Romanticism:
1. How is the Romantic construction of the Sublime reflected in the
ideological, conceptual and linguistic construction of the texts under
consideration in this Romanticism reader? Discuss one or two examples...
Post-/modernism
1. What are the key features of High Modernism and what was the ‘movements’ agenda with regards language use?
2. How can you identify Modernist texts?
3. Is post-modernism an extension or refutation of Modernism?
4. What is ‘Beat’ poetry ?
5. What is the link between Beat poetry and blues, Beat poetry and rap?
6. What is it about both Beat poetry and rap that has provoked censorship?
Romanticism
ReplyDeleteAccording to the Britannica Online Encyclopaedia, Romanticism can be defined as an "attitude or intellectual orientation that characterized many works of literature, painting, music, architecture, criticism, and historiography in Western civilization over a period from the late 18th to the mid-19th century." The English Romantic writers rejected the established values, social order and religion put upon them by the monarchy and other people in power. One of the writers that pioneered this movement was William Blake. One of the texts he wrote that explored this was "The Chimney Sweeper".
During the Victorian period, "Children were often forced to work almost as soon as they could walk". (Barrow, 2010). Because of their age, they worked longer hours and were often paid very little. Even though this was considered to be the "norm" during the Victorian era, this did not stop William Blake from voicing his opinion on the matter in the Chimney Sweeper poem.
In lines 1 and 2 of the Chimney Sweeper:
"When my mother died I was very young,
And my father sold me while yet my tongue"
These two lines clearly showed that children were forced to work as Chimney Sweepers at a very young age. This is most certainly something you won't see happen in this day and age.
Lines 13 & 14:
And by came an Angel who had a bright key,
And he open'd the coffins & set them all free
These two lines show the slavery type of work conditions these young kids suffered. They hardly had any time off and the only freedom they could have is when they die.
William Blake showed he rebelled against this type of treatment among kids. If people like him chose not to speak out, we may still see this type of slavery happen even today.
References:
DeleteRomanticism. (2012). Retrieved May 31st, 2012, from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/508675/Romanticism
Barrow, M. (2010). Working Children. Retrieved May 31st, 2012, from http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/homework/victorians/children/working.htm
The Sublime
ReplyDeleteThe desire of humans to shun pain and seek pleasure is reflected in the romantic literature of the nineteenth century works by Byron, Shelley and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Seen in technical competence, powerful thought and emotions (Pateman, 1991), the poetic construction the dramatic Manfred by Byron and the romantic sublime Ozymandias by Shelley demonstrate the sense of wonder and terror typical of the genre.
Linguistically Manfred contains rhyming couplets as in the voice of the sixth spirit using night and light, and with the seven spirits the pattern is a,b,a,b; and using the iambic pentameter with abbreviations to fit the stressors, as in pillow’d, (line 90). The a,b,a,b, rhyming pattern is used by Shelley. The stanzas end with a rhyming couplet as in the third, fear, hear!
Ideological precepts of the power on nature and the powerlessness of man are illustrated by Shelley as he contrasts the overpowering desert sands with the monument of Ozymandias crumbling despite the epitaph. Byron uses the voices of the seven spirits to bring the earth wind and fire, night and day, air and stars to Manfred, a child of clay with the quest to which Manfred replies Forgetfulness-. Both poems ideologically bring the loss of control to man forcefully.
The concept of man not at the centre of the universe differs from the belief that everything was created for and of him. The advance of scientific truths was replacing myths and legends. Ozymandias places mankind’s kingdoms as a passing phase; Manfred conceptually uses emotions and feelings, such as the power of guilt to be over powered by nature in its force.
In these two romantic sublime poems, pleasure seeking appears as a vanity in the long run, although pain avoidance can be gained in the realisation of mankind’s limits.
I do like your definition of Sublime Lorraine. I'm going to tackle the question again since I misunderstood the meaning of it before when I first answered the question.
DeleteThe sublime is simpler terms means something that is both beautiful and terrible. William Blake's "The Songs of Experience" and "The Songs of Innocence" shows this contrast. Especially in the two versions of "The Chimney Sweeper" do we see these contrasting imageries unfold.
There's something sad about a boy being sold at a very young age to work endless hours in a Chimney.
"When my mother died I was very young,
And my father sold me while yet my tongue"
At the end of the poem, we see that heaven provides a brighter future for the children. It's a symbol of hope for the children that that would live a miserable life in the real world.
"And by came Angel who had a bright key,
And he open'd the coffins & set them all free."
