Romanticism:
1. How is the Romantic construction of the Sublime reflected in the
ideological, conceptual and linguistic construction of the texts under
consideration in this Romanticism reader? Discuss one or two examples...
Post-/modernism
1. What are the key features of High Modernism and what was the ‘movements’ agenda with regards language use?
2. How can you identify Modernist texts?
3. Is post-modernism an extension or refutation of Modernism?
4. What is ‘Beat’ poetry ?
5. What is the link between Beat poetry and blues, Beat poetry and rap?
6. What is it about both Beat poetry and rap that has provoked censorship?
1. How is the Romantic construction of the Sublime reflected in the ideological, conceptual and linguistic construction of the texts under consideration in this Romanticism reader? Discuss one or two examples..
ReplyDeleteThe Sublime is reflected in these examples, by the use of contrasting imagery, that which invokes passion or beauty and that which invokes terror.
This can be seen in Ozymandias' Ode to the West Wind, the line "The winged seeds, where they lie cold and low, Each like a corpse within its grave, until Thine azure sister of the Spring shall blow" is a clear contrast, of the seasons, with words like "corpses" and "grave" obviously giving strong imagery of death and associated with the cold winter and this is contrasted with the next line about the "azure sister of the Spring" a much warmer feeling line. This contrasting occurs throughout this poem and is particularly apparent in the last line of the first verse "Wild Spirit, which art moving everywhere; Destroyer and preserver; hear, O hear!".
Your post was very lucid, and I agree. It is funny though how the standard academic writing structure students have to follow in university classes can take a topic such as the sublime construction of texts and distill it into a rote piece of clinical-sounding text. The romantics would not be pleased with the state of academia today. They'd write poems about how young people go to university to eat circles and regurgitate boxes.
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ReplyDelete5. What is the link between Beat poetry and blues, Beat poetry and rap?
ReplyDeleteBeat poetry, blues and rap share a common message that life is hard, but it can be good if you follow your own path and celebrate your own identity. Beat poetry, blues and rap also share similar linguistic features such as quick cadences and disregard for formal grammar. Those are all surface similarities that anyone can spot after watching a few YouTube videos.
The link that originally tied the three genres together was the link that drew the "authors" into the same cultural circles where they were exposed to each other's influences in the first place.
The common link was poverty in America.
America went through a great depression in the 1930's that put Americans of every color out of work. In the 1940's America went through a dark and terrifying war that ultimately led to a time of economic prosperity.
Poor Americans who lived through that felt the same sense of despair, and they went to the same, cheap entertainment venues to escape their worries and try to feel good...at least until the morning. Poor people living in cities tend to go to bars and dance and listen to music and share ideas. So they did, and in the process they formed a common subculture with its own distinctive language, music, philosophies and icons. As the economic conditions in America evolved its subcultures followed suit. Singing the blues about one's troubles today became less popular. The beat sped up, and the message became more excited about the future. But decades later, when economic recovery never came for the poorest of the poor the beats slowed down into rap and got angrier.
But rap's not angry any more. The blues aren't sad, and white poets drink Starbucks because mainstream American consumer culture has hijacked all of the subcultures that grew out of its tumultuous past and reduced them to hollow pop-culture consumer products. But that's not going to last forever. America is well into another economic crisis, and poor people of every color are hurting again. The chatter on the streets is starting to sound a lot like it did in the 1930's. It's only a matter of time before the beat follows suit.
Nicely put.
DeleteWhat is Beat poetry?
ReplyDeleteBeat poetry is a style of poetry that emerged in the early 1950’s in America in the aftermath of World War II. Poets like Allen Ginsburg and Neal Cassady were questioning the mainstream culture of the time and used their politically laced poetry to attempt to change the way of thinking at the time.
Alcohol, drugs and promiscuity are all associated with the Beat poets as their alternative lifestyles were an outing for their non conformist attitudes.
