ELIT 48C

Class # 12

Alumnae?

crisis

criteria

Criterion

Just so you know

alumna/alumnae; alumnus/alumni: literally “foster daughter” and “foster son,” these words refer in American usage to graduates of an educational institution. Most universities tend to use the masculine forms only.

crisis/crises: singular crisis (krahy-sis). Latin plural crises(krahy-seez). You can have one crisis and several crises

criterion/criteria: One judges the worth of a book according to a set of criteria. One criterion might be style. Another criterion might be accuracy.

phenomenon/phenomena A tornado is a phenomenonof Nature. Other phenomena are earthquakes, thunderstorms, and floods.

Chair Poet?

'Writing free verse is like playing tennis with the net down.'

Robert Frost

AGENDA

New teams Lyric Poetry

o “The Snow Man” 1923o “The Emperor of Ice Cream”

Stream of Consciousnesso “Parturition”

Exam Preparation

Lyric Poetry

Lyric poetry has a long history. Its most basic definition is poetry that has a rhythmic quality that makes it able to be sung. Originally, it was accompanied by a lyre.

Lyric poetry is likewise identified by its expression of intense, personal emotion. It is quite powerful because it draws readers into personal worlds. It is often, but not always, written in the present tense.

Lyric Modernists?

Modernist poetry is generally a turning away from inherited models of poetry.

With the imagist movement, poets distanced themselves from the reliance on musicality and the richness of sound, focusing instead on the complexities of image, the precision of words, and the directness of language.

T.S. Eliot says, in “Tradition and the Individual Talent” that “poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion.” Yet, lyric poetry seems to be about emotion.

How is it Possible?

Wallace Stevens says in “The Figure of the Youth as Virile Poet,” that “It is the mundo of the imagination in which the imaginative man delights and not the gaunt world of reason. The pleasure is the pleasure of powers that create a truth that cannot be arrived at by the reason alone, a truth that the poet recognizes by sensation.”

Wallace Stevens’ lyrical poetry is modern in that it is a continued and methodical experiment with new ways of using language, another focus of the moderns.

THE POETRY OF WALLACE STEVENS

• PARAPHRASE

• MODERNISM

• NEW CRITICISM

• QHQS

Group DiscussionTake 10 minutes

The Snow Man By Wallace Stevens

One must have a mind of winterTo regard the frost and the boughsOf the pine-trees crusted with snow;

And have been cold a long timeTo behold the junipers shagged with ice,The spruces rough in the distant glitter

Of the January sun; and not to thinkOf any misery in the sound of the wind,In the sound of a few leaves,

Which is the sound of the landFull of the same windThat is blowing in the same bare place

For the listener, who listens in the snow,And, nothing himself, beholdsNothing that is not there and the nothing that is.

Paraphrase?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MM7LrsIhWqc

Paraphrase “The Snow Man”

A person needs to be in a mood for winter and already feel cold in order to look at the frost on the trees, the leaves covered in snow, the glisten of the sun shining off the snow in order to not dread the sound of the cold wind blowing through the small amount of leaves along it’s way over the barren land covered in snow and ice for those that do listen can hear the stillness in the air and the silence of winter and feel nothing.

An individual ought to possess the mind of coldness, only to observe the aspects of the [winter] rime and branches belonging to the pine-trees full with winter’s power. And such a time it has been freezing, to look at the evergreen [that is] weary with ice, the evergreen pines make an uneven sight in the reflecting light of the new year’s morning, and never to sense of any omens in the whisper of the [blowing] wind, found in the sound of flying leaves. [It] is the whisper of the earth below, presented with the same breeze that drafts in the same unconcealed location, for the one who gives attention in the show, while, emptiness [in] himself, regards emptiness that is not present and emptiness that is.

QHQ: “The Snow Man”

1. Q: What is he trying to say here?1. “For the listener, who listens in the snow,

And, nothing himself, beholdsNothing that is not there and the nothing that is.”

