March 11 Readings

Ezra Pound used images that were not necessarily literal. He was included in the imagism movement. His use of clear language helped convey images stronger. His writings are able to evoke more than a literal image. In his poem In a Station of the Metro he was able to create a contrast between the apparition (ghostliness) of the faces in the crowd and the concrete image of the petals. There is an interesting tension made by having the face not seem like they are there. But when he creates the solid image of "petals on a black bough" saying that is what the faces are like. Pound also uses fragmentation in his writings. He creates a collage of images that connect in some way.
William Carlos Williams is able to look inside a different world in his poem The Young Housewife. The man in the car seems to be some kind of peeping tom. Williams is able to capture this moment in time of the man driving by and the woman doing her daily routine. He creates images that could be displayed in a piece of art. He is also able to capture the young housewife not made up. He speaks of how her hair is falling and she is not corseted. It is interesting how Williams starts with the young housewife and then compares her to a fallen leaf. Towards the end of the poem he mentions dried leaves. He could be saying the young housewife will eventually be one of the dried leaves. The poem leads the reader to believe the man in the car is not totally innocent. The fact that he mentions the exact time of 10 A.M. leads people to believe this is not the first time he has driven by her house. There is much more than what is exposed on the surface of this poem. Many ideas can be created form the images Williams' creates.
The Red Wheelbarrow does not give the reader very much. The poem starts out with "so much depends on." This could mean that poetry, art, or the world depends on his creation. There is a contrast between the white of the chickens and the red of the wheelbarrow.
This is Just to Say; in this poem there is a statement of eating a plum. The speaker is letting someone know they enjoyed a plum and it was delicious. It is a moment of recognition, it goes along with every day activities.
The Dance; this poem involves a lot of movement and feeling. Williams was able to express a painting in words. He used very loose words and simple language to express the painting. There is very little illusion in this poem. Williams is able to write ideas that are opposite from Eliot. The poem tries to capture the "American breath."
T.S. Eliot goes along with the idea that art can re-invent a fragmented world. He is able to take fragments from different worlds and put them together to create a new piece of art. Eliot believed in re-creating whatever was fragmented. He was able to appeal to all and bring people back together.
Wallace Stevens- The Emperor of Ice- Cream
This poem is able to embodies a funeral in a creative style. He uses ice-cream which creates a sort of light childhood state of mind. He takes parts of a funeral and writes them how his mind sees. He tries to express the idea it is bad to be dead because you're not alive. He has the conscience of making life worth living. There are no ideas but in things in this poem. Stevens wants poetry to help people come alive in their every day life.
Anecdote of the Jar conveys the idea that wilderness is living in its own way but when an outside man made object appears it changes wilderness. The jar can be compared to art, art can change anything it is around.
Langston Hughes was very intense in his writings. It does not really fit in with the other authors of his time. He was pushing the envelope with his poetry about being black. His poems were written from experience not his imagination. He uses time and movement to allow his poems to flow. His poems were very political and prophetic. He was able to write about the civil rights movement with a great deal of feeling that he wanted to put out into the world. His poems read very similar to song lyrics. He was not bound by what others thought he should write about even though most of his writings did not get published due to their content.
I enjoyed the readings in this section and how they were able to convey their ideas through as little words as possible but creating very intense imagery.