Modernism

Williams and Loy Reviews

2004-12-06T07:26:00.000-08:00

We have come to the near end of studying some very complex poetry. Looking back towards the beginning of the semester while beginning to prepare for the final has made me realize that I have learned more than I had originally thought.
Williams in comparison with the other poets studied in this class in not as unapproachable as I had first thought. Perhpas because next to the other poets, his word is simpler in a sense. There is a basis of truth here that is elemented in simple things like Spring and Wind. Williams seems to draw heavily on nature as a tool of inspiration. Also, as a doctor, his work seems very physical, substansial. It is very easy now to picture the images he creates. One does not need a dictionary in order to understand his work. A reader needs only patience and a degree of feeling because his work envokes reactions on the emotional rather than the intellectual level. Reading a Williams poem often gives me a sense of nostalgia, empathy.

Loy remains my favorite poet in the class. Her work is cut from a very different cloth than that of Williams. Here we see one who likes to make up words, use language on a high level of intellectual force. Her language is not as soft as Williams. It cuts and makes one question meaning and direction. She seems to use the poetic line haphazardly, but under study, the enjambments and spacial "defects" are purposeful, perhaps to slow the reader down or to draw out important elements within her poetry. The charged language that is seen in much of her work threatens (in that time period) and demands attentions. She seems the more political writer when compared to Williams, though not quite as political as Zukofsky. The poems of Loy are very visual, showing poetry artistic in sight as well as sound.

"For Melissa" Poem on Loy

2004-11-19T05:58:00.000-08:00

Suffer the inequality and
the crystalllized notions of ... Utopia

"We like it Here"
in the desert where no man can stand
they slap and kick
and cut off their breasts to ready, aim
vibrate against the call of the Moon.

"We like it There"
in nocturnal skins they electrify
they qualified in the finals of freedom
but they will never be free
as judges restricted rations against a race.
Run, Tom! Your fossilized hope is their weapon.

This virgin forest and that wanton beast-
they will never be obedient and lie together.

Seismographs and ears caught You. Now
all eyes are on and oval office
a timepeice of write action
where Being has become problematic
satellites stare at sick men in holes.

A vision for you:

Bernadette, call your armies.
It is too late to mime a handshake
customize etiquette for everyone
too early to ask for our dead
just right to participate
in this personification of Hell.

"This mirror has many faces. I see
Buddha on the floor with Confucius
Jesus and Mohammed know thier juice
Leda is seducing Zeus.
God and the Great Mother agreed upon a name-
Allah...
he has finally found his spectacles."

Like snapshots of history

2004-11-18T19:07:00.000-08:00

Our new poet, Zukofsky, is by far the most complicated, but unlike Stein, not because of its simplicity. Zukofsky is an amazing poet, but I found his beginning works in "A" challenging, almost as though they were meant for elitists. I realized something, though, as we were plodding and struggling through these early readings. I made a comparison, an anology that helped me better decode this poet. Zukofsky has a Masters in English. He is obviously extremely well educated and very talented. He also grew up during a time of great change, through the early and middle parts of our latter century. He saw wars, struggle, invention. He knew history. Each of his poems are like a snapshot of some great detail he saw, heard or remembered throughout the course of his life. Veiwing and reading his works like this makes it a bit less challenging to decode this man.

Goodbye to Stein and suggestion

2004-11-10T09:53:00.000-08:00

In class yesterday we viewed the making of Four Saints from Stein. The automatic click that occurred when viewing this film made me realize two things. 1st: Stein is not unapproachable. There is beauty here. I like who she seemed to be in her personal life, even if I do not understand her writing stlyes. 2nd: I think it would be a wonderful idea to reverse the order of approaching Stein so that students may view this film before studying her other works. On review, some of what I was able to review after seeing the film made a great deal of sense to me from this realization.

This is the idea that I never received while reading stein. She actually did have a visual purpose in mind with her writing, though I do picture her more as a musician than a painter. But there are strong images here, so strong that they can and were adapted onto stage. I composer seemed like a strong character to contend with, and I liked the beauty of the stage adaptation, though I wished we could see more of it.

On final reflection, so far, Stein was the most complicated author with whom I have ever struggled and I am anxious to go on to the next poet in the hopes of a brighter tomorrow. I still am toying with the idea of using Stein in my final project, though, so perhaps I should not say goodbye just yet.