2. What is the significance of the title?

3. Q: Is “The Snow Man” about the way to appreciate reality, or about the existence of reality in minds of people?

4. Q: Is “The Snow Man” an existentialist poem?

The Emperor Of Ice-CreamBy Wallace Stevens

Call the roller of big cigars,The muscular one, and bid him whipIn kitchen cups concupiscent curds.Let the wenches dawdle in such dressAs they are used to wear, and let the boysBring flowers in last month's newspapers.Let be be finale of seem.The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream.

Take from the dresser of deal.Lacking the three glass knobs, that sheetOn which she embroidered fantails onceAnd spread it so as to cover her face.If her horny feet protrude, they comeTo show how cold she is, and dumb.Let the lamp affix its beam.The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream.

Paraphrase?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrsspndTRXo

Paraphrase “The Emperor of Ice-Cream”, lines 1-8

[In late afternoon, a brothel opens it’s doors to visitors who slink in the shadows.] Here comes the large and muscular man, who’s skills lie in rolling big cigars. He has come to show off his big cigar to whip-up lustful activities, as if a chef in a kitchen whipping curds. The prostitutes, inviting in their sultry dresses that they’ve worn one too many times, stand and watch aimlessly to waste time. Young boys [shyly walk in with their hats in one hand] and flowers for the ladies. They wrap the flowers in last month’s newspaper, [too young to know the proper way of bearing floras to a lady]. [The boys are much too young to know romance, but they wish to lose themselves in naive, innocent love with women who promise sweet nothings]. However, [in separate instance], someone has died. The only power in this world, [separate from the basic human desire], is ice-cream, [and it’s cold, sensual consumption.]

Paraphrase “The Emperor”

“Call the person who sells cigars. He has a lot of muscles. Ask him to make sweet, succulent treats and put them in kitchen cups [for us]. Allow all the girls [whores?] to dress in their casual, every-day wear and the boys to wrap up flowers in old newspapers. Let everything be settled as it is [cause no more illusions]. The only one with power here is the one who holds ice cream [ice cream could represent innocence, cold, sweet]. There is a dresser with three glass knobs missing: take from it a sheet on which she once embroidered birds. We will use that to cover her up. If it is not long enough to cover her feet, then her feet will remind us of her cold, [dead], unspeaking body. We will shine this lamp [sun?] light on her now. [maybe the light refers to the truth]. The only one with power here is the one who holds the ice cream. [again, ice cream could represent innocence, cold, sweetness]

New Critical Reading?This poem is obscure and the title is deceiving to suggest total happiness. However, there is celebration going on in the first stanza, so it’s not completely wrong. We can see cigars, which are typically used for celebration or conference, a muscular man, suggesting a good looking, strong man, sexy curds, and wenches, who are indicative of alcohol being served by attractive women. It’s important to break down the nouns in the first stanza to understand that there’s a sensual—the word “concupiscent” means strong desire, especially sexual—celebration. Since the second stanza describes a dead woman, it seems as if they are at a wake or funeral celebrating the life of their friend who passed. The second stanza details the poor woman—cheap dresser missing handles and hand embroidered sheets—wrapped in a shroud of her making who died. It’s important to not the past tense used in “embroidered” because it seems to be the only word supporting the death shroud she’s currently covered with to show death. Due to the vague wording, there isn’t much to immediately go on that the woman is dead. Even though this woman was monetarily poor in her life, she was clearly rich in her social life because she has many people celebrating her life. For the main idea, “The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream” is trying to tell us that life can be pleasurable, like eating ice-cream. It’s one of the pleasures in life that most people—sorry lactose intolerant people, you’re missing out on this one—thoroughly enjoy. Therefore, we should take in that pleasure and relish it while we can because life is what it is—“Let be be finale of seem”.

