The concepts of self and reality are running themes in recent eras of poetry, and these themes are all too often associated with ideas of meaninglessness. In Larry Levis’s, “Some Grass Along a Ditch Bank” (1985), the writer brings in these different themes as the narrator contemplates grass around a farm and its relationship with the world around it. The poem is set in the farm setting that is so common in the works of Levis, and the ideas he explores about grass can easily be transferred to, or symbolic of, the ideas that the poet may have shared concerning relationships between people. Despite these connections and the deeper meaning of the poem, however, critics read this and other poems as having primarily nihilistic themes. This and other of his poems have been read as being, “bravely and madly about all-living-and-all-dying” (Halliday 92). Death and life are themes in Levis’s poem and do appear in this one, but nihilism requires that the artist also explores a general lack of meaning. Instead, reading this particular poem while considering its relation to the self and relationships, demonstrates that Levis’s focus is more on the general concept of the isolate, meaning that he writes about the lack of the individual’s ability to come to establish understanding between people, rather than a complete lack of meaning in life. …show more content…
Reading Levis’s poems through a lens of nihilism has been common way for critics to analyze them, especially considering his mentions of death, apparent skepticism, and his position was a writer after the rise of postmodern poets. Concerning another of Levis’s poems, Robert Dana remarks. “Nihilism, which is the attitude Levis's observation is grounded in, is virtually a precondition for the work of a number of contemporary poets. Unfortunately, in their work as well as in the work of other postmodern poets, the word ‘nothing’ appears far too frequently, taking on the air of fashionable verbal tic, of easy out and deadly cliché” (46). Nihilism is associated with the word “nothing” and the lack of meaning or purpose in most aspects of life. In his criticism, Dana notes that nihilism is a common theme to poets of this era, and claims that the word “nothing” to become a cliché in these poems. However, Dana continues on to make the allowance that this is not always the case for Levis. Many other critics mention nihilism too, all in a similar manner. They see Levis as a part of postmodern skepticism that means he must be nihilistic, but this neglects other aspects of his poems dealing with self and relationships. Despite the generally accepted presences of nihilism, there something different about the portrayal of nihilistic themes that have been noted in Levis’s poetry, showing that there may be more to them than is, at first, apparent. D. W. Fenza also looks at Levis’s work with a nihilistic point of view and noted that he “dramatized nihilism in playful and original phrasing and imagery” and that “the nihilism of Levis's poetry negated beliefs and consolations, but it did so to revivify our humanity and refresh the abilities of poetry” (11). Like Fenza, many of these critics believe that there is a certain nihilism, in Levis’s poetry, but that Levis does something different with it. Here, Fenza notes that Levis dramatizes it in playful imagery and is able to revive humanity through nihilism. This seems to be a contradiction, though, when one considers that nihilism stands in the face what one would expect to revive humanity, things such as meaning and purpose. It leads to a consideration that there is more to the poems than a mere expression of meaninglessness. Levis’s works may have elements of nothingness, of things relating to the blank of nihilism, but he goes beyond this and his poems often imply that there is meaning behind the apparent blankness that is simple hard to grasp. Mark Halliday states concerning an elegy written by Levis, “The poetry is suffused with awareness that the poet won't last, the reader won't last, and the appreciation anyone gets in life will never be enough, and thus the ultimate sublime efficacy of poetry will have to come-if it comes at all-in a fabulously tenuous and threatened spiritual life beyond the life of the poet who breathed and walked” (90). Thus, Levis writes about and certain knowing and understanding about the temporary state of being and life, even as he is trying to create something that lasts. It makes sense that a poem serving as an elegy would have themes of death and the ephemeral quality of being, but as Halliday is quoted for mentioning before, with this “all-dying” sense comes an “all-living” aspect. Death is a part, but not all of Levis’s poetry. Dana also mentions, in contrast, that, “The poems are chock full of actual life, of people we all know and have been” (46). Levis’s poems are not one sided in their view of being. As much as he depicts death and emptiness, his poems demonstrate a fullness of other people’s life. The darker themes and conflicts in his poems, instead, seem to rise from confusion of the self and, most of all, an inability to connect completely with others. They demonstrate part of the general search for meaning that has been a part of the progression of poetry since the postmodern era, and this is particularly true through his exploration of relationships. In “Some Grass along a Ditch Bank,” Levis shows a particular attention to meaning that exists behind apparent nothings of relationships through the depiction of grass.
