Sunday, December 7, 2008

Review

Since we have not studied any new work in the past week and the final is coming up, I’m sure everyone cares more about the final than anything else connected to poetry. Here’s a list of the works and authors we have studied. The summaries are not to be taken seriously, just a mnemonic device to help me remember what they are.

Hopkins
God’s Grandeur- even as light of the world disappears, it will always return, as God Is eternal.
The Windhover- talks about how mighty and beautiful that bird is.
Pied Beauty- praise God for all things, regular and exotic, generic and specific.
Spring and Fall- addressing Margaret, comforting her from the grief of a departing friend.

Dickinson
After Great Pain- After the grieving period, the person take cares of chores in a mechanical manner.
Twas Like a Maelstrom- some dreadful imageries—pain, torture, and the likes.
I heard a fly buzz- narrator dies, but is constantly annoyed by a buzzing fly.
Because I could not stop for death- death comes and ferries the narrator away.

Traherne
Wonder- The guy on shrooms thinking how like an angel he came down. Also seeing many colors.

Taylor
Upon a spider catching a fly- Fly gets caught, wasp escapes—referring to level of religious devotion.

Smart
Jubilate Agno—the cat poem.


Bryant
Thanatopsis—land of the dead. People return to nature once they die.

Eliot
The Waste Land—people become mechanical. Loss of individuality. Lots of rape. Lots of quotes.

Cope

Waste Land Limericks—parody of the Waste Land.
Engineers’ Corner—parody of engineers—engineers have it hard whereas English majors seem to have it easy

Moore
- A bunch of stuff about observable phenomena particular concerning nature. The following are her poems:
The Jerboa
The Monkeys
Critics and Connoisseurs
An Octopus
Poetry
He ‘Digesteth Harde Yron

Williams
Spring and All—defy convention—“plagiarism” and create new things from personal imagination.

Koch

Variations on a Theme by William Carlos Williams—parody of Williams and how everything seem to be so frivolous and mean-spirited.

O’hara

Lunch Poems- bunch of poems that does not seem to particularly bear much weight.

Hughes
Montage of a Dream Deferred- Black people. White people. Beats.

Donne

The Good Morrow- addresses the lover. Compare their love to the world.
The Sun Rising- Sun, don’t bother my mistress/wife/lover and let us enjoy our morning.
The Canonization- some more lover’s stuff. Particular interested in imagery of sexual climax.

Duncan

Often I am Permitted to return to a meadow- some guy who wants a piece of mind.
The structure of Rime I- A guy talking to a woman who epitomizes sentence.
The structure of Rime II-A guy disguised as a lion talking to a lion.

Niedecker

(A bunch of poems we never analyzed and of which I hope isn’t on the final)

Hass

Skipped

Mullen
Sleeping with the dictionary- trying to be incomprehensible.

2 comments:

Shrada B said...

Ha Ha this will totally help me remember all the different poets and their poetry just because it is funny.

Daniel Kim said...

I like how it seemed so in-depth the first two poets, and then it seemed to go more general with Moore just having the titles of the poems. In any case, this also helped me on the final because of some of the quick notes you had. I enjoyed the notes on Niedecker and Hass as well, delightful.