Lifting belly

2004-11-10T09:46:00.000-08:00

Sensual and deeply erotic.
This text was much easier to decode and again, I can not figure out why. Perhaps it is a matter of engagement. The beauty of this text comes from its sheer erotism in my own opinion. I see a three way conversation among two lesbian lovers and lifting belly. Lifting belly could be a goddess of sorts, the way she is revered by those in the piece. Such quiet, simple and awed reguard is given to her.
By far, this is my favorite peice from Stein, but I am left to wonder about its reception into the world of published literature. Seen by me as somewhat elusive, Lifting Belly is more targeted and sends clearer messages. I know that there is something here that agian, I am probably missing, and in the end, I will no doubt decide to focus on Stein for my final project becuase I hate the feeling that I am being left behind. Still, her work ranges from the questioning to the erotic.

Something seen in Stein

2004-11-10T09:37:00.000-08:00

There is a quality of simplicity here that at first insulted my intellect. I know that I am not getting it when I read Stein. Patriarchal poetry was challenging beause of its simplicity, though I liked the sonnet in it. Malanchta in my opinion could have been a great work of prose if not for the redundency of the repitition. Now I am reading tender buttons. There is beauty in the language here, alliteration and images captured and weaved together to make a whole. I see a hole, though. At least I did until we had our in class writing activity about tender buttons. There it was. The simplicity had meaning. Language has so many facets that it is difficult to make it simple. This is seen in the image of a band- hair band, music band..... A round. There was some wonderful reflections and reactions to language by the class and Steinian style that seem to bring it together for me. I enjoyed the work we did and am able to grasp something further from the exercise. Our class is very creative.

catching up with the class on Stein TO THE CLASS

2004-10-24T18:55:00.000-07:00

In case anyone else other than the professor and myself are reading everyone's blogs, I would like to apologize for my absence from class lately. I have had a pneumonia of some type. So, as a way to catch up, I looked back over all your blogs about Stein, and I learned alot.

To Mia, I think your idea about a close reading is a good one.
To Melissa, I liked your story of Repunzel
To Anna, I agreed with your version of Sleeping Beauty
To Kimberly, Thank you. Your ideas about sign language really made sense to me when trying to decode Stein. It seems alot like this.
To Amanda, I liked the sound quality of your Steinian Blog
To Ingrid, Gender roles in Stein's Malanctha and Alice are significant. In researching some of her other materials, she is catagorized in Lesbian and Feminist sites. Thank you for the explanation.
To Lauren, Your Blog on Stein is alot like my first Stein blog. We both make comparisons to Loy. I too agree with your thoughts, but I am looking deeper and finding some meaning beyond the meaning. "Doesn't that sound Steinian?"
And finally, to Lauren C. I think of Stein as reading Dr. Seuss in a way. It is the sound patterns that are grabbing my attention. Your not the only one having difficulty.

To all in general. Thanks for your postings. They helped me catch up.

Stein Fairytale exercise

2004-10-24T14:19:00.000-07:00

The Three Wishes

Once upon a time a time not long ago a time to far away for anyone to remember, there was a woodcutter and a wife. The woodcutter and the wife where poor once upon a time. Once upon a time the woodcutter and his wife were poor. Poor because they had no food or warmth. Poor in the way that many of us are poor today. Many of us are poor today because we have no power. Many of us are poor because we have made bad choices that can't be corrected quickly. Many of us are poor becuase we have no was to get unpoor without lots of money, but that is not part of this story.

The woodcutter and his wife were poor. One day the woodcutter went into the woods to cut wood for warmth. The poor have little warmth. Warmth is a good thing. In the woods the woodcutter found an elf stuck in a tree. The woodcutter chopped the tree down and saved the elf. The elf was magical. He said that he would grant this good woodcutter three wishes. Before the great small elf ran away he warned the woodcutter to use the wishes wisely. Before the three wishes the woodcutter was happy by the way, even though he was poor. Now the woodcutter had the weight of wishes on him.

The woodcutter has no name becuase he is poor and not worthy of one. His wife has no name either because she too is poor. So the nameless woodcutter went home to tell his poor wife that they had three wishes. The woodcutter hoped for wisedom in his wishes but everyone knows that the poor are not wise. If they were wise they would not be poor. It is strange to be wise and poor you know.

When the woodcutter's wife who has no other name than the woodcutter's wife found out about the three wishes, she was very happy. They would never be poor again. The woodcutter's wife sat down to think about what to wish for. The woodcutter was mad at the woodcutter's wife because there was not lunch ready for him. There was no food at all really. The woodcutter came home early with his three wishes and didn't give the woodcutter's wife enough time to make something. It was naturally her fault because everyone knows that when a woodcutter gets home a woodcutter's wife better have something ready for lunch. The woodcutter wished out loud for a sausage. There was a saugsage.