The other Chimney Sweeper poem from the Songs of Experience is the exact opposite from the one featured in the Songs of Innocence. Heaven is not a place of happiness but a place of misery.
"And are gone to praise God & his Priest & King
Who make up a heaven of our misery"
This shows the boy doesn't believe in the afterlife and feels there's no hope for him. He blames the Church itself for the life he currently lives. Since the Church itself were responsible in the first place to allow young kids to be exploited as Chimney Sweeper workers. This is the opposite from the other Chimney poem where Heaven and the Church are portrayed as saviours.
References:
ReplyDeletePateman, T. (2004, 1991) 'The Sublime' in Key Concepts: A guide to Aesthetics, critism and the Arts in Education: Falmer Press, pp 169 - 171.
Shelley, P. B. 'Ozymandias' and 'Ode to the West Wind' from Hutchinson, T. (ed) The complete poetic Works of Shelley. pp 550, 577-579 respectively.
Byron, Lord. 'Manfred': A dramatic poem. Extract from More, P.E. ed (1905;1817). The Poetical Works of Byron, Cambridge University Press.
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ReplyDeleteHello I would like to answer Question 4 “What is ‘Beat’ poetry ?”
ReplyDeleteBeat is literally a short term for Beat Generation they’re a actual group of writers who became well noticeable in the 1950’s during the American post-World War II as this became a cultural phenomenon.
The elements of the “beat” cultures consist of the elements of drug uses, and forms of sexualities.
In the late 1940s and early 50s the Beat Generation also known as the
Beat Movement emerged with the works of some writers such as Allen Ginsberg,
Jack Kerouac, and William Burroughs, Herbert Huncke, Gregory Corso. (Badri Prasad Pokharel, 2012)
Furthermore is that as the females living in the same era as Kerouac, as Burrough and Ginsberg were also associated in the creation of Beat philosophies and literatures although it remained in a low profile from its mainstream interpretations and this was most important aspect of the movements. And also the works of the 3 novelists Kerouac, Ginsberg and Borrough were often portrays female characters, as it was traditional and typical roles in gender as an American housewifes. In addition is that there are many female writers during in that period, but during the beat generations the women weren’t acknowledge in their histories due to sexisms and reality. Although there were known female beat publishers such as Joyce Johnson; Carolyn Cassedy; Hettie Jones etc.
As the legacy of Beats Generation has become a huge influence, it has spread all over the western cultures as also spread in the music entertainment industries in terms of Rock and Roll and popular music’s such as the “the Beatles” “Bob Dylan” and “Jim Morrison” and also surprising is that the well renown legendary band “the Beatles” they have spelt their name with a “a” as it refers to as Beat Generation reference.
And lastly Beat Generations poets were also influenced in romanticism as the biggest example such as Ginsberg his poetry and ideas were influenced by William Blake’s works. As the results Blake was the main foundation of his works and also his self-defining auditory hallucination and revolution in 1948’s.
Reference
Badri Prasad Pokharel. (2012). BEATS AND GINNSBERG retrieved on June 6, 2012 from http://tujournal.edu.np/index.php/TUJ/article/view/245/241
Hey Boyoung,
DeleteI like your definition of "Beat Poetry". You're right about how the "Beat Generation" emerged from the 1950s from a grouo of like-minded writers. I like the way you researched that female writers were apart of the Beat writers too. I did not notice this before, but it's something to take notice. After all, gender roles were more defined back then than they are now.
Here's my take on the subject.
Beat Poetry emerged in the early 1950s with a group of American writers and poets shared the same ideological beliefs of America's capitalist and conformist attitudes. You could say much like the Romantics before them, they rejected the way the world was "supposed" to run and challenged the way society was like at that time. Jack Kerouac coined the phrase "Beat Generation" as he and other like minded writers rebelled against America's mainstream values.
The Beat generation were Liberals and did not like the Social Conservatives who were scared of America changing its traditions and the way the country was run. One of the writers of the "Beat Generation" was Amiri Baraka. He summarized the Beat Generation is a famous line "The so-called Beat Generation was a whole bunch of people, of all different nationalities, who came to the conclusion that society sucked."
The line he uttered is pretty much a good summary of what Beat Poetry is. The writers wrote long poems expressing their own unique opinions on life and criticizing how the world was operated. They did not like War, Capitalism, Commercialism and other values that America had become after World War II.
Reference:
Willis, D. (2010). What is Beat? Retrieved June 4th, 2012, from http://www.beatdom.com/?page_id=391
Answering Question 6 about censorship.