Seeking for the self and identity, entangled with a search for reality, are themes beyond nihilism that are also common to postmodern poets and those who followed after. The descriptions reflect the way that people endlessly attempt to reach out and understand one another, but often fail. They have meaning for themselves, but this meaning is unattainable to the other person. Each individual is isolated in their own understanding and can only make meaning for
themselves. The theme of the isolate appears in many of Levis’s poems, but the setting of this poem allows the reader to think about the concepts in isolation without directly relating them to human figures or to tragedy. Detached, these themes become clearer than when mixed with deeper, more personal emotion, which is something that can make the poem appear more nihilistic. Instead, the very essence of this poem is in creating meaning through something that normally has no meaning, something like grass that goes untouched, except when poets address it metaphorically as happens here. The lines drawn between people and grass are interesting when one considers that, “With nihilism as fierce as Levis's, his skepticism was sometimes antithetical to the making of poems, because in poetry, as in other arts, one juxtaposes images so that one thing is infused with the qualities of another” (Fenza 14). Skepticism is apparently antithetical to certain poetic concepts, such as the juxtaposition of images, but this is what happens in this poem as grass and people are related. There is meaning infused into the poem through these images
Alan Shapiro is a poet whom uses the sorrowful tragedies that occurred in his lifetime and turns them into beautiful poems in which he greatly expresses through his poetry. Most of his poems symbolize either a type of sorrow or tragic death, and the expressions used throughout his poetry make it noticeable that Alan Shapiro endured a life of hardship and tragedy. While Shapiro was growing up he lost his brother and his sister in which the poem “Sleet” by Alan Shapiro beautifully encompasses his feeling of grief and sorrow due to the loss of his siblings.
Therefore, Oliver’s incorporation of imagery, setting, and mood to control the perspective of her own poem, as well as to further build the contrast she establishes through the speaker, serves a critical role in creating the lesson of the work. Oliver’s poem essentially gives the poet an ultimatum; either he can go to the “cave behind all that / jubilation” (10-11) produced by a waterfall to “drip with despair” (14) without disturbing the world with his misery, or, instead, he can mimic the thrush who sings its poetry from a “green branch” (15) on which the “passing foil of the water” (16) gently brushes its feathers. The contrast between these two images is quite pronounced, and the intention of such description is to persuade the audience by setting their mood towards the two poets to match that of the speaker. The most apparent difference between these two depictions is the gracelessness of the first versus the gracefulness of the second. Within the poem’s content, the setting has been skillfully intertwined with both imagery and mood to create an understanding of the two poets, whose surroundings characterize them. The poet stands alone in a cave “to cry aloud for [his] / mistakes” while the thrush shares its beautiful and lovely music with the world (1-2). As such, the overall function of these three elements within the poem is to portray the
Sociologists often employ intersectionality theory to describe and explain facets of human interactions. This particular methodology operates on the notion that sociologically defining characteristics, such as that of race, gender, and class, are not independent of one another but function simultaneously to determine our individual social experiences. This is evident in poetry as well. The combination of one poet’s work that expresses issues on class with another poet’s work that voices issues on race, and so forth, can be analyzed through a literary lens, and collectively embody the sociological intersectionality theory.
In the poem Grass, the speaker is assumed to be the Grass, a character, or entity of sorts, brought on by the writer. Carl Sanburg uses interrogative adverbs in order to further display the Grass’s view on humanity. Additionally, Sanburg includes the use of proper and concrete nouns to emphasize the Grass’s stability and recall violent military battles. Continually, the imperative verbs shown throughout the poem give the Grass its ultimate air of superiority. In Carl Sanburg’s poem Grass, he skillfully uses interrogative adverbs, proper and concrete nouns, and imperative verbs in order to convey a sense of superiority in the Grass, a result of brute-like human behavior throughout history.