The term itself, ‘beat’, was coined by Keroac. In his article, John Clellon Holmes explains the meaning of the words as being one that
“implies the feeling of having been used, of being raw. It involves a sort of nakedness of mind, and, ultimately, of soul; a feeling of being reduced to the bedrock of consciousness. In short, it means being undramatically pushed up against the wall of oneself. A man is beat whenever he goes for broke and wagers the sum of his resources on a single number; and the young generation has done that continually from early youth.”
John Clellon Holmes - http://www.litkicks.com/Texts/ThisIsBeatGen.html
Delete1. How is the Romantic construction of the Sublime reflected in the ideological, conceptual and linguistic construction of the texts under consideration in this Romanticism reader? Discuss one or two examples...
ReplyDeletePateman (2004, 1991) refers to Burke's 'A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful' to define the notion of the sublime in art. Burke believes the sublime has to do with terror ; "terror is in all cases whatsoever, either more openly or latently the ruling principle of the sublime". What, then, are we afraid of? He goes on to state that subjectively, we are afraid of pain, and objectively, we are terrified of vastness, by obscurity, by power, and by infinity, this last one, being said to fill the mind with a "delightful horror". "Delightful horror" certainly seems to define the romantic construction of the sublime, with the simultaneous awe, and terror, of the mind playing an important part in the romantic construction of art.
Mary Shelley was not averse to this inspiration. She wanted to attempt a story which would "speak to the mysterious fears of our nature, and awaken thrilling horror". Interestingly,the very things that critic Burke defines as terrifying; vastness, obscurity, power, and infinity, all have a God-like quality to them. In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, there is a terrifying madness in the mortal scientist attaining an immortal characteristic; the bringing to life of something previously inanimate, both in his rabid attempts to do it, and his reaction when he actually succeeds.
Mary Shelley's famous novel 'Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus' (1985; 1818) was written on a wet 1816 summer in Switzerland, inspired by a collection of German ghost stories. Poet Lord Byron challenged the friends staying with him over summer to all write ghost stories. Mary Shelley was stuck for inspiration, until she listened to a discussion between her future husband Percy Bysshe Shelley, and friend Lord Byron, about a scientist who had supposedly 'reanimated' dead matter. She had a waking inspiration that night, about a scientist putting together a "hideous phantasm of a man" who he then brought to life.
The "delightful horror" of Romanticism is certainly in Mary Shelley's protaganist, Victor Frankenstein, when he creates his 'monster'. Victor describes his first initial emotions when the 'monster' awakes thusly:
"His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful! Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but those luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun-white sockets in which they were set, his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips."
Continued...
ReplyDeleteThe horror of the situation is amplified by the very fact that the features Victor chose are supposed to be beautiful, for all intensive purposes, to the outside world, but are in fact greusome in their horrible mockery of beauty. It is only when the thing comes alive that Victor realises his terrible mistake; that his curiosity, "ardour that far exceeded moderation" to bring forth 'unnatural' life, has in fact been his downfall. He soon falls into mental decline through his terrible fear, and suffers a mental breakdown soon after, nursed back to health by a caring friend.
His mental breakdown is also an insight into the "delightful horror" of the romantics. Victor Frankenstein refers to the house where the 'monster' is, his own house, as an "asylum" and to his wanders on the streets "in the sickness of fear". The physical attributes of fear are palpable to this character; he physically 'experiences' his emotional reaction. These themes seem to be a key to the Romantic construction of the sublime in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, where awe and horror combine, building on each other to great heights.
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ReplyDeleteWhat is beat poetry?
ReplyDeleteBeat poetry a style of rhyming that was considered a very expressive way of rhyming/poetry. its considered to be a culture that had experimentation with drugs, alternative forms of sexuality, and the idealizing of exuberant, unexpurgated means of expression and being.
It was the origins and beginnings of what we call today Rap and Hiphop. Originating back in the 1950's when written poetry alone was no longer strong enough, it needed to be expressed in order to convey audiences with its message. one of the earliest examples before it became a cultural phenomena was expressed through movies like 'High school confidential" --> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVOXxDV5BdI
through the likes of Allen Ginsburg, brought poetry to a controversial state with Beat poetry. by freely expressing poetry through political means by confronting issues that they felt people needed to hear and things that needed to be changed.