QHQ: “The Emperor of Ice Cream”

1. Q: Why did Stevens title this poem The Emperor of Ice-Cream?

2. Q: Steven Wallace uses a peculiar choice of words within his poem “The Emperor of Ice Cream.” Why use the word “horny” to describe feet?

3. Is Stevens making fun of society at the time by making the poem sound ridiculous with the title of “The Emperor of Ice Cream” or negatively critiquing it?

4. Q: Who is the speaker of this poem? Is it assumed to be an omniscient being?

A MODERNIST INNOVATION

Stream of Consciousness

In literature, stream of consciousness is a method of narration that describes in words the flow of thoughts in the minds of the characters.

The term was coined was initially coined by a psychologist William James in his research “The Principles of Psychology”. He writes:

“… it is nothing joined; it flows. A ‘river’ or a ‘stream’ is the metaphors by which it is most naturally described. In talking of it hereafter, let’s call it the stream of thought, consciousness, or subjective life.”

"The irresponsibility of the maleLeaves woman her superior InferiorityHe is running up-stairs

I am climbing a distorted mountain of agonyIncidentally with the exhaustion of controlI reach the summit" - Mina Loy "Parturition"

In this section of her poem "Parturition," Mina Loy reveals the struggles behind childbirth, comparing the process of contractions to scaling a mountain. She also uses this to show the strength of women compared to that of men. Views at the time held women at an inferior status, but Loy claims that women are superior because of strictly feminine things (childbirth), because they create life within themselves. Men, she claims, are irresponsible to the challenge. Their obliviousness to a woman's suffering makes them intellectually inferior despite their physical superiority to a pregnant woman.

Example of Modern Stream of Consciousness

"The irresponsibility of the maleLeaves woman her superior InferiorityHe is running up-stairs

I am climbing a distorted mountain of agonyIncidentally with the exhaustion of controlI reach the summit”

But notice, too, the lack of punctuation and the way the lines are broken. This is a terrific example of a Modernist author experimenting with a new forms: the lack of grammatical. The breaking up of lines gives the poem a more realistic feel, almost as if these were the exact, thoughts of a women in childbirth recorded as they happened. This stream of consciousness is clear and important characteristic of modernist poetry.

A Discussion

“Parturition”

1. QHQ on the “Parturition”2. Discuss “Parturition” in conjunction with Loy’s Manifesto.3. Discuss “Parturition” in conjunction with one critical theory

QHQ: “Parturition”

1. Q: What does the title “parturition” add to the story and why was it chosen?

2. Q: What does Mina Loy mean by women acting as “superior Inferiority”?

3. Q: Explain the significance of the “fashionable portrait-painter” in “Parturition.” What does he represent and suggest, and how does this tie in with the overall “concept” of the poem?

4. Q: Is Mina Loy describing the struggles of female inequality, injustice, and inferiority in her line “climbing a distorted mountain of agony”?

5. Q: What does the cat mean in 10th and 11th stanza?

6. Q: What is the significance of the line “The irresponsibility of the male?”

7. Q: In the final part of the poem, does the line “I once heard in church God made them.” refer to the halos themselves or the women who wear the halos?

8. What is the significant of ending the poem with, “-Man and woman God made them-/ Thank God”?

QHQs “Parturition”

