Poff 2 Allison L. Poff
Mrs. Feroben
A3
5 February 2016 Dylan Thomas
Dylan Marlais Thomas born at 5 Cwmdonkin Drive, Uplands, Swansea. His father, David John (D.J.) Thomas was Senior English Master at Swansea Grammar School. Dylan Thomas is one of the most original voices in British poetry since Yeats and Elliot. Thomas only lived 39 years, writing beautiful poetry. Dylan’s time and life had only little to do with his poetry. His father David J. Thomas was Senior English Master at Swansea Grammar School, which Dylan attended. At the age of 17, Dylan left Grammar School, in 1931. He worked as a writer; on books and theatricals. He also worked on other subjects because he wrote for the weekly ‘Herald of Wales’ and as a reporter for the
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An ugly, yet lovely town, (or so it was to me) crawling, sprawling, slummed, unplanned, and smug suburban by the side of a long and splendid curving shore where truant boys and sand field boys. Then, in the tatters and hangovers, of a hundred charity suits, beach combed, idled and paddled, watch the dock bound boats, threw stones into the sea for the barking, outcast dogs, and on a Saturday summer afternoon, listening to the militant music of salvation and hell fire preached from a soap box.” Thomas selected 89 of his poems to be published as “The Collected Poems of Dylan Thomas” The poems appeared in different volumes and at different times in the United States and England. ‘The Buffalo Notebooks’ reveal that Thomas had already written much of his best and most original poetry before he was 20. These notebooks- dated from 1930-1934 and now in the Longwood Memorial Library at the University of Buffalo- contain numerous rejected poems and drafts from which published versions of the poems were derived. Material from the notebooks he kept in the early 1930’s reappears in all his later works and about two thirds of his corpus was composed between ages 16 and 20 years …show more content…
Dylan Thomas saw himself as an heir to the English romantic tradition, a tradition the he evoked in his poetry as an alternative to classicism of Eliot and political consciousness of Auden. “My lines, all my lines, are of the tenth intensity. They are not the words that express what I want to express. They are only words I can find that come to expressing only half.” He claimed “My poetry is, or should be, useful to me for one reason: it is the record of my individual struggle from darkness towards some measure of light.” Thomas also believed that his poems about his emotions described struggles and conflicts that readers would recognize as their own. As he groped among painful and depressive feelings, turning his thoughts into poems, Thomas was formulating both mysticism and a poetic
Holbrook, David. Llareggub Revisted: Dylan Thomas and the State of Modern Poetry. Cambridge: Bowes and Bowes, 1965. 100-101.
Michael Gray’s analysis of Dylan’s lyrics being a contrast between hackneyed expressions and “beautifully done” are exemplified in the song “Just Like a Woman.” Dylan’s lyrics “she aches just like a woman but she breaks just like a little girl” is given the harsh description of “maudlin platitude” and deemed to be a “non-statement.” If Dylan’s lyrics cannot uphold against meaningful music of the same category, how can they be expected to stand against literature written for a different field. John Lennon had his own critiques of Dylan’s works, calling out how the abstract nature of his lyrics, having loose definition, never achieved an actual point. Lennon’s definition of “poetry” referred to “stick[ing] a few images together” and “thread[ing] them” in order to create something meaningful. It once again boils down to the fact that Dylan’s music that was written and intended to be received as a live performance. The acknowledgement that “…you have to hear Dylan doing it” is a recognition of his composition’s failure to come across as a normal literary work. It’s all part of a “good game.” This in itself should disqualify Dylan as a possible candidate for the Nobel Prize.
In today’s modern view, poetry has become more than just paragraphs that rhyme at the end of each sentence. If the reader has an open mind and the ability to read in between the lines, they discover more than they have bargained for. Some poems might have stories of suffering or abuse, while others contain happy times and great joy. Regardless of what the poems contains, all poems display an expression. That very moment when the writer begins his mental journey with that pen and paper is where all feelings are let out. As poetry is continues to be written, the reader begins to see patterns within each poem. On the other hand, poems have nothing at all in common with one another. A good example of this is in two poems by a famous writer by the name of Langston Hughes. A well-known writer that still gets credit today for pomes like “ Theme for English B” and “Let American be American Again.”
