This site's theme is American Literature, and
we are focusing on the analysis. We choose this topic because we want to
know more about American Literature and what meaning it does consist. On this
site, you will find our argument and analysis about some literatures which were
written by American writers that represent Modernism, Optimism, and Pessimism. The first discussion is about a poem by Wallace Stevens
called “Anecdode of the Jar”. After that poem, the discussion is about a short
story entitled “The Waste Land” which was written by T.S. Eliot. Next, the third
discussion is also about a short story by Margaret Atwood which title is
“Bread”. Then the last discussion is about a poem titled “The Love Song of
J.Alfred Prufrock” and the author is T.S. Eliot.
Minggu, 15 Juni 2014
Kamis, 12 Juni 2014
Modernist American Poetry on Anecdote of The Jar by Wallace Stevens
In the
Modern Period, we begin to see writers and poets finding new ways to look at
relatively common objects. “Anecdote of the Jar” by Wallace Stevens is one
of the examples of this. Wallace Stevens (October 2, 1879 – August 2, 1955) was an American Modernist poet. He wrote the Anecdote of The Jar in 1919. The
narrator places a common household object, which is a jar on a hill. The
jar has a rather poor effect on the surrounding countryside: it tames the
wilderness and drives away the flora and fauna of Tennessee.
In the
poem, Anecdote of the Jar, Stevens portrays the complex relationship of human
to nature through confusion of who is greater than whom, how they depend on
each other, the connection between the two, and the form the poem is written
in. Stevens forces the reader to feel the confusion and chaos present between
the jar (a symbol for humans) and nature. This relationship can be felt and
read through the form the poem is written in.
We can see the connection of
humans to the natural world through the first and last lines of the poem. These
two lines embody the poem to start and finish in a calm way. Both end in the
word Tennessee. This can show the relationship outline as being simple. Just as
the port went above all the chaos, the outline of the poem goes around the
chaos The first line of the poem is the beginning of the relationship. This
opens the reader in a confusing state to figure out what Stevens is really
trying to get across. This mass confusion is the body of the relationship.
Somewhere in the poem, Stevens shows in a deeper meaning of the relationship
through a connection. As the poem nears the end, the same word is used to end
the poem. That is the end of the relationship; there is no more to be added. It
leaves the reader feeling satisfied, even if he or she didn't understand the
content of the poem.
Through
the simple use of metaphor, Stevens has created a masterful work in the
Modernist tradition. This poem address the issues of metaphor and
fragmentation as well as other modernist poems. Related to the theme of
destruction is the theme of fragmentation. Fragmentation in modernist
literature is thematic, as well as formal. Plot, characters, theme, images, and
narrative form itself are broken. The
fragmentation used in this poem also being used to demonstrate the chaotic state of modern existence.
All in all, Stevens truly does a wonderful job of
portraying the relationship of humans to nature. By using the jar to represent
man, he was successful in creating an environment not only expressed in the
poem, but also felt by the reader. He used irregular rhymes and role changes to
express the complex relationship. The reader is left with confusion but a slight
understanding of the relationship. Stevens expressed the relationship of humans
to nature very well m this piece of work.
References:
References:
Optimism in “Breakfast” by John Steinbeck
John Steinbeck was one of a famous
American writer. He won a Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962. He grew up in California's Salinas Valley,
a culturally variant place with a rich migratory and immigrant history. This upbringing gives a regionalistic flavor
to his writing. It influences many of his works a sense
of place, and it can be seen from one of his work, a short story entitled “Breakfast”. It was
published in 1936 in Pacific Weekly.
The
story told about someone who met a poor family while he was walking along a
country road. He approached to a grey tent. There was a woman who was preparing
a breakfast for her family with a baby nursing to her. Suddenly an old and a
young man came out of the tent. They said good morning and asked him whether he
had already had a breakfast or not. He answered “No”, and they offered him to
join their breakfast. They sat down on the ground enjoying the nice breakfast
then. The woman talked that those man got new clothes, dungarees, and it was
from their work for picking cotton. The young man said that they had been
working for twelve days so far, and he was really thankful for it. When they
started to eat, the old man filled his mouth full and he chewed and swallowed
the food. He really thanked God for the food that he had. The young man also
said that they had been eating good for twelve days. They continued to eat,
quickly and frantically, and refilled the plates and ate again until they were
full. They also enjoyed the hot coffee that scalded their throat. After having
the breakfast, the young man asked him to join their work to pick cotton too,
but he refused it. He said he got to go along. He thanked for the breakfast and
continued walking away down the country road.
From
the story, we can see an optimism from the family. They always felt happy and
thankful for every little thing that they had. Even though they did not have
any house and lived by moving a place to place with their tent, they still felt
thankfull. They actually did not have a permanent job before, but when they got
a job for twelve days, they really thanked God. Even though they were poor and
did not have a good food to eat before, they still were very kind to offer him
to join their breakfast. After they got money from their job and buy new
dungarees, they were very happy. It was just easy for them to become very
happy. It really represented a simplicity. They did not need a big house, a
luxurious car, expensive clothes, high position of job, or even much money to be
happy. Money and things can not buy you happines. Happines is about how your
attitude to be thankful for what you have ever gotten.
References:
Pessimism in "The Waste Land" by T.S. Eliot
When
we talked about the twenty-first century, we might directly think about T.S.
