For the final project in this class, I decided to select Kaitlyn Danner as my partner. Our poets are linked because we both chose poets from the feminist movement, I chose Adrienne Rich while she chose Marilyn Hacker. I have found information about Adrienne Rich and some of her poems on poets.org, and have also attained a greater collection of her poems through her book, The School Amoung the Ruins.

The poet I looked at for the midterm assignment was Tess Gallagher and at least the book I read (Portable Kisses), I would say that her poetry greatly differs from the poetry written by Denise Levertov. Looking at shape and the formatting of the poem, Gallagher’s poems are all pretty standard in shape, the unique thing being where she decides her stanzas should break. In contrast, Levertov’s poems, especially the ones we read in class, focus more on space. She will have indents and unexpected breaks and sometimes the shape of the poem relates to what the message in the poem is trying to convey. When looking at word choice, Gallagher’s diction is overall pretty simple and easy, and I think this contributes to a quicker pace and clear understanding. When reading Levertov’s poems, I feel like she is more just relaying her thoughts, its fast paced and the poem is constantly moving forward. This aspect of her poetry reminds me of some of the ideas talked about by Olsen in his essays. I think Levertov’s poems are more challenging because I would have to re-read many sections before being able to begin grasp what was going on. I think, however, that both these poets are progressive. Even though they are from different decades, they both have similar forward movement to their poetry, and that is what makes them modern.

Out,
Out--


The
buzz-saw snarled and rattled in the yard
And made dust and dropped
stove-length sticks of wood,

Sweet-scented stuff when the breeze drew across it.
And from there those that
lifted eyes could count
Five mountain ranges one
behind the other--~~~~
Under the sunset far into Vermont.
And the saw
snarled and rattled, snarled and rattled,
As it ran light, or had to bear a
load.
And nothing happened: day was all but done.
Call it a day, I wish
they might have said
To please the boy by giving him the half
hour

That a boy counts so much when saved from work.
His sister
stood beside them in her apron
To tell them “Supper.” At the word, the
saw,
As if to prove saws knew
what supper meant,
Leaped out at the boy’s hand, or seemed to leap--
He
must have given the hand. However it was,
Neither refused the meeting. But
the hand!
Will Graham's first outcry was a rueful laugh,
As he swung
toward them holding up the hand
Half in appeal, but half as if to keep
The
life from spilling. Then the boy saw all--
Since he was old enough to know,
big boy
Doing a man’s work, though a child at heart--
He saw all spoiled.
“Don’t let him cut my hand off--
The doctor,
when he comes. Don’t let him, sister!”
So. But the hand was gone already.

30The doctor put him in the dark of ether.
He lay and puffed his lips out
with his breath.
And then—the watcher at his pulse took fright.
No one
believed. They listened at his heart.
Little—less—nothing!—and that ended
it.
No more to build
on there.
  And they, since they
Were not the one dead, turned to their
affairs.[1


  
I chose the poem “Out, Out-“ by Robert Frost as my narrative poem. This poem fits the description of a narrative poem which
is given in the text Three Familiar
Forms of Poetry. A characteristic of narrative poems is that there are
definite beginning, middle, and ends which basically mirrors the plot pattern in
narrative stories. In this poem, I would classify the introduction as lines
1-12, the middle as lines 13-29, and the end as lines 30-36. I picked these
sections because I felt that they were all turning points in the storyline. The
voice of the poem is in third person, which is another characteristic of
narrative poetry. The use of imagery in this poem is very vivid, and Frost does
a good job of contrasting the background scenery of the wilderness and mountains
in Vermont, with the grotesque description of the boy losing his hand. There are
many important themes in this poem, such as the difference of the quality of
life between modern days and the early 20thcentury. Also, the
reference to the passage, “Out, out brief candle..” from Macbeth, coincides with
the title and therefore, eludes to a similar ending. The narrative form of the
poem, helps keep the reader reading in anticipation of what will happen next,
just as any story would. This poem is closer to the ballad narratives then the
epic ones, since most epics like Beowulf, are much longer.  

 

"Last Kiss"
Pearl Jam

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_sEtNrYlC4

Oh where, oh where, can my baby be? 9
The Lord took her away from me. 8
She's gone to heaven so I've got to be good,  11
So I can see my baby when I leave this world. 12

We were out on a date in my daddy’s car. 11
We hadn't driven very far. 8
There in the road, straight ahead, 7
A car was stalled, the engine was dead. 9
I couldn't stop, so I swerved to the right, 10
I'll never forget the sound that night. 9
The screaming tires, the busting glass, 8
The painful scream that I heard last. 8

Iambic Tetrameter
Anapestic Tetrameter