ReplyDeleteIt's not uncommon to notice that both Beat Poetry and Rap music and been subjected to criticism and obviously censorship issues. After all, both of them cover sensitive topics that are normally criticism on authority figures such as the American Government and also how corrupt society can be sometimes.
Arguably, N.W.A's most famous song is "F@%k Tha Police" released in 1988. The main message of the song is about police brutality and racism as the group feel the police were unfairly picking on minority groups - especially young African American folk.
Here's an example of the song's explicit nature:
"Ice Cube will swarm
On any muthafucka in a blue uniform"
and
"Takin out a police would make my day
But a nigga like Ren don't give a fuck to say "
Many people may agree with the issues N.W.A had to say in the song. although the two lines above suggest people should literally take action and attack law enforcement. The violent nature of the lyrics prompted " the assistant director of public affairs for the FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION (FBI) (to send) a letter in August 1989 to Priority Records to protest" (2012) against the song. Since there was a rising rate of crime against law enforcement, the FBI were threatened that the song glorified violence and wanted the song to be taken off air.
Beat Poetry also had its fair share of criticism back in the 1950s also. Allen Ginsberg's published a book called "Howl and Other Poems" back in 1956. The book was "banned for obscenity"(2012). One of the things his poems were renowned for were their commentary against "conformity, inhibition, censorship, puritanism, and everything else that restricts and limits the realization of one's true self" (Sederberg, 2012)
Here's an example from "America":
"It's true I don't want to join the Army or turn lathes in precision parts
factories, I'm nearsighted and psychopathic anyway."
American citizens at the time were expected and respected if they joined the Army especially after World War II. With the rising tensions between the Soviet Union and USA, many people feared another World War would ensue. People like Allen Ginsberg were against War and didn't want to conform to the Government's ideology of "fighting for the country" by going to war all the time.
References:
Censorship - Music. (2012). Retrieved 8th June, 2012, from http://law.jrank.org/pages/5087/Censorship-Music.html#ixzz1xIBjk7Gi
Allen Ginsberg. (2012). Retrieved 10th June, 2012, from http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/8
Sederberg, J. (2012). The Howl Obscenity Trial. Retrieved 10th June, 2012, from http://foundsf.org/index.php?title=The_Howl_Obscenity_Trial
Answering question 5 about the link between Beat Poetry and rap music.
ReplyDeleteThere is an obvious link between Beat Poetry and Rap music definitely. One of the pioneers of Beat Poetry (Allen Ginsberg) is seen as a huge inspiration to modern day rap. Beat poetry's "emphasis on beat, language, life, and the theatrical nature of the spoken word, the Beats, including Ginsberg, are cited as predecessors for modern-day rap" (Vickers, 2005). It's not just the way both rap music and Beat Poetry have rhyming words either, the themes and social commentary for both mediums are closely related as well.
Let's take a look at some excerpts from Allen Ginsberg's "America":
"America you don't really want to go to war.
America it's them bad Russians"
Ginsberg's poem America is a very vocal opinion of America's capitalist ideology and the way they were obsessed to go to war. Beat poets like Ginsberg were pacifists and never wanted countries to go to war.
Eminem's rap song "Mosh" shares a similar ideology and message too. Here's an excerpt from the epilogue of the song where Eminem speaks to the listener.
"If they should argue, let us beg to differ, as we set aside our differences, and assemble our own army, to disarm this weapon of mass destruction."
Both Eminem and Allen Ginsberg wanted the American Government to solve its disputes without resorting to violence. Considering "America" was written in 1956 and "Mosh" was written in 2004, it's sad to note that America hasn't changed. Although this doesn't stop people like Eminem and Ginsberg to publicly announce their opinions on the matter in hopes that the Government will listen to the people's concerns.
References:
Vickers, C. (2005). Allen Ginsberg: Poet Whose Work Led to Rap Music. Retrieved 12th June, 2012, from http://voices.yahoo.com/allen-ginsberg-poet-whose-work-led-rap-music-2212.html
How can you identify Modernist texts?
ReplyDeleteTrent said “Modernism in literature is not a chronological designation; rather it consists of literary work possessing certain loosely defined characteristics” Modernist literature is sub-genre of Modernism which was the beginning in the early 20 century that was characterized by a self-conscious break with traditional aesthetic form a mainly European’s movement. (wikipedia)
Modernist texts are different before the literatures because the modernist texts were deal about utopia, psychology, philosophy, and political theory and variety genres. It means modernist texts deal with several genres with more detail and professional from early 20 century to still.