He describes how the sun “bakes” the earth, the grasshoppers “consume the parched grass,” and how the prairies are full of “endless desolation.” The word “bakes” exhibits nature’s hostility to its surrounding lands. The grasshoppers eating the “parched grass” convey how on top of the grass slowly starving and dying, it has to deal with the grasshoppers devouring it as well; which emphasizes nature’s unforgivable attitude towards the land. The words “endless desolation” reveal that the land is nothing but despair, and that it is full of endless agony and suffering. This bleak description expresses a miserable tone that deduces the reader’s mind to believe the landscape is barren and
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.”
This motif is carried forward in two more strands. First, grass is associated with impermanence and futility in a series of increasingly intense images of material things, beginning with the almost comic picture of "wallowing in the grass" at the Lower Station, more like...
Kimberly Tsau, for example, follows De Quincey's lead in her analysis of T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land, suggesting that among the violence, apathy, and disjointedness of the poem is a call to face and learn from suffering. Her essay, "Hanging in a Jar," examines how Eliot collects a variety of "cultural memories," cutting and pasting them together to form a collection that is both terrifying and edifying.
Beyond all doubt, T. S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land” is one of the most excruciating works a reader may ever attempt. The reading is painful to the point of exhaustion for the poetry-lover as he scrutinizes the poem pericope by pericope. However, all this suffering (self-inflicted or otherwise) suggests that the author has likewise labored over the poem, emptying himself into his work--pericope by pericope. Suddenly, the reader understands that the poet intends to deliver a specific message, luring his audience to delve into the poem in search of it.
Since the dawn of time, human beings have been in a constant struggle to survive. Whether you are a man or women, black or white, rich or poor, the hardships of life have seemed to bind us together in a very cruel world. Many poets write about poverty, envy, and the outcome of war which are just a few of the many battles people fight everyday. Poems such as “Women Work”, “Richard Corey”, and “The Sad Children’s Story” define the different meanings of life.
Allen Ginsberg’s poem “A Supermarket in California” and Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s poem “Constantly Risking Absurdity” describe the struggle within to find beauty and self worth. Where Allen Ginsberg is lost in the market, desperately trying to find inspiration from Walt Whitman, Lawrence Ferlinghetti portrays the image of the poet frantically trying to balance on a high wire, risking not only absurdity, but also death. Both of these poems deal with their poet’s struggle to find meaning and their fears of failure. Where Ginsberg fears he will never find Whitman’s dream, Ferlinghetti fears falling off the high wire and being submitted to absurdity and death.
With World War II finally over and a chapter in history written, the next chapter is about to begin. The twentieth century brings with it a new literary movement called postmodern, where poetry is "breaking from modernism" and taking on a whole new style Within postmodern poetry emerge confessional poets whom remove the mask that has masked poetry from previous generations and their writings become autobiographical in nature detailing their life's most intense personal experiences, therefore becoming the focus of their work.
The everyday objects present in his poems provide the reader an alternative perspective of the world. Robert Frost uses all the elements of poetry to describe the darker side of nature. After analyzing the Poem Mending Wall and After Apple Picking it is clear that nature plays a dark and destructive role for Robert Frost. This dark side of Frost’s poetry could have been inspired from the hard life he lived.
...ze anything other than the awful finality of despair. The sense of healing and salvation at the end of The Waste Land indicates that there is hope for meaning, even in fractured worlds and obfuscated poems. But it is up to each of us to discover it.
The whole range of contemporary poetry projects the inner self of the poets. Their history, surroundings, culture, and inner self are revealed through a cluster of symbolic representation. They display their hones love for culture and heritage with comfortable strength on common themes, just as they explore “new horizon in contents”i, a...