Eliot and his famous poem called "The Waste Land". T.S Eliot became
the most important literary figure in around 20th century and also a modernist
poet. He wrote The Waste Land in 1922. Differed from Housman's poem, he
describes optimism from the past while T.S Eliot represents pessimism. That
pessimism feeling that many of twenty century poets had wasn't because
self-pity, but it was all pure from intellectual and more impersonal. T.S Eliot
regarded as a poet who writes about loneliness, boredom, and emptiness in
around 20th century. He began to predict about more issues about pessimism
after the First World War. He frustrated himself and pessimist about the future
lives that people would had later. The poem consist some symbols; water, music
and singing, and the fisher king. Those portrays some meaning--water symbolized
both life and death. He tried to explain to reader that water can both harm and
bring some luck as well. Water can both help for restoring life, but also lead
into drowning and death, like what the character name Phlebas the sailor from
The Waste Land. The other symbols, which are the fisher king and music and
singing, also represent thoughtful meaning. The fisher king is actually the
central character in The Waste Land. He represents Jesus Christ as a fish.
Whereas, Eliot explains the Fisher King as a symbolic of humanity, as if it's
connected to the meaningless of urban existence. On the other hand, Eliot is an
ordinary modernist poet, so like the other modernist poet, he was interested in
the divide between high and low culture then symbolized it by using music.
Eliot believes that opera, drama and art were in decline while popular culture
was on the rise.
In
the poem, which is The Waste Land, Eliot shows his conviction about people that
lived in modern world was actually cannot fully lived. He began to say that
people who lived in modern world are spiritually dead. Eliot tried to tell
readers about how fragile human psychological state in twentieth century. He
believes that twentieth century began to destroy yet somehow beautiful and
deeply meaningful. He also adds some
details; like "human will only experience to work in their life."
Eliot uses techniques like pastiche and juxtaposition to make his points
without having to argue them explicitly. From the poem, we can see that the
writer wrote in every different section apart. From the first section, we can
see that it is called Anglican Burial Service and explain with different
speaker. This section mostly can be seen as a modified dramatic monologue. He
wrote so many section and explain step-by-step about how the waste land and the
problems--troubled religious proposition, transformation, and at the end of the
first section, Eliot established waste land as the modern city with some
fictional name and described it as desolate, depopulated and inhabited only by
ghosts from the past.
References:
SPARKNOTES, TS Eliot Poem Analysis, The Waste Land.
http://www.sparknotes.com/poetry/eliot/analysis.html
POETRY FOUNDATION, The Waste Land by T.S Eliot.
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/176735
E-Notes. Study Guide, The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot Poem Analysis.
http://www.enotes.com/topics/waste-land
T.S Eliot. http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/t-s-eliot
SHMOOP, The Waste Land Analysis.
http://www.shmoop.com/the-waste-land/poem-text.html
SPARKNOTES, TS Eliot Poem Analysis, The Waste Land.
http://www.sparknotes.com/poetry/eliot/analysis.html
POETRY FOUNDATION, The Waste Land by T.S Eliot.
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/176735
E-Notes. Study Guide, The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot Poem Analysis.
http://www.enotes.com/topics/waste-land
T.S Eliot. http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/t-s-eliot
SHMOOP, The Waste Land Analysis.
http://www.shmoop.com/the-waste-land/poem-text.html
Modernism in “The Love Song of J.Alfred Prufrock” by T.S. Eliot
In the end
of 19th century, appeared “modernists” who were writers and artists.
They were trying to find out what was happening when the century turned to 20th
century, because there are significant changes from the 19th century
to the 20th century. Small cities might be the main field of the
urban-life style because they were transformed from farming populations to
small urban centers such as banks, cinemas, hospitals, department stores,
shops, factories, and ware shops.
One of
modernism writer was T.S.Eliot. He was born in St.Louis, Missouri, United
States on September 18th 1888. His work, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, was considered as an
influential poem in the movement of modernism because it contained imagery, and
had introduced some of character such as despair, anxiety, hopelessness and
fragmentation.
In this poem, the speaker, Prufrock, wanted to ask something, an
overwhelming question, to the woman he desires. On the way to the meeting
place, he describes everything that surrounded him in a dull and bitter way. He
thought that everything was overwhelming and disorderly arranged. He also
scared of the response that he would get when he tell that something to the
woman. While he was walking down the street, he thought some random things in
his life, which shows a fragmentation. As he walked and describing things
around him, he jumped to his worries about future and old age, then he talked
about women and Lazarus. In thoughts of his old age, he seemed indecisive,
confused and hopeless; we can see that in “Shall I part my hair behind? Do I
dare to eat a peach? / I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the
beach / I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each / I do not think that
they will sing to me”. He also felt that no one would love him and take care of
him. He thought that his life was miserable and undesirable, that is why he
tell and describe something in a gloomy way. We can see in “It is impossible to
say just what I mean” that he felt he was incapable of saying things, which
shows his anxiety and despair of himself. Another example of his anxiety and
hopelessness is when he was on the way meeting the woman, instead of making
himself calm (because of the overwhelming question), he torture himself by
asking more of depressing question like “Do I
dare / Disturb the universe?”; “So how should I presume?”; “And how should I
begin?”. The despair, anxiety and hopelessness of Prufrock show the
character of modern man. Furthermore, this poem showed a bit of obsession in a
modern man. Prufrock believed that there was no point to ask the overwhelming
question to the woman, but he decided to continue meeting the woman. Out of its
theme and interpretation, Eliot used imagery in this poem, which is one of sign
of modernism. For example, "When the
evening is spread out against the sky / Like a patient etherized upon a
table" in lines 2–3, the "sawdust restaurants" and "cheap
hotels," the yellow fog, and the afternoon "Asleep...tired... or it
malingers" in line 77. To conclude, The
Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock could be considered as the sign of modernism
because Eliot used imagery in the poem and also feelings like despair, anxiety
and hopelessness which were characters of modern man.
References:
Langganan:
Postingan (Atom)