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A shift away from an assumption that

traditional form, ideas & history canprovide meaning & continuity to

human life

World War II produced a sense ofhistory as discontinuous: each act,

emotion & moment is seen as unique

Familiar categories of expression are

suspect

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Originality is the new tradition

The historical causes for this dissociatedsensibility are:

1. World War II

2. The rise of anonymity & consumerism in

mass urban society3. The protest movements of the 1960s

4. Decade long Vietnam conflict

5. The Cold War

6. Environmental threats

7. The rise of mass media: radio, movies,TV, compact discs & cassettes

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American poetry has been influenced by

mass media & electronic technology

Poetry offers people a way to express

subjective life & articulate the impact of

mass society & technology on individual Inexpensive photographic methods of

printing have encouraged young poets to

self-publish & young editors to publishliterary mags

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A host of styles vie for competition

Contemporary American poetry isdecentralized, richly varied & impossible

to summarize

Conversely, however, it can be arrangedalong a spectrum:

1. The traditional poets

2. The idiosyncratic poets

3. The experimentalists

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The Traditional Poets

Maintained or revitalized poetic tradition They are the acknowledged masters of

traditional forms & diction who write with a

readily recognized craft They often use rhyme or a set metrical

pattern

Welcome resounding poetic lines They come from the U. S. Easternseaboard or from the southern part of thecountry

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The Fugitive poets are included in these

ranks

Refinement, respect for nature & profound

conservative values are their hallmark

Precise, realistic & witty poets

Rhetorical diction of obsolete or odd

words, using many adjectives

Although many traditional poets use

rhyme, not all rhymed poetry is traditional

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Confessional poetry: a new mode in

which poet bared his most tormentingpersonal problems with great honesty &

intensity

Robert Howell initiated this kind of poetry

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The Idiosyncratic Poets

These poets combined traditional & innovative

techniques in creating unique voices

They extended tradition into new realms with a

distinctively contemporary flavor Important poets include

1. Sylvia Plath

2. Theodore Roethke3. Elizabeth Bishop

4. Adrienne Rich

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The Experimentalists

They courted new cultural styles in poetry

It begun in the 1950s by a number ofpoets who may be divided into five schools

Inspired by jazz & abstract expressionistpainting

They tend to be bohemian, counter-

cultural intellectuals Outspokenly criticised bourgeois

American society

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Daring, original, & sometimes shocking

Looser forms which arise from thesubject matter & the feeling of the poet

as the poem is written & from the natural

pauses of language Projected Verse: insisted on an open

form based on the spontaneity of the

breath pause in speech & the typewriterline in writing

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Donald Allens Division

The schools are:

1.The Black Mountain School

2.The san Francisco School3.Beat Poets

4.The New York School

5.Recent movements & experiments:surrealism, existentialism

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Beat Poetry

Emerged in 1950s Oral, repetitive & immensely popular in

readings

It developed out of poetry readings inunderground clubs

Some call it the grand-parent of par musicthat became popular in 1960s

Anti-establishment form of poetry

A cry of pain & rage at what the pot seesas the loss on innocence in America

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Multiethnic Poetry

Renaissance in multiethnic literature in the

second half of the 20th c.

during the 1970s, ethnic studies programs,

conferences, academic journals & literary

magazines began commanding public attention

Important issues included race versus ethnicity,

ethnocentrisms vs. polycentricism,monolingualism vs. bilingualism coaptation vs.

marginalization

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Prominent Ethnic Groups

Hispanic-Americans

Native Americans: Simon Ortiz

African Americans: Maya Angelou,

Nikki Giovanni,

Asian Americans

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New Dimensions

Language poets: stretch language toreveal its potential for ambiguity,fragmentation & self assertion within

chaos Ironic, postmodern, they reject

metanarratives _ideologies, dogmas,

conventions, They propose open forms & multicultural

texts

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Images from popular cultures & the

media are fashioned & refashioned bythem

Poetry slams: open poetry reading

contests that are held in alternative artgalleries & literary book stores

At the end of the theoretical spectrum are

the New Formalists who champion thecause of a return to form, rhyme & meter

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Performance Poetry

Performanceoriented poetry: jazzimprovisations, mixed media work (film,

video, acoustics & technology)

Ethnic performance poetry centeredaround rap music

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Sound poetry

Emphasized the voice & instruments

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Concrete poetry

Makes a visual statement using placement

& typography

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