From the 1900’s to the 1950’s poetry began changing to a more contemporary style of writing, a style that would bring forth more readers of the modern era to see the world around them in a different point of view. Many, many different poets emerged from the modern age of poetry; some names being very familiar such as Robert Frost, T.S. Elliot, and Sylvia Plath. Some of these poets made the poetry that we study today what it is; in our discussion we will be talking about Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein, and E.E. Cummings.
Ezra Pound is best known as the founder of imagism and for his usage of it in his poems. Imagism being clarity of expression through the use of precise images; this being the pinnacle device used to convey his point across in a
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His name is Edward Estlin Cummings but, he eventually became the famous poet E.E. Cummings. Edward’s mother introduced him to writing at an early age. After that, he began writing poems in high school. Then, in college, “his studies there introduced him to the poetry of avant-garde writers, such as Gertrude Stein and Ezra Pound,” (Chin). After that, Cummings became inspired by their movement, he decided to be a professional poet and painter. E.E. Cummings was typically known for his style. For almost all of his career, he published his own art until “in the 1940s and '50s, with a burgeoning counterculture, that his style of writing came to be more favored by the masses and he gave live readings before full houses,” (E.E. Cummings Biography). When The Dial published 7 of his poems, it gave him an immense audience to influence them to join the movement with his nonconformist style. E.E. Cummings was typically known for his style. His punctuation and style were unconventional and not traditional; He played with syntax, word placement and visual arrangements to make the readers use new eyes when they read his work. Therefore, the way he wrote made his poems stand out and unique. One quote from E.E Cummings that stood out was “It takes courage to grow up and become who you really
Whitman's autobiographical writing style was well-known, and many of his poems are inspired by his personal life. Similar
David St. John called Larry Levis “a close friend” of over 30 years before reading Levis’s poem Anastasia & Sandman with his usual coolness; but when he read, there was something in his voice, a tone, a desire perhaps, to honor his passed friend. I hear the same, though in different tones, whenever I hear someone speak about Philip Levine. How strange. I feel like I’ve known Levine and Levis, and other poets who are no longer with us, all my life, though I never had the privilege.
He wrote with the rhythmic meter of blues and jazz. He was able to show his honesty through his work on how life as a black man was a hard journey but yet, was able to convey it in such a way to result in art through words. One work that he had created that expressed his feeling was titled, Theme for English B. He was to write
He went to, and graduated from, Harvard University; and after his graduation, he went to Paris to join the World War I ambulance corps. On his arrival, he had time to explore the Paris art scene. He used this experience to put more style into his writing. The movements of Impressionism and Cubism influenced E. E. Cummings’s use of visual and auditory techniques in his poetry.
So much in fact that it helped mold his writing style. He incorporates the blues and jazz-like rhythms in his poetry, this was a new and exciting idea. An example can be found in his poem “The Weary Blues. The poem depicts a “Negro” swaying along “to the tune o’ those Weary Blues.” The story continues with the image of a “poor piano moan with melody.”
Society, for centuries, has revered poetry for its beauty, philosophy, and unique capability to reveal truth to the individual. One of the most prominent time periods that display society’s acclaim for poetry was within the Romantic period. Romanticism, according to the New World Encyclopedia, was “an artistic and intellectual movement that ran from the late eighteenth century through the nineteenth century. It stressed strong emotion as a source of aesthetic experience” (New World Encyclopedia, 2015). Romanticism glorified art, poetry, music, and nature.
Although he uses imagery, tone and irony in ways that really pull the poem together to make it what it
The beginning of the 20th century brought about great societal, cultural and economic change in the United States. Americans had developed a new, refreshed look on the world. Political activists nationwide were pushing a progressive agenda, supporting issues such as prohibition, women’s suffrage and anti-trust laws. These new ideas and perspectives represented a “rebirth” of the American people.
Free verse, the name given to his modern style, characterizes itself mostly by insufficient rhyme and meter within the work. The dialect focused on cadence, or the natural rhythms of spoken language, and were often read in a song-like manner. Most of these poems also lack proper punctuation resulting in enjambment, or the running over of sentences. Those who read the work of Whitman considered him the master of literary devices, as he offered a plethora in each of his works. Cataloging, one of the most common devices in Whitman’s content, contains the creation of lists.
He uses many literary elements that include, rhyming, rhyme scheme, and end rhyme. His poems are also not light hearted and funny but are about more serious matters. In his poem “Toast to Dayton” every other line rhymes. For example in “Toast to Dayton” passion rhymes with fashion which is two lines below it, and know rhymes with flow, and flow is two lines below know. In “The Debt” each line rhymes with the next line making every two lines a couplet.
One way that Whitman conveys his poetry is through the eyes of the everyday man. In this period of American history, the civil war was ongoing, and his poetry did not shy away from the everyday
His works are full of realistic qualities. Moreover, they are long with deep messages, as well as well-structured and detailed. Furthermore, his poems are democratic both subject and the language which shows how intellectual was his imaginary and visual style of writing. To both Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman, the individualism in society has a huge importance which, at the same time, inspired their style of writing. Also, they accept the importance of God in connection with nature and immortality.
E.E. Cummings: Form in Function When reading anything-- be it the smallest stanza or largest epic novel--, one of the first things one notices, albeit perhaps subconscious, is form. An author who tends to shed light on the poignancy of grammar and form in writing is the brilliant ee cummings. Cummings used an original style of wording and format to further convey a point, specifically in his poems "ygUDuh," "the sky was," "i carry your heart with me," and “!blac.” Edward Estlin Cummings was born on October 14, 1894 to well-known Unitarian parents in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Modern poetry is in open form and free verse. It is pessimistic in tone, portraying loss in faith and psychological struggle which is quite different from the fixed forms and meters of traditional poetry. Secondly, modern poetry is fragmented in nature, containing juxtaposition, inter-textuality and allusion. It has no proper beginning, middle or end. Thirdly, modern poetry is predominantly intellectual in its appeal, rather than emotive.
Modernist poetry refers to poetry written, mainly in Europe and North America, between 1890 and 1950 in the tradition of modernist literature. It is characterized by a self-conscious break with traditional styles of poetry and verse. Modernists experimented with literary expression and form, stick to Ezra Pound 's maxim to “Make it new”. This paper examines different methods that Ezra Pound used to break the boundaries of traditional poetry and the techniques he used to pave the way for later poets. To