Moreover, I think the literatures developed with world modern industrial development from World War I. It is true that, literatures’ features and styles are also change by the change of the times. The modernist texts have good features. They have no tool and no limited genres. Modernist texts can write reality situation with variety material. It also shows nowadays texts can express a lot of themes, genres, expressions, structures, rhymes, thinking, and characteristic and so on.
There are the modernist texts’ some of famous authors with their texts:
Marcel Proust — Swann's Way (1913)
James Joyce — A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916)
Marcel Proust — Time Regained (1927)
T. S. Eliot — "Four Quartets" (1935)
Christopher Isherwood — Goodbye to Berlin (1939)
Virginia Woolf — Between the Acts (1941)
Vladimir Nabokov — Speak, Memory: An Autobiography Revised (1951/1966)
Reference
Comparative Modernist Texts. (n.d.). Retrieved June 13, 2012 from
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/english/orals/comparative_modern.htm
Trent, L. (2012). Modernism in Literature: Quick Overview Retrieved June 13, 2012 from
http://www.brighthubeducation.com/high-school-english-lessons/29453-modernism-in-literature/
Wikipedia. (n.d.). Modernist literature. Retrieved June 13, 2012 from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modernist_literature
4. What is ‘Beat’ poetry ?
ReplyDeleteAnswer:
4. ‘Beat’ poetry could be identified as the poetry which created by Beat generation. According to Bruce (1971), the "Beat Generation" of the 1950s in the United States refers to both a literary phenomenon and a cultural occurrence or mood. The Beats excessive avoid stress and pressure and instead they discovered the cultural "underground" of bebop jazz drug use, sexuality, and non-Western religions. As Bruce (1971) states, the Beats were part of a “countercultural” movement. This means that the members of the Beat Generation shared ideas and values that did not coincide with mainstream social values. Earlier countercultures such as the European Romantics and Bohemians influenced the Beat Generation, just as the Beats would influence the Hippies in the United States. Being tired, “down and out”, or even temporarily defeated upon further examination, Jack Kerouac (the unofficial spokesman of the Beats) added other sometimes paradoxical or ironic meanings. As a matter of fact, the Beat Generation was influenced heavily by the popular music of the time bebop, and later Jazz.
A spiritual meaning: “beatific”, which is literally experiencing or bestowing celestial joy, or resembling an angel or a saint. The Beat authors illustrate a visceral engagement in sophisticated experiences combined with a demand of spiritual understanding and numerous poems developed a strong interest in Buddhism. For example, one of the most critical poems is Jack Kerouac. As Michael (2006) indicates, after being discharged from the Navy, Jack roamed the United States and Mexico, by car and bus when possible, but also by hitchhiking and as an illegal passenger on trains. It was these experiences, as well as a friendship with Neal Cassady that would provide the material for his most famous novel, On The Road. Though he completed On The Road in two drug and coffee fuelled weeks in 1948, it would not be published until 1957.
Reference list
Cook, Bruce. The Beat Generation: The tumultuous '50s movement and its impact on today. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971. ISBN 0-684-12371-1.
Hrebeniak, Michael. Action Writing: Jack Kerouac's Wild Form, Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois UP, 2006
Answering question 5: The link between Beat poetry and rap music.
ReplyDeleteOne of the most famous Beat poems, Allen Ginsberg, takes a leading role in developing rap music. As Barry(2001) illustrates, Allen was enrolled in Columbia University, which put him in the right location to meet the other Beats poems. Ginsberg went through an early phase after Columbia where he attempted “square” life. He went to a psychiatric institution to help “fix” himself. One of Allen’s outstanding poems named “Howl”. “Howl” is generally considered the rallying cry of the alienated youth of the author’s generation. Barry(2001) then goes on to pointed out that“Howl” deals very frankly with drugs, sex, and the grittier side of city living. Because of its language and subject matter, customs officials seized all copies of it, which led to a 1957 obscenity trial. With the help of the American Civil Liberties Union, Howl was once again allowed to be sold. This landmark case set a precedent against censorship that has had a huge effect on the literature we are able to read today. With its emphasis on beat, spirit, life, and the theatrical nature of the spoken word, the Beats, which involve Ginsberg, are cited as predecessors for modern-day rap.
Reference list
Miles, Barry. The Beat Hotel: Ginsberg, Burroughs & Corso in Paris, 1957–1963. NY: Grove Press, 2001. ISBN 0-8021-3817-9