Post by Oliveman on Dec 17, 2007 20:15:57 GMT -5
This thread is for discussion on selected pieces of American poetry from the 20th century. A new poem will be put up every Sunday or Monday - at the start of the new week. Please check back here often and leave your thoughts. Feel free to make suggestions, too!
The goal of this thread is to have a collection of not only poetry, but poetry enriched by the thoughts we share on it. These thoughts can be anything at all, from a sentence to pages of analysis. It doesn't matter, either, if you don't care for the poem. In fact, I think the reaction is many times the most important part to tell.
Often when we think of American Poetry, we think back our own Romantic Period of Emerson, Longfellow, Thoreau, and Whitman (YAWP). But this is for the poetry created in the recent times we just left - the 20th century. I have no idea what period this is considered, but that's part of the reason why I wanted to start a running thread on this in the first place. Feel free to pipe up if you have any more of an idea than me.
Please note that I am sorry for any poems that mistakingly come from the 18th century, as some people do live past the century's mark! (and don't ask "like who?")
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Ars Poetica - by Archibald MacLeish (1892-1982)
A poem should be palpable and mute
As a globed fruit
Dumb
As old medallions to the thumb
Silent as the sleeve-worn stone
Of casement ledges where the moss has grown -
A poem should be wordless
As the flight of birds
A poem should be motionless in time
As the moon climbs
Leaving, as the moon releases
Twig by twig the night-entangled trees,
Leaving, as the moon behind the winter leaves,
Memory by memory the mind -
A poem should be motionless in time
As the moon climbs
A poem should be equal to:
Not true
For all the history of grief
An empty doorway and a maple leaf
For love
The leaning grasses and two lights above the sea -
A poem should not mean
But be
The goal of this thread is to have a collection of not only poetry, but poetry enriched by the thoughts we share on it. These thoughts can be anything at all, from a sentence to pages of analysis. It doesn't matter, either, if you don't care for the poem. In fact, I think the reaction is many times the most important part to tell.
Often when we think of American Poetry, we think back our own Romantic Period of Emerson, Longfellow, Thoreau, and Whitman (YAWP). But this is for the poetry created in the recent times we just left - the 20th century. I have no idea what period this is considered, but that's part of the reason why I wanted to start a running thread on this in the first place. Feel free to pipe up if you have any more of an idea than me.
Please note that I am sorry for any poems that mistakingly come from the 18th century, as some people do live past the century's mark! (and don't ask "like who?")
-----------
Ars Poetica - by Archibald MacLeish (1892-1982)
A poem should be palpable and mute
As a globed fruit
Dumb
As old medallions to the thumb
Silent as the sleeve-worn stone
Of casement ledges where the moss has grown -
A poem should be wordless
As the flight of birds
A poem should be motionless in time
As the moon climbs
Leaving, as the moon releases
Twig by twig the night-entangled trees,
Leaving, as the moon behind the winter leaves,
Memory by memory the mind -
A poem should be motionless in time
As the moon climbs
A poem should be equal to:
Not true
For all the history of grief
An empty doorway and a maple leaf
For love
The leaning grasses and two lights above the sea -
A poem should not mean
But be