Comparision of Poems
I choose topic one for the final paper. I picked 15 poems from McClure's Magazine from the years of 1918 and 1920. Some quick generalizations about the published poems are that they are rather short compared to the literary work in the Norton Anthology. Another generalization is that they tend to rhyme where as most of the lines in the poems Norton Anthology tend to just flow without rhyming. Another generalization about the poems from 1918 is that most of them are about war or have something to do with the topic of war. Most of the poems from 1920 have to do with nature. The published poems are short and easy to read. Also, they are easy to understand. What the poem is talking about is clearly stated and easy to find out. The poems in the Norton Anthology are somewhat longer than published poems. These poems are about stuff the poet is thinking about, they have no common interest. The various poems by the various poets do not have a common theme. Also, the poems in the Norton Anthology are difficult to understand. The reader has to read them a few times to get some insight into what he poem is about. The reader has to dissect each line and at the end put all their thoughts together to get
Another example is The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S. Elliot. This poem is from 1915. This is a prime example of my generalizations about poems from the Norton Anthology. This poem is very long and quit boring. It is hard to understand because of the language that T.S. Elliot uses. The words Elliot uses to describe the different events are hard to understand. Following the story is difficult because he jumps from thing to thing. When one first looks at it, one thinks the poem is about a love song. As the reader goes on they become more and more confused on what is going on this poem. They have to sit there and think about every little thing that has been mentioned. This makes it more difficult and confusing which just irritates the reader and they just give up on trying to understand it. Unlike the easy to read and understand published poems of the time, this poem creates confusion and disarray in the readers mind. Once again, most readers do not want to have to sit and analyze what there reading, they want to understand and go one to another poem or whatever else they want to do. A third poem from 1918 that was about the war is The People's Hour by Daniel Henderson. This poem is a little longer than the other two, however, it is easy to read because of the rhyming pattern and its' meaning is clear. It talks about rejoicing because the war is over. It talks about how war destroys but it is over now and to be happy that it is done. It says that it is the people's hour because freedom won and anarchy was destroyed. Henderson writes: In contrast, two poems from William Carlos Williams, The Red Wheelbarrow (1923) and Death (1930), are about meaningless things. The Red Wheelbarrow is very short, however, it makes no sense. Who would want to read this poem? It is about nothing. It has no meaning and is just there. Death is about the death a dog dying. Who would want to read about a dog dying? Sure, it probably has some hidden meaning that a reader has to think about, but who wants to read about a dog dying. These two poems are hard to read because they do not make sense to a normal person. Their form is hard to read because there are just a few words to each line and they are spread out over the page. These characteristics make these types of poems unattractive and unappealing. Now I would like to talk about two poems from 1920 and one from 1918. These poems tend to be about some aspect of nature. I am going to look at I Have Grown Tired of a Tree by Theodosia Garrison, The Call of the Sea by James Stuart Montgomery, and April Is Here by Bliss Carmen. As Justice rules the heart of man! Another published poem about the war is When He Comes Home Again by Theodosia Garrison. This poem fits my generalizations about published poems perfectly. It is short, has a rhyming pattern, and is easy to understand. The rhyming pattern of the poem makes it easy to read and the shortness of it makes it appealing
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2007
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)
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