Modernism to Post-Modernism - The Confessionals.ppt

1、Square of American Literature(Undergraduate Elective)00640862-906B10915.20-16.55, WednesdaysSpring semester 2012,Dr Edward Ragg, Associate Professor Department of Foreign Languages also from The Declaration of Independence (1776), Philip Freneau (1752-1832), The Indian Burying Ground (1788), On Mr.

2、Paines Rights of Man (1795), On Observing a Large Red-Streak Apple (1822), To a New England Poet (1823), Phillis Wheatley (c.1753-1784), On Being Brought from Africa to America (1773), To the Right Honorable William, Earl of Dartmouth (1773), To the University of Cambridge, in New England (1773),Sug

3、gested Timetable,NOTE: there is no class on Wednesday 14th March. Can we catch up this class on Thursday 5th April? LECTURE 4 (21st March): Backgrounds to the American Renaissance: The Fireside Poets and Emerson Texts: William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878), The Prairies (1833-34), Ralph Waldo Emerson (1

4、803-1882), selections from the Essays, John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892), from Snow-Bound (1866),Suggested Timetable,LECTURE 5 (28th March): The American Renaissance: Emerson, Poe, Whitman Texts: Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), selections from the Essays, Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849), The Sleeper

5、(1831/1845), Walt Whitman (1819-1892), from Leaves of Grass (1855) (Song of Myself) and When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomd (1865-66, 1881) NOTE: there is no class on 4th April because of the Qing Ming festival. We are not required to make up this class.,Suggested Timetable,LECTURE 6 (Thursday 5

6、th April) CATCH UP CLASS? Start earlier 13.30-15.20? The American Renaissance: Thoreau and Dickinson Texts: Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), selections from Resistance to Civil Government (1849) and Walden (1854) (Ch. 1 Economy), Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), selections from the poems (288, 303, 980,

7、 1750, 1755, 1763),Suggested Timetable,LECTURE 7 (11th April): Realism and the Inception of American Modernism Texts: Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain) (1835-1910), from Fenimore Coopers Literary Offences (1895) and excerpts from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884/85), Henry James (1843-1916), Th

8、e Art of Fiction (1884/88), Stephen Crane (1871-1900), from The Open Boat (1897), Robert Frost (1874-1963), The Pasture (1913), The Road Not Taken (1916),Suggested Timetable,QUIZ 1 and LECTURE 8 (18th April): American Modernism: Modernist Voices 1 Texts: Amy Lowell (1874-1925), September, 1918, Carl

9、 Sandburg (1878-1967) Fog (1916), William Carlos Williams (1883-1963), So much depends (1923), This is Just to Say (1934), Ezra Pound (1885-1972), In a Station of the Metro (1913), To Whistler, American (1912), Marianne Moore (1887-1972), Poetry (short version), Silence (1935), H. D. (Hilda Doolittl

10、e) (1886-1961) Oread (1914),Suggested Timetable,LECTURE 9 (25th April): American Modernism: Modernist Voices 2 Texts: T. S. Eliot (1888-1965), from The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (1917) and The Waste Land (1922), Wallace Stevens (1879-1955), from Harmonium (1923), Earthy Anecdote, Thirteen Ways

11、 of Looking at a Blackbird, selections from The Man with the Blue Guitar (1937) and Large Red Man Reading (1948), E. E. Cummings (1894-1962), as freedom is a breakfastfood, anyone lived in a pretty how town (1940), Hart Crane (1899-1932), Chaplinesque (1921),Suggested Timetable,NOTE: there is no cla

12、ss on 2nd May because of the May Holiday. We are required to make this class up on 5th May, a Saturday. LECTURE 10 (Saturday 5th May) Modernism to Post-Modernism: Transitory Voices Texts: George Oppen (1908-1984), from Discrete Series (1934), also From Disaster (1962), Five Poems About Poetry (Parts

13、 1 and 2) (1965), To C. T. (1965), Elizabeth Bishop (1911-1979), Insomnia (1955), One Art (1976),Suggested Timetable,LECTURE 11 (9th May): Modernism to Post-Modernism: Transitory Voices Texts: Frank OHara (1926-1966), selections from Personism: A Manifesto (1959), Autobiographia Literaria, The Day L

14、ady Died, Why I am Not a Painter, Poem (Lana Turner has collapsed!), Adieu to Norman, Bonjour to Joan and Jean-Paul, Kenneth Koch (1925-2002), Permanently (1962), Variations on a Theme by William Carlos Williams (1962), Robert Creeley (1926-2005), The Flower (1962), The Language (1967),Suggested Tim