1. What effect does the poem’s form have on its message?

2. Why does Loy include unexpected gaps in the middle of some of her lines throughout the beginning of her poem?

3. Q: How can one interpret the repetition of the image of a circle?

4. Q1: How does Loy reveal her feelings on patriarchy, how does her mentality share similarities with eastern religion?

5. Q: How do I feel after reading Parturition?

“Parturition” in conjunction with feminismThis poem is a great example and encouragement for contemporary feminism. Unlike the political standings that the feminists of the 19th century fought so hard for, the contemporary feminists fight for equal rights to men, and the right for women to be who they want to be without judgment. Feminism practices that it’s fine for a woman to still want to be a mother. Being a mother is part of a woman’s biological heritage/nature, so it’s only natural for a woman to want children. Wanting to be a mother has nothing to do with following the archaic ideas of woman taking care of children and the home while the man brings home the bacon. For instance, lines 35 through 40 are cursing the male for being an outsider with minimal action on his part in the pregnancy. This isn’t saying that men are evil, it’s merely relaying the message that men are only a small part of motherhood, and that they aren’t a vital part of that life with the exception of their baby maker juice. During the entire poem, Loy only mentions a man once. This denotes that woman are capable of the whole process of childbearing without the assistance of a man. In the end of the poem, she rejoices at becoming a mother, being a giver of life, which again doesn’t involve the feelings of the man. During the last stanza, the halo that Loy refers to being ludicrous is women continuing to wear the ridiculous idea that they are supposed to stay at home and listen to their husbands while they shoot kids out like bullets without even considering the fact that they could live life being an equal as well as deciding whether they even want to be a gun—“Of which she is sublimely unaware” (299, line 130).

Critical Theory

Q: Is Loy trying to say women will never be able to escape from patriarchal society?

Q: How does Loy compare the experience of childbirth to the everyday life of just being a woman?

Q: What is Mina Loy implying about women and gender roles?

Q: Can the Madonna-Whore complex be used in analyzing the ending of “Parturition”?

Feminist theory

During the first half of the poem Loy writes about the frustration she feels as a woman is a mainly patriarchal powered society. She mentions the psychological suffering and irritation, describing as an identical extensity across her whole self. The problem seems to be defined with the misogynistic of the man starting from line 35, in which they she retaliates mentally, not verbally because the oppressed feeling she prevents her from doing so. In this way the views society has on her and her struggle with them feels like a never ending mountain she has climb with little hope to get over it.

Putting aside the title of the poem, I thought I was reading about an orgasm.

“On infinitely prolonged nerve-vibrationsOr in contractionTo the pinpoint nucleus of beingLocate an irritation withoutIt is withinWithinIt is without.The sensitized area”

Discuss “Parturition” in conjunction with Loy’s Manifesto

1. Q: Since Loy’s manifesto passionately depicts how women should be strong and independent, why does Loy choose to portray herself as weak and helpless? Basically, why does Loy victimize herself in regards to how men treat women, when she has advocated against being seen in such a way?

2. In conjunction with the manifesto, Mina Loy’s “Parturition”, is the epitome of what she wrote about in the manifesto. The idea that the name of the poem in its definition childbirth, which is brings up an amusing point of how it is about the birth of feminist criticism.

3. The Loy’s manifesto and Parturition have a strong correlation to her stance on Feminism. In her Manifesto, Loy calls out women’s submissiveness toward male superiority in society. Parturition further validates this point that she made in her manifesto except in a way that glorifies that superior physiological power of women.

Exam #1:Introduction

Exam Review

1. Rules of writing based on introduction slides

I will lie/lay down soon.

2. Passage identification by work

“But Mrs. Hale, the law is the law.”

3. Character identification

The Black Hawk moneylender.

4. Who said it? Name the Speaker

“It is better to present one Image in a lifetime than to produce voluminous works.”

Exam Review

5. Author identification

In 1912, on a visit to her family in Red Cloud, she stood on the edge of a wheat field and watched her first harvest in years.

6. Terms: Fill in the blank

__________________________ is the phenomena of the awareness of the “two-ness” of being both American and African American.

Exam Review

7. Identify the Theory

This theory maintains that a literary work contains certain intrinsic features, and the theory “defines and addresses the specifically literary qualities in the text."

8. Short essay/Long answer

Name and explain one important symbol from Trifles

Discuss gender and gender identity as it appears in My

Ántonia. You may consider the homoerotic.

HOMEWORK

Review for Exam (at our next meeting) Vocabulary, Theory, All Readinga. Rules of Writing: Multiple

Choiceb. Fill in the blankc. Theory Identificationd. Passage Identificatione. Character Identificationf. Who said it?