20th-century lyric poetry

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In the early years of the 20th century, rhymed lyric poetry, usually expressing the feelings of the poet, was the dominant poetic form in America, [1] Europe and the British colonies. The relevance and acceptability of the lyric in the modern age was, though, called into question by modernism, the growing mechanization of human experience and the harsh realities of war. After the Second World War the form was again championed by the New Criticism, and in the late 20th century lyric once again became a mainstream poetic form.

Contents

Modernism

The dominance of lyric was challenged by American experimental modernists such as Ezra Pound, T. S. Eliot, H.D. and William Carlos Williams, who rejected the English lyric form of the 19th century, feeling that it relied too heavily on melodious language, rather than complexity of thought. [2] Wallace Stevens and Hart Crane, however, were modernists who also worked within the tradition of post-Romantic lyric poetry. Defenders of lyric poetry in the early 20th century saw it as an ally in the fight against mechanization, standardization and the commodification of human activities. [3] The poetry of Guillaume Apollinaire represents an alternative view, that mechanization could extend the repertoire of lyric poetry. [3]

The First World War

The tension between the traditional subjects of lyric poetry and the horrors of war are expressed in the war poetry of Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon and Ivor Gurney. Owen's poem Strange Meeting has been described as "a dream of a conversation with a dead lyric poet, or possibly even dead lyric itself." [4] The Irish poet William Butler Yeats's work up to 1917 is predominantly dramatic and lyric love poetry, but after the First World War he explores the political subjects of Irish independence, nationalism and civil war. [5]

New Criticism

The American New Criticism returned to the lyric in the 1950s, advocating a poetry that made conventional use of rhyme, meter and stanzas, and was modestly personal in the lyric tradition. [6] Lyric poets consistent with the New Criticism ethos include Robert Frost and Robert Lowell. [7] In the 1950s long personal epics, such as Allen Ginsberg's "Howl" were a reaction against the well-wrought short lyric of the New Criticism. [8]

Confessional poetry

Lyric poetry dealing with relationships, sex and domestic life constituted the new mainstream of American poetry in the late 20th century, influenced by the confessional poets of the 1950s and 1960s, such as Frank O'Hara, John Berryman, Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton. [9] In India, confessional poetry was introduced by the members of the Bengali Hungry generation poets, especially by Malay Roy Choudhury.

Other notable 20th-century lyric poets

UK

Canada

France

Germany

Israel / Palestine

Italy

Latvia

Lithuania

Poland

Portugal

Brasil

Russia

Nicaragua

Spain

Chile

Mexico

Turkey

Bengal

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Poetry Form of literature

Poetry is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language—such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre—to evoke meanings in addition to, or in place of, the prosaic ostensible meaning.

Lyric poetry Formal type of poetry

Lyric poetry is a formal type of poetry which expresses personal emotions or feelings, typically spoken in the first person. It is not equivalent to song lyrics, though they are often in the lyric mode. The term derives from a form of Ancient Greek literature, the lyric, which was defined by its musical accompaniment, usually on a stringed instrument known as a lyre. The term owes its importance in literary theory to the division developed by Aristotle between three broad categories of poetry: lyrical, dramatic, and epic.

Prose poetry is poetry written in prose form instead of verse form, while preserving poetic qualities such as heightened imagery, parataxis, and emotional effects.

Modernist poetry in English started in the early years of the 20th century with the appearance of the Imagists. In common with many other modernists, these poets wrote in reaction to the perceived excesses of Victorian poetry, with its emphasis on traditional formalism and ornate diction. In many respects, their criticism echoes what William Wordsworth wrote in Preface to Lyrical Ballads to instigate the Romantic movement in British poetry over a century earlier, criticising the gauche and pompous school which then pervaded, and seeking to bring poetry to the layman.

Confessional poetry or "Confessionalism" is a style of poetry that emerged in the United States during the late 1950s and early 1960s. It is sometimes also classified as a form of Postmodernism. It has been described as poetry of the personal or "I", focusing on extreme moments of individual experience, the psyche, and personal trauma, including previously and occasionally still taboo matters such as mental illness, sexuality, and suicide, often set in relation to broader social themes.

American poetry Poetry from the United States of America

American poetry refers to the poetry of the United States. It arose first as efforts by American colonists to add their voices to English poetry in the 17th century, well before the constitutional unification of the Thirteen Colonies. Unsurprisingly, most of the early colonists' work relied on contemporary English models of poetic form, diction, and theme. However, in the 19th century, a distinctive American idiom began to emerge. By the later part of that century, when Walt Whitman was winning an enthusiastic audience abroad, poets from the United States had begun to take their place at the forefront of the English-language avant-garde.

