or process or structure of knowing and perceiving. It means presentation of a layered experience which is allusive, fragmented and discontinuous. Language itself has come complex and thick with layers of multiple meanings, structured symbolically or metaphorically with open or ambiguous endings which seem more close to reality opposed to those closed endings, in which matters were resolved. An important hallmark of the post- modernism is traditionalism. Under the impact of the great masters like T. S. Eliot traditional writers followed the traditional patterns of form, meter and diction. Many of them taught in college and universities. Robert Lowell, Allen Tate, Robert Penn Warren, James Merrill and John Jabbers are some of the notable poets. American History Part I - Exam 1Robert Crowley was one of the major Black Mountain poets. In The Warning (1955), Crowley imagines the violent, loving imagination: For love I would split open your head and put a candle in behind the eyes. Love is dead in us f we forget the virtues of an amulet and quick surprise. Another group of poets known as the San Francisco School was impressed by Eastern philosophy and religion, Japanese and Chinese poetry, always aspiring of the Orient have deep feelings for nature. Nature not only inspires them but also serves as backdrop of their poetry. They write simple, optimistic poetry. Gary Snyder seems to be the best among these poets who tries to create a harmony between individual and his surroundings. His poem This Poem for Deer exhibits his stance: I dance on all the mountains and On five mountains, I have a dancing place When they shoot at me, I run To my five mountains. (1-4) Another group of poets known as the Beat Poets were inspired b religion, and the wandering life. Beat poetry is oral poetry which is grandparent of the rap music that became prevalent in the sass. T establishment form of literature in the United States, but beneath lie a love of country. This poetry is a cry of pain and a rage at what the loss of Americas innocence and the tragic waste of its human a resources. Poems like Allen Ginsberg Howl (1956) revolutionized try saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, Starving hysterical naked Another notable trend in the poetry was that of the New York Sc and San Francisco School, they were n ot much concerned with the because of their interest for the abstract art. Impressionism is their and their work is often difficult to comprehend. As in the later work (1927- ) who seems to be the most critically esteemed poet of the la Self-portrait in a Convex Mirror (1975) is his beautiful reflective Poe no chalk And each part of the whole falls off And cannot know it knew, except Here and there in cold pockets Of remembrance, whispers out of time. (546-550) Other modernist poets focused even more intently on experiment engage and form. Some of their work was quite playful and some influence of dada, surrealism and existentialism. These were the E movements that undermined and mocked the value and traditions According to the Kathy Evanescences, in the Outlines of Name surrealism: expresses the unconscious through vivid dreamlike IM poetry by women and ethnic minorities that has flourished in recent superficially distinct, surrealists, feminists, and minorities appear t alienation from mainstream literature (102; Chi. 7). In America under Vietnam conflict. Many American writers turned to French and sees realism for its pure emotion, its archetypal images, and its mode existential unrest. Robert Flys political surrealism criticized America foreign policy in Vietnam War in the poem The Teeth Mother Naked engines lift beautifully from the deck. Wings appear over the trees, wings with eight hundred rivets Engine thousand gallons of gasoline a minute sweep over the huts with du The chickens feel the new fear deep in the pits of their beaks. ( 1-4; Instead of their early beliefs of equal rights, American women of their struggle and protests against the Vietnam conflict had begun own limitations. Never in the annals of literature, women were so a numerous as now. Contemporary field of American poetry is buzzing anger. Maya Angelo seeks the search of the soul through Woman On five mountains, I have a dancer When they shoat at me, run Another group of poets known religion, and the wandering life. B grandparent of the rap music that establishment form of literature IR lie a love of country. This poetry is the loss of Americas innocence AR resources. Poems like Allen Gins saw the best minds of my generate Another notable trend in the p and San Francisco School. Hey we because of their Interest for the AI ND their work is often difficult to (1927- ) who seems to be the most Self-portrait in a Convex Mirror (1! And each part of the whole falls 01 And cannot know It knew. Except Here and there In cold pockets Of remembrance. Whispers out of Other modernist poets focused language and form. Some of their influence of dada, surrealism and movements that undermined and According to the Kathy surrealism: expresses the unions poetry by women and ethnic mince superficially distinct. Realists, if alienation from mainstream literal Vietnam conflict Many American surrealism far its pure emotion, it! Existential unrest. Robert idly;s pool foreign policy in Vietnam War In the engines lit beautifully trot the did Wings appear over the trees, flung thousand gallons of gasoline a mil The chickens feel the new fear Instead of their early beliefs of their struggle and protests gains noun limitations. Never in the near numerous as now. Contemporary anger. Maya Angelo seeks the SE Sunshine Rain on me rain Fall softly dewdrops And cool my brow again Storm blow me from here With your fiercest wind Let me float across the sky Till I can rest again (16-20) Some other notable groups of American poetry multivalent activities concentrating on the issues II Amelia and gender roles, and language. It is Spanish-influenced poetry that includes ma are Mexican Americans, known since the sass as southwestern U. S. States annexed from Mexico in t in 1848. Their poetry has very powerful impact whew Gonzales (1928-2005) is one of their representative With fine poetry, Native American poets are pal heritage. Indian poets have also voiced a tragic seen heritage. Simon Rotor (1941- an Coma Pueblo, o and violence done to Native Americans. He envision understanding. African-American Poetry includes a wide range American literature is the most developed ethnic Mira Brake (1934- ), the best-known African-Aimer is a political activist and dramatist too. Maya Angel well as dramas. Asian-American Poetry represents Americans of descent have lived in the United States for eight GE Korean, Thai, and Vietnamese are recent immigrant historical, and cultural tradition. A mushroom of poetic activities including the La fragmentation, self-assertion, open forms and multi poetic town at the end of the 20th century. They pi and the media, and refashion them and invite apart instead of interpretation. Well-known figures of the Anderson (1947- ), David Anti (who extempore Low. Mac Low has also written visual or concrete p statement using placement and typography. Ethnic performance poetry with rap music and are held in alternative art galleries and literary boo high-spirited, participatory entertainments are so decade. Though the flute of American poetry is producing continue striking the ears with its musical symphony with what Richard Leman describes in the Introduction of The New Oxford Book of American Verse that: American poetry, once an offshoot, now seemed to be a patent stem. Speculative, daring and sometimes melodious, it has become the register of some of the most independent minds. What they have written has urgency, sensitivity to contemporary conditions, force of utterance. Such clustered enterprise makes persuasive the claims of this poetry to have a distinctive and national character. Par 1) It is winsome and salutatory to admit in this age of chairpersons that the chairperson of the history of American poetry was none other than a woman, Anne Broadsheet. But apart from the shining stars like William Sullen Bryant, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Ezra Pound, T. S. Eliot, Marianne Moore, and Robert Frost, the panorama of American poetry is sparkling with a vast poetic production. Ameri can poetry with all its political acumen has reached to what Hart Crane expressed with exhilaration, to a new threshold, new anatomies. It is the most prolific stage celebrating the vast amount of culturally diverse poetry with the growing domination of the Internet and a celebration of new man in American poetry. It seems little likely, that the labels which have been opted by recent poets in the 20th century to stay but two trends cannot be averted so lightly. One is the possibility of autobiographical or personal touch reaching to confession and the other is the attempt of seeking authentic in the casual by incorporating surrealistic strangeness into the familiar.