Now the woodcutter's wife was angry. She was angry because he used up a wish on a sausage. Only two wishes left. Two wishes were one less than three. Subract another and then there is one. Subtract another and then there is none. But they still had two wishes and because he had wished for something so stupid, the woodcutter's wife yelled at the woodcutter. She yelled for a long time. She yelled for a very long time.

Now the woodcutter was not one to be yelled at. The woodcutter was not someone to be yelled at for a long time. This man was not someone to be yelled at for a very long time. He was mad. He was very mad and he wished out loud that the sausage was her nose. The sausage was her nose. He laughed. He laughed hard. Subtract from three one and you have two. Subract another and you have one. You and I both know that the poor can not add or subtract very well, so maybe we should excuse his blunder. Few have the knowledge to excuse the poor of blunders though.

The woodcutter's wife cried. Cried hard. She did not want a sausage for a nose. Please remember too that this all happened many years ago. Not too long ago, but longer ago than plastic surgery. No plastic surgery at this time. Only one wish left and it was not for lots of money to pay for plastic surgery. Actually, this is also true today for the poor. The poor are ugly as you and I both know. You and I both know now that the poor are ugly because they can not afford plastic surgery.

The woodcutter was a hard man. A mean and hard man. But he was a proud man. We all know how proud the poor are. He did not want a wife with a sausage nose. Their was indeed a sausage on her nose. It was very large. Indeed there was a sausage on her nose and only one with left with no plastic surgery. So he wished the sausage off her nose and onto his plate. There was a sausage on his plate. There was no sausage on the woodcutter's wife's nose. No more sausage nose. No more wishes.

That night the woodcutter's wife made sausage soup. Sausage soup lasts a long long long time and everyone knows that the poor need to make things last a long time because who knows when something else will happen and it is good to have things last a long time. The woodcutter was happy to be free of hunger and ate sausage soup. The woodcutter's wife was happy to be free of sausage nose and ate sausage soup. The sausage soup was happy to be eaten because it was obviously useful. Usefulness leads to happily ever after.

Stein Vs. Loy -What is wrong with me?

2004-10-24T14:07:00.000-07:00

So,

I am now away from Loy and reading the works of Stein. I miss Loy.

This is opinion of course, but I miss Loy's grasp on vocabulary, her sharpness, and her difficulty. Perhaps I haven't read enough of Stein yet, but I keep comparing to to "See Spot. See Spot Run. See Spot run with Jane." The repitition is driving me mad, as I have said a few weeks ago in class. But I am trying, though.

Now I am looking at the links in Stien. She was trying to show a work as a whole, a compision as a solid peice rather than one to be parted. I understand this format and agree with the idea of solidarity. It is a different type of work that what has proceeded it, and there is beauty in any art form. Perhaps this is where I am having problems with Stein. Acutally, I think this is it entirely. Stein stated that sentences are unemotional and paragraphs are emotion. I am picking her work apart far too much, lookint at peices, and not at the whole, which is precisely what she does not seem to want her intellegent audience to do. I will return to her work now, and try this again with a larger scope to view it all.

Still, I miss Mina's Simple complexities.

Oh Ezra, not again! A few more words on Mina Loy and Norma Cole

2004-10-06T10:05:00.000-07:00

The other day I read with interest yet another stab at women writers by Ezra Pound. I never liked his work much anyway, but I would never make an attact on his stlye. To each his/her own. Still, he has stated that Loy's work lacked emotion. I wonder if he ever read any of her work? It is
complicated. Harsh. Sometimes dark. Workable. Irrational. Stark.

It is never lacking in feeling.

So here we are, yet another critic who does not seem to even try to get it. I wish he had read Mina Loy's poem "Apology Of Genius."

Or Pehaps He DID.

I thought alot about the way in which Norma Cole constructed her essay concerning Loy and come to the conclusion that it was brilliant. How does Loy fit into today's working notion of poetry. We know that she was cutting edge. Before her time. Still, she managed to create the image as poetry rather than the words themselves. One can not seperate the two, actually, in my own opinion. So, like Cole, I sit here and watch the news on Operation Iraqi Freedom, wondering when we ourselves will be free, and wonder about November 2nd. Will we get a new President? Will Bagdad rejoice if we do? I understand now this rage and wonder that embodied Mina Loy. Some things just don't change until we make them.