<i>Paterson</i> (poem) Poem by William Carlos Williams

Paterson is an epic poem by American poet William Carlos Williams published, in five volumes, from 1946 to 1958. The origin of the poem was an eighty-five line long poem written in 1926, after Williams had read and been influenced by James Joyce's novel Ulysses. As he continued writing lyric poetry, Williams spent increasing amounts of time on Paterson, honing his approach to it both in terms of style and structure. While The Cantos of Ezra Pound and The Bridge by Hart Crane could be considered partial models, Williams was intent on a documentary method that differed from both these works, one that would mirror "the resemblance between the mind of modern man and the city."

Ancient Greek literature Literature written in Ancient Greek language

Ancient Greek literature is literature written in the Ancient Greek language from the earliest texts until the time of the Byzantine Empire. The earliest surviving works of ancient Greek literature, dating back to the early Archaic period, are the two epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey, set in an idealized archaic past today identified as having some relation to the Mycenaean era. These two epics, along with the Homeric Hymns and the two poems of Hesiod, Theogony and Works and Days, comprised the major foundations of the Greek literary tradition that would continue into the Classical, Hellenistic, and Roman periods.

Modernist poetry refers to poetry written, mainly in Europe and North America, between 1890 and 1950 in the tradition of modernist literature, but the dates of the term depend upon a number of factors, including the nation of origin, the particular school in question, and the biases of the critic setting the dates. The critic/poet C. H. Sisson observed in his essay Poetry and Sincerity that "Modernity has been going on for a long time. Not within living memory has there ever been a day when young writers were not coming up, in a threat of iconoclasm."

Literary modernism, or modernist literature, originated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, mainly in Europe and North America, and is characterized by a self-conscious break with traditional ways of writing, in both poetry and prose fiction writing. Modernism experimented with literary form and expression, as exemplified by Ezra Pound's maxim to "Make it new." This literary movement was driven by a conscious desire to overturn traditional modes of representation and express the new sensibilities of their time. The horrors of the First World War saw the prevailing assumptions about society reassessed, and much modernist writing engages with the technological advances and societal changes of modernity moving into the 20th century.

Fireside poets

The fireside poets – also known as the schoolroom or household poets – were a group of 19th-century American poets associated with New England. These poets were very popular among readers and critics both in the United States and overseas. Their domestic themes and messages of morality presented in conventional poetic forms deeply shaped their era until their decline in popularity at the beginning of the 20th century.

Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature.

Poetics is the theory of literary forms and literary discourse.

Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature.

Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature.

Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature.

Michael Heller, is an American poet, essayist and critic. Among his many books are Exigent Futures, In The Builded Place, Wordflow and Living Root: A Memoir. He wrote the libretto for the opera, Benjamin, based on the life of Walter Benjamin. He is recipient of awards including the NEH Poet/Scholar grant, New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship (NYFA), National Endowment for the Humanities award, and The Fund for Poetry.

Keith Alldritt is a contemporary British novelist, biographer and critic.

Feminist poetry is inspired by, promotes, or elaborates on feminist principles and ideas. It might be written with the conscious aim of expressing feminist principles, although sometimes it is identified as feminist by critics in a later era. Some writers are thought to express feminist ideas even if the writer was not an active member of the political movement during their era. Many feminist movements, however, have embraced poetry as a vehicle for communicating with public audiences through anthologies, poetry collections, and public readings.

Persona poetry is poetry that is written from the perspective of a 'persona' that a poet creates, who is the speaker of the poem. Dramatic monologues are a type of persona poem, because "as they must create a character, necessarily create a persona".

References

  1. ↑ Christopher John MacGowan, Twentieth-Century American Poetry, Blackwell Publishing, 2004, p9. ISBN   0-631-22025-9
  2. ↑ Christopher Beach, The Cambridge Introduction to Twentieth-Century American Poetry, Cambridge University Press, 2003, p49. ISBN   0-521-89149-3
  3. 1 2 Carrie Noland, Poetry at Stake: Lyric Aesthetics and the Challenge of Technology, Princeton University Press, 1999, p4. ISBN   0-691-00417-X
  4. ↑ Matthew Campbell in Neil Roberts, A Companion to Twentieth-Century Poetry, Blackwell Publishing, 2001, p72. ISBN   1-4051-1361-8
  5. ↑ Peter Childs, The Twentieth Century in Poetry: A Critical Survey, Routledge, 1999, p84. ISBN   0-415-17101-6
  6. ↑ Stephen Fredman, A Concise Companion To Twentieth-century American Poetry, Blackwell Publishing, 2005, p63. ISBN   1-4051-2002-9
  7. ↑ Patricia Waugh, Literary Theory And Criticism: An Oxford Guide, Oxford University Press, 2006, p173. ISBN   0-19-929133-0
  8. ↑ Christopher John MacGowan, Twentieth-Century American Poetry, Blackwell Publishing, 2004, p290. ISBN   0-631-22025-9
  9. ↑ Christopher Beach, The Cambridge Introduction to Twentieth-Century American Poetry, Cambridge University Press, 2003, p155. ISBN   0-521-89149-3
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