15、etable,QUIZ 2 and LECTURE 12 (16th May): Modernism to Post-Modernism: The Confessionals Texts: Sylvia Plath (1932-1963), Stillborn (1960), I Am Vertical (1961), John Berryman (1914-1972) from Homage to Mistress Bradstreet (1953/56), from Dream Songs (poem 14), Robert Lowell (1917-1977), Middle Age (

16、1964), Harriet, born January 4, 1957, Reading Myself (1969/1970),Suggested Timetable,LECTURE 13 (23rd May): Post-Modernism to the Present Texts: Denise Levertov (1923-1997), September, 1961, What Were They Like? (1971), John Ashbery (b. 1927), The One Thing That Can Save America (1975), Paradoxes an

17、d Oxymorons (1981), W. S. Merwin (b. 1927), Losing a Language (1988),Suggested Timetable,LECTURE 14 (30th May): Post-Modernism to the Present Texts: Billy Collins (b. 1941), Another Reason Why I Dont Keep a Gun in the House (1988), American Sonnet (1991) and other works, David Lehman (b. 1948), The

18、Difference Between Pepsi and Coke (1986), LECTURE 15 (6th June): August Kleinzahler (b. 1949), An Autumnal Sketch (1985), John Yau (b.1950), Chinese Villanelle, Elaine Equi (b. 1953), Puritans (1988),Quiz 2: Format,You have 45 MINUTES to answer the questions Some questions require ONE-WORD answers O

19、ther questions require ONE-SENTENCE Some questions require you to write a little more The available space on the exam paper for writing indicates how much you should write The mark for each question (out of 1, 2 or 3) also indicates how much you should write,Sample Questions (these will not be in th

20、e examination!),Q. Name one American Renaissance poet. (1) Q. Describe three characteristics of the American Civil War? (3) _ _ _ _,Quiz 2: Rules,Answer all questions Write clearly and legibly Do not talk or communicate with other students As this is a closed-book examination, please observe that yo

21、u are NOT allowed to make use of notes, books or other texts. You are also advised that the use of laptops, electronic dictionaries, mobile phones or other peripheral devices is strictly prohibited. You will NOT be graded if found using any of these materials or other similar self-aids.,What are the

22、 United States?,Timeline: America,1913 The Armory Show: Americans see the new Modernist art from Europe (esp. the work of Pablo Picasso) 1914 First World War (Great War) begins in Europe 1914-1972 John Berryman 1917-1977 Robert Lowell 1917 America enters the First World War (begun in 1914) 1924 Cong

23、ress makes all native Americans U.S. citizens and grants them the right to vote 1926-1966 Frank OHara 1929 New York Stock Market Crash initiates The Great Depression 1930s The Great Depression: millions of Americans are unemployed 1930s American President Franklin D. Roosevelt launches The New Deal

24、including the Emergency Banking Act, Civil Works Administration, Federal Emergency Relief Administration 1932-1963 Sylvia Plath,Timeline: America,1934 Indian Reorganization Act: Roosevelt ends the sale of native American tribal lands and restores lands to native Americans 1934 George Oppen publishes

25、 Discrete Series 1936-39 The Spanish Civil War: a debate in the US occurs about the progress of Fascism and Communism in Europe 1939 Outbreak of the Second World War in Europe 1939-41 Period of Isolationism in US (movement against entering the Second World War) 1941 America enters the Second World W

26、ar after the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbour 1945 US ends War in the Pacific by dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki 1946 Congress establishes Indian Claims Commission to judge all tribal claims (1946) 1946 Elizabeth Bishop publishes North missiles withdrawn 1962 George Oppen publishes his 2n

27、d book, The Materials 1963 Sylvia Plath takes her own life,Timeline: America,1963 Martin Luther King delivers the famous “I Have a Dream” speech arguing for equal rights for black Americans 1963 President John F. Kennedy assassinated 1965 Race riots break out in the Watts section of Los Angeles 1964

28、 OHara publishes Lunch Poems 1965 Elizabeth Bishop publishes Questions of Travel 1965 George Oppen publishes This In Which 1965-73 Vietnam War, the first televised war which eventually leads American public opinion against US involvement 1966 National Organization for Women (NOW) founded, following

29、on from the feminist/womens movement and Civil Rights activity 1968 Martin Luther King assassinated 1968 Senator Robert F. Kennedy assassinated 1968 George Oppen publishes Of Being Numerous.,Timeline: America,1969 US astronauts land on the Moon (NASA/US space race with Russia/USSR) 1972 John Berryma

30、n takes his own life 1973 American Indian Movement members occupy Wounded Knee and battle FBI agents (1973) 1976 Elizabeth Bishop publishes Geography III 1978 George Oppen publishes Primitive 1986 The Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) creates a means through which some undocumented workers i

