Weeks 10-12
Modernism:
What does 'The Wasteland' mean?
1) how has it been interpreted? (cite examples)
2)what are some of the key features
3) In what way has it been influential
Post-Modernism
1) What common qualities do 'the beats' share? Why 'beats'?
2) How is beat poetry linked to rap?
3) How was Bob Dylan's 'Masters of War' involved in controversy during the Bush administration?
4) On what grounds was 'Howl' accused of being obscene - grounds for the defense?
5) What kind of protest song/rap other media have come out in the last decade? Is there a spirit of protest anymore?
What does 'The Wasteland' mean?
1) how has it been interpreted? (cite examples)
2)what are some of the key features
3) In what way has it been influential
Post-Modernism
1) What common qualities do 'the beats' share? Why 'beats'?
2) How is beat poetry linked to rap?
3) How was Bob Dylan's 'Masters of War' involved in controversy during the Bush administration?
4) On what grounds was 'Howl' accused of being obscene - grounds for the defense?
5) What kind of protest song/rap other media have come out in the last decade? Is there a spirit of protest anymore?
The Wasteland -T.S. Eliot (1922)
ReplyDeleteI can’t help but admit that this poem was incredibly complex to follow, and I’m sure I wasn’t the only one feeling this way. As a distant interpretation, I saw this poem as a series of poetic stories portraying snapshots of time. The complexity of each passage and the way they are arranged provide a basis for a relatively manic reading experience. A line from an interpretation I found sums up quite completely my feeling towards many of the critiques and other interpretations out there, “it seems that until some simpler and more palpable epitome of the poem’s meaning is allowed to intervene subtlety, it is likely only to perplex and confuse” (Peter, 1952).
Perhaps the most accurate opinion of ‘The Wasteland’ comes from Ezra Pound, considering he played a part in the editing of the extensive poem stating he thought the poem was “the justification of the ‘movement’ of our modern experience since 1900”. Considering this statement, it becomes clearer the struggle of a fractured society post World War One. There is such a juxtaposition between the society prior to the war, structured through Victorian values, thriving from industrialisation, to the devastation and loss of life that occurred post war societies. In many ways it seems that the narrator, whether it be Eliot’s voice or not, is suffering shell shock not only as a repercussion from combat but a repercussion from the great shift this society has suffered in forming their “modern experience”. Maybe it was this cold interpretation of society that compelled a negative reaction to the poem, dropped on a civilisation reeling from war and unprepared for this new 20th century experience.
References
Peter, J. (1952). A New Interpretation of The Wasteland . Essays in Criticism , 140.
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ReplyDeleteThere are many ways beat poetry can be linked to rap the most obvious connections being the content expressed.
ReplyDeleteBeat poetry emerged during the 1950’s as a retaliation to literary formalism and the American culture based on capitalism and materialism. So basically the expression of the issues in society etc. such that is expressed through rap music.
Heureka. (n.d). Beat Generation. Retrieved 9 June, 2016 from http://www.heureka.clara.net/art/beat-generation.htm
The beat generation: characteristics of beat poetry. (n.d). Retrieved 10 June, 2016 from http://study.com/academy/lesson/the-beat-generation-characteristics-of-beat-poetry.html
“The Waste Land” is made up of four stories. In this here, there are some sentences written in German. So I will translate that into English to understand easily.
ReplyDeleteIn the “The burial of the dead”
Line 12.
Bin gar keine Russin, stamm' aus Litauen, echt deutsch
“I’m not Russian at all, I come from Lithuania, pure German.”
Line31~34.
Frisch weht der Wind
Der Heimat zu
Mein Irisch Kind,
Wo weilest du?
"Fresh blows the Wind
to the homeland.
My Irish child,
where are you dwelling?"
Line 42.
Od' und leer das Meer
"Desolate and empty is the sea."
In the “The fire sermon”
Line 202.
Et O ces voix d'enfants, chantant dans la coupole!
“And, O, these children's voices singing in the dome!”
In the “What the thunder said”
Line 427~429.
Poi s'ascose nel foco che gli affina
Quando fiam ceu chelidon
“Then he hid himself in the refining fire
When shall I become like a swallow”
Le Prince d'Aquitaine a la tour abolie
“The prince of Aquitaine in the ruined tower”
Reference: Wikispaces by TES. (n.d.). Waste land translations. Retrieved June 9, 2016, from https://britlitwiki.wikispaces.com/Waste+Land+Translations
“The Waste Land” was published in 1922. It is after the First World War which began in 1914-1918. The circumstance after the war, people had a strong confidence in the potential for scientific and technological process. That period was a turning point of many fields that the movements of society, the radical revolution in arts, in sciences, and in philosophy.
ReplyDeleteWe can easily find something special in this poem, and that is an emergence of narrator. Perhaps the existence of narrator is Eliot himself. By emerging many diverse narrators, he expressed what he was thinking. For example, in the “The Fire Sermon”, there was a narrator who was sitting on the banks. He described the circumstance where he was. Through that, he wanted to talk about the deplorable state of the world. Also, he seems to talk with readers in face to face, because he sometimes refers the words like “us”, or “we”. As if he is standing in front of me and talks to me. Using those words make the relationship between writer and readers feel closer.
The method of his writing description is abstruse to me. First, for a poem, the length is so long. He described the situation with gloomy tone and sordid impulses. That is why there was a sensation when it was released. As well as, the change of narrator happened a lot. When the narrator changed, their tone, pessimistic viewpoint, and form also changed properly. Narrator’s memory drifts ceaselessly back to the past. His style showed the lack of tradition and ritual.
Inman reports that, “Modernism is characterized by an experimental, free-verse style with abrupt changes in poetic voice and point of view”.
Eliot is the perfect one who characterized Modernism in his writing. His major themes in “The Wasteland” seem to be a death and rebirth. In the “The burial of the dead” and “Death by Water”, he showed the death directly. He seemed to express the fact that the death is the only way to revive. Through “dying”, we can redeem a new life. Using a paradox, he depicted the spring as “the cruellest month”. Spring means the new life and it also means bringing death. Always, the time and seasons are fluctuate and move in cicle.
Reference: Study.com. (n.d.). T.S. Eliot’s the burial of the tead: analysis & explanation. Retrieved June 10, 2016, from http://study.com/academy/lesson/ts-eliots-the-burial-of-the-dead-analysis-lesson-quiz.html
Hi Faye!
DeleteI think this is a really good response and I feel like you grasped the techniques in the poem much better than I did. I particularly like your explanation for describing his writing as "abstruse". Generally, I enjoy when texts change narrator, but in this poem it added a real complexity that, as you say, does completely break with the traditional form.