American Poetry

-Biographies of American poets-Ideologies/styles in American poetry

Emily Dickinson

•Known for her unusual life of isolation. •Had a rift with family due to

disagreement over religion.•Questioned the nature of immortality and

death in her poems. •Known as a transcendentalist poet.

“Because I Could Not Stop for Death” Annotation

1. In line 2, what adverb describes Death’s actions? Why is this ironic?

2. What three scenes does the carriage pass in Stanza 3? What is the significance of these images?

3. Paraphrase stanzas 4-6. What is she seeing? Is it literal or symbolic?

4. How does this poem show qualities of transcendentalism?

5. What do you think is the overall message of this poem?

Walt Whitman

• Struggled to make ends meet his entire life.• Was the poet to bridge Transcendentalism and

Realism• Often discussed politics and issues of human

rights in his poems, which were long and very prose-like.

• Known as “the poet of democracy” – he was anti-slavery, pro-temperance, and open to all religions and sexualities.

• The Beat poets of the 1950’s (like Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg) modeled themselves after Whitman.

• Known as a humanist

“Song of Myself” Annotation1.  According to section 1 of the poem, what things seem important

to the speaker, and what does he enjoy?2.  What is the mood of the first two stanzas in particular?  What

words give you this sense?3.  How does the speaker of the poem feel about schools and other

institutions (stanza 4)? 4.  How does the speaker of the poem feel about nature according to

the beginning of section 6?  5.  What are the qualities of grass that the poet admires as explained

throughout the stanzas in section 6?  6. Which lines here are similar to the ideas from “Because I Could

Not Stop for Death”?7. Why do you think Whitman titled his entire book of poetry Leaves

of Grass? 8. What realistic images are portrayed in section 14?9. What are the connections that can be made between the

transcendentalist, humanist, and realist aspects of the poem? What verses or stanzas support this?

Robert Frost• Attended Dartmouth College for a few

months – is known as the most famous Dartmouth dropout.

• Also attended Harvard for some time but never graduated.

• Personal life was filled with grief – many deaths in the family.

• Known primarily as a realist poet, for his realistic descriptions of rural life in New England

“Nothing Gold Can Stay”

1.What is the overall message of this poem?

2.What devices are used to get this message across?

3.How does this poem show qualities of realism? Transcendentalism?

“A Time to Talk”

1.What is the overall message of this poem?

2.Do you agree or disagree with this message? Why/why not?

3.How does this poem show qualities of realism?

“Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening”

1. What two actions does the speaker engage in in the first stanza?

2. What does the fact that the speaker’s horse “must think it queer” reveal about what the speaker is doing?

3. What phrase is repeated in the poem’s last two lines? Why do you think it is repeated?

4. What do you think is the overall message of the poem?

5. How does this poem show qualities of realism?

The Imagism Movement•The Imagist movement was a style of

poetry that was free verse (non-rhyming poems) and devoted to “clarity of expression through the use of precise visual images and as few words as possible.”

• Imagism was a reaction to the “flabby abstract language” and "careless thinking" of Romanticism.

• Imagism actually originated in Chinese and Japanese lyric poetry.

•Also known as modernism.

William Carlos Williams

•Imagist/Modernist poet of the early 20th century.

•His primary occupation was as a doctor.

•He considered himself a socialist and an opponent of capitalism.

“This is Just to Say”

1. What is the intention of the speaker in this poem? (look at the title---what was the poem supposed to be?)

2. Which details in the second stanza challenge the speaker’s sincerity?

3. What might this poem be suggesting about people?

4. How could this poem connect to the poet’s socialist beliefs?

Langston Hughes

• Best known for his work during the Harlem Renaissance, which began in the 1920’s – was one of the first successful African American writers in the 20th century.

• Created a bridge between Imagism and jazz poetry (poems with a jazz-like rhythm).

• Left a legacy of “black pride” in his poems that some later poets considered to be too aggressive.

• His main message in his poems was to uplift his people and give them hope for a better future.

All Dream poems

1. What is the overall message of this poem?

2. What poetic devices are used to get this message across?

3. Contrast: How is “Dream Variations” different from the previous two poems in message, use of devices, and general form?