Mina Loy and Feminism

2004-09-27T10:58:00.000-07:00

In her poem, "Parturition" Mina Loy paints the picture of childbirth with an intellectual style uncommon I would imagine for this type of subject. Childbirth is not of the intellect. Rather, it is functional, simply physiological. I wonder if Mina Loy is trying to reshape the roles of women through the creation of a different view on the childbirth. To future play on this overdone metaphor, is she midwifing a new era of thought and action for women? I believe that she wishes this, but is not thrilled with the roles of women up to this point, nor does she believe women are fighting hard enough (Feminist Manifesto- "The Feminist movement is inadequate.")
So we as the readers are left with an image of a woman who is trying to bring about great change. Looking at her other poems, we see evidence of her outcry for equalities. For example, in her poem, "Virgins Plus Curtains Minus Dots" Loy seems to be making another proclamation against the traditional roles that women hold. In this poem, I examined the ideas of marriage. The poem is full of line breaks, pauses, and stanzas that seem to go everywhere. In this, I see a tone of sarcasm, perhaps even anger from Loy. I am wondering if this is not only a jab at woman subservience, but also a jab at women themselves, for allowing this to continue. The last lines lead me to believe this: "With the door locked agains virgins who might scratch.

Close Reading assignment discussion

2004-09-22T10:22:00.000-07:00

After hearing the class struggle with so many different ideas about each poem read and discussed in class, I would like to comment quickly on how amazing it is to me to listen to my fellow classmates speak about each assigned poem. I found myself saying "Why didn't I see it this way?" or "Now I do see it that way, that makes sense." For me, Williams is not an easy poet to understand but it seems easier when a group of people tackle the same thing together. As for our close reading assignment, I don't believe I would change anything I found in my own poem, "Portrait of a Woman in Bed" on page 87, but I do wish we talked about this one in class also, just so that I may hear other ideas about how to approach this poem.

Prose in "Spring and All"

2004-09-22T10:02:00.000-07:00

In the book "Spring and All" inside Williams' poetry collection, we spoke of the contrast between the poetry and prose portion. I personally liked the prose section more because it seemed almost more challenging. The prose section was like a personal invitation to a certain type of reader that welcomed him/her into Williams' own world and brand of poetry. This prose section also worked as a prologue for me in this section, showing the type of flow that would follow in his poetry. Williams states "In the imagination, we are from henceforth (so long as you read) locked in a faternal embrace, the classic caress of author and reader. We are one. Whenever I say "I" I mean also "you". And so, together, as one, we shall begin."

I remember reading this passage and feeling seduced on some level. Even the language of this section is perhaps deliberately done as a seduction, to woo the reader into his work. Perhaps a more intellegent person would say, "I am not going to fall for this temptation." But I did. I liked his work very much!

Freewrite on Modernism

2004-09-09T19:48:00.000-07:00

I must admit, at first I did not like modern literature. Now I am still not certain. It seems very complicated and I am not certain what the authors are trying to do. After reading the E reserve about modernism movements, I think I have a better understanding of it, though.

Gertrude stein and her poem (read in class) must have some meaning, and I have been looking for it on line. The poem is full of alliteration and I believe this is deliberate. It has a bird sound to it, but is seems so nonsensical to me. When we discussed in class how children begin to speak, the simplicity of the poem seems important. It is the deliberate elusiveness that make me turn away from this form. I like meaning, even if it is hidden. Decoding can be fun. Still, the difference between communication and expression is vast. Art forms from this era seem full of self, meaning author/painter and not for the masses in general. They seem to target a specific audience, one that shares there views on life and direction.

Williams is entirely different, and through my reading of his work, I believe that I am beginning to enjoy modernism. There is meaning here, and the nonsense is dismissed somewhat. But the meaning is so vast and interpretation is for the reader. After taking a poetry class, I believe that poetry is very self oriented both for the reader and the poet. Meaning is tweezed out by experience and beliefs. I find Williams work thus far to be somewhat angry, very vivid. He seems to show ordinary average objects and ideas with great image and beauty. I look forward to class to learn more about him.

Finally, a word on some of the developments of Modernism. I was amazed in a previous reading to see that Hemingway and Pound discouraged women writers. Is the disenfranchisement of women during this time period the reflection of a coming change created by modernism thinking? I believe it is at least a part of it. The strong portrayal of women in this part of the century seems to answer this question, at least to a minor degree.