Edward Cummings was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1894. His father was a professor at Harvard, leading Cummings to attend Harvard from 1911-1915 (Poetry for Students vol.3). At a young age Cummings showed a strong interest in poetry and art. His first published poems appeared in the anthology “Eight Harvard poets” in 1917. During WW1 Cummings volunteered for the French-based ambulance service and he spent four years in an internment camp in Normandy on suspicion of treason (Poetry for Students vol.3). When Cummings returned to New York, he pursued painting but was drafted in 1918. During the 1920's and the 1930's Cummings traveled throughout Europe, developing careers in painting and poetry. He published his first poetry collection, “Tulips and Chimneys”, in 1923(Poetry for Students vol.3). He continued to write steadily throughout the 1940's and 1950's, receiving many awards, and he continued to write poetry till his death. Cummings exemplified many unique styles in his poems, including the poems “Old Age Sticks”, “l(a”, and “Maggie and Milly and Molly and May”, and how each poem impacted the art of literature.
Whitman’s approach to poetry is a reflection of his thought. These thoughts are free and wild, and his typical run-on sentences and his endless litanies of people and places represent the thoughts trying to be conveyed. The overall effect of these run-on sentences provides the reader with a feeling of greatness and of freedom. All of the feelings that are evoked from Whitman’s style can be classified as quintessentially American democratic feelings. The belief that Whitman had no style would imply that Americans as a society have no style, a statement that not only Whitman but Emerson and Thoreau as well fought against through their writings. Whitman and Emerson fighting for the same cause is not coincidental, Whitman has often been viewed as the “child” of Emerson, his work being greatly influenced by Emerson. Whitman’s technique of looking at everything as a whole and always opposed to breaking up the whole can be linked to his belief of unity within our country and the reason why he took the Civil War extremely hard and personal.
Poems, Poets, Poetry: An Introduction and Anthology. 3rd ed. Ed. Helen Vendler. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s,
Thomas' poem made more of an impact on me because it is so much more
"Zora Neale Hurston is Born." history.com. A&E Television Networks, 7 Jan. 2016. Web. 12 Jan.
Romantic poets have what is known as an “artistic hero” but this comes at a cost in which you can never be close to anybody [2]. Also from other class readings, Dylan admits to lying to the press about where he is from and other background information. This could easily be due to his inspiration from this book [3].
If voices were not heard through poetry, poetry would not have had the effect on society and history that it has had. Bibliography B.C. Southam A Student's Guide to the Selected Poems of T.S. Eliot Faber and Faber Limited, London, 1994 M. Herbert T.S. Eliot Selected Poems YORK PRESS London, 2000 T.S. Eliot Selected Poems Faber and Faber Limited, London, 2002 Nicol, Andrew http://www.philosophyclassics.com/essays/680/ (April 2004) [1] T.S. Eliot To-Day September 1918 [2] M. Herbert T.S.
Dylan Thomas was born in 1914 of intellectual parents both being literature professors. Long before he could read, his father would recite poetry from classic authors. Many of his poems can be traced to the illustrated style of D.H Lawrence. The imagery he provides of disparity and death in many of his poems. In the span of Dylan’s life, he witnessed both Great Wars. The first war may have been the main topic of discussion by his parents at childhood. And later at service in the air defense over London. Because of his determined health Thomas was not able to enroll in an active combat role during World War II. Thomas life’s experiences played a major role in influencing his writing...
Through his brilliance of pen to paper, he provided meaning and direction for those lost in the creation of a new post-war, modernist society. He cleared the path for those struggling to self-identify and individualize. Through a vast collection of poetry and short novels, Cummings played a significant role in the modernist movement of literature. “E.E. Cummings was, without a doubt, one of the most startling poetic innovators to write in the English language. Each stanza, each line, each word demands separate explication in relation to the content in which occurs” (Stanley). Cummings served as one of the most distinguished ambassadors of a new image of the world, with special emphasis on race, gender, regional perspectives, love/sexuality, ethnicity, and stylistic approaches to literary creativity and formatting.
Not many people would mind having the title of a poet, except maybe one of the most influential artists of all time. (Kennedy and Gioia, 599) Bob Dylan was a remarkable protest singer and songwriter during the Vietnam Era with many well-remembered songs about war and many other significant topics concerning the era. He has influenced many modern day songwriters and many other famous bands such as the Beatles. (Marinucci, Steve)
The History Of Lord Byron Lord Byron also known as George Gordon was a romantic poet/ writer during early 1800's. He was born on January 22, 1788 in London. when he turned 10 he inherited the English barony of Byron of Rochdale, making him "Lord Byron". The time period in which he wrote was the peak times for romanticism.
...In "The Waste Land," Eliot delivers an indictment against the self-serving, irresponsibility of modern society, but not without giving us, particularly the youth a message of hope at the end of the Thames River. And in "Ash Wednesday," Eliot finally describes an example of the small, graceful images God gives us as oases in the Waste Land of modern culture. Eliot constantly refers back, in unconsciously, to his childhood responsibilities of the missionary in an unholy world. It is only through close, diligent reading of his poetry that we can come to understand his faithful message of hope.