31、n the USA can be legally recognized 1990 Congress passes Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, protecting Indian remains and sacred objects,Modernism to Post-Modernism: The Confessionals,John Berryman (1914-1972) from Homage to Mistress Bradstreet (1953/56), from Dream Songs (poem

32、14) Robert Lowell (1917-1977), Middle Age (1964), Harriet, born January 4, 1957, Reading Myself (1969/1970) Sylvia Plath (1932-1963), Stillborn (1960), I Am Vertical (1961),John Berryman (1914-1972),John Berryman (1914-1972) from Homage to Mistress Bradstreet (1953/56), from Dream Songs (poem 14),An

33、ne Bradstreet (c.1612-1672),Anne Bradstreet was bornin Northampton, England, in the year 1612, daughter of Thomas Dudley and Dorothy Yorke. Thomas Dudley was a steward to the Earl of Lincoln (an English aristocrat); Dorothy, Annes mother, was an aristocrat and well-educated. She saw to it that Anne

34、also received a proper education. At the age of 16, Anne was married to Simon Bradstreet, a 25 year-old assistant in the Massachusetts Bay Company (he became Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1679). Bradstreet was the son of a Puritan minister, who had been in the care of the Dudleys since

35、 the death of his father.,Anne Bradstreet (c.1612-1672),The Bradstreets and Dudleys shared Puritan beliefs and the two families sailed to New England with John Winthrops fleet. Bradstreet found life in the colonies difficult: she suffered from fatigue, the result of a childhood bout with rheumatic f

36、ever, yet she gave birth eight times. Captivated by the natural and majestic beauty surrounding her, finding evidence of God in the land, sky, and sea, Bradstreet, who had begun writing poetry as a girl, continued to compose verse in her new home. Many of her poems were written when her husband was

37、away on official business.,Anne Bradstreet (c.1612-1672),Without her knowledge, her brother-in-law, John Woodbridge, took a collection of her poems to London and had it printed there as The Tenth Muse (1650). It was the first poetry volume published by a colonist, was widely read, and was reprinted

38、in 1678. Its full title is: The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America, By a Gentlewoman of Those Parts,From Homage to Mistress Bradstreet (1953),The Governor your husband lived so long moved you not, restless, waiting for him? Still, you were a patient woman. I seem to see you pause here still: Syl

39、vester, Quarles, in moments odd you pored before a fire at, bright eyes on the Lord, all the children still. Simon Simon will listen while you read a Song. Sylvester = Joshua Sylvesters 1605 translation of Guillaume du Bartass Divine Weeks and Workes. Quarles = Francis Quarles (1592-1644), religious

40、 poet,From Homage to Mistress Bradstreet (1953),Outside the New World winters in grand dark white air lashing high thro the virgin stands foxes down foxholes sigh, surely the English heart quails, stunned. I doubt if Simon than this blast, that sea, spares from his rigour for your poetry more. We ar

41、e on each others hands who care. Both of our worlds unhanded us. Lie stark,From Homage to Mistress Bradstreet (1953),thy eyes look to me mild. Out of maize shimmer I memorized the tricks to set the river on fire somehow never wrote something to go back to. Can I suppose I am finished with wax flower

42、s And have earned my grass on the minor slopes of Parnassus No honeycomb is built without a bee adding a circle to circle, cell to cell, the wax and honey of a mausoleum this round dome proves its maker is alive; the corpse of the insect lives embalmed in the honey, prays that its perishable work li

43、ve long enough for the sweet-tooth bear to desecrate this open bookmy open coffin.,Sylvia Plath (1932-1963),Sylvia Plath married English poet Ted Hughes in 1956. They had met at Cambridge University where they were both studying. They had two children: Frieda and Nicholas. Hughes had an affair with

44、a friend Assia Wevill. Plath and Hughes separated in 1962 (Plath looking after both children). Plath killed herself on 11th Feb 1963 (from carbon monoxide poisoning from a domestic oven).,Sylvia Plath (1932-1963),On 25th March 1969 Assia Wevill also killed herself in precisely the same way as Plath.

45、 Wevill also kills her child, Alexandra Tatiana Elise, 4 year-old daughter of Hughes (born 3rd March 1965). 1998 Ted Hughes dies March 2009: Nicholas Hughes kills himself (by hanging). Both mother and son suffered from severe depression. Frieda is still alive. She wishes people would focus on her mothers poetry rather than her tragic death.,Stillborn (1960),These poems do not live: its a sad diagnosis. They grew their toes and fingers well enough, Their little foreheads bulged with concentration. If they missed out on walking about like people It wasnt for any lack of mother-love. O I cannot