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Modern & Contemporary American Poetry (“ModPo”)

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University of Pennsylvania

Modern & Contemporary American Poetry (“ModPo”)

178 个评分

ModPo is a fast-paced introduction to modern and contemporary U.S. poetry, with an emphasis on experimental verse, from Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman to the present. Participants (who need no prior experience with poetry) will learn how to read poems that are supposedly "difficult." We encounter and discuss the poems one at a time. It's much easier than it seems! Join us and try it! Yes, the next live, interactive 10-week session of ModPo will begin on September 8, 2018, and will conclude on November 19, 2018. Al Filreis will be in touch with you by email before the September 8 start of the course with all the information you'll need to participate. If you have questions, you can email the ModPo team at modpo@writing.upenn.edu. During the 10 weeks of the course, you will be guided through poems, video discussions of each poem, and community discussions of each poem. And (unique among open online courses) we offer weekly, interactive live webcasts. Our famed TAs also offer office hours throughout the week. We help arrange meet-ups and in-site study groups. If you are curious about the ModPo team, type "ModPo YouTube introduction" into Google or your favorite search engine, and watch the 20-minute introductory video. You will get an overview of the course and will meet the brilliant TAs, who will be encountering the poems with you all the way to the end. If you use Facebook, join the always-thriving ModPo group: from inside Facebook, search for "Modern & Contemporary American Poetry" and then request to be added as a member. If you have any questions about ModPo, you can post a question to the FB group and you'll receive an almost instant reply. We tweet all year long at @ModPoPenn and you can also find ModPo colleagues using the hashtag #ModPoLive. ModPo is hosted by—and is housed at—the Kelly Writers House at 3805 Locust Walk on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia USA. All ModPo'ers are welcome to visit the Writers House when they are in our area. Our discussions are filmed there. Our live webcasts take place in the famed "Arts Cafe" of the House. To find out what's going on at the Writers House any time, just dial 215-746-POEM.

从本节课中

chapter 1.2 (week 2)—Whitmanians & Dickinsonians

<p><b>Week 2 of ModPo 2018 runs from Sunday, September 16 at 9 AM through Sunday, September 23 at 9 AM. </b>For those doing ModPo on their own or in small groups, the week 2 materials are open and available all year.</p><p>During this week, the second half of chapter 1, we will read the work of two poets writing in the Whitmanian mode and three poets writing in the Dickinsonian mode. We will encounter our Whitmanians, William Carlos Williams and Allen Ginsberg, again later in the course—Williams as a modernist and Ginsberg as a Beat poet. The Whitman/Williams/Ginsberg connection is a strong one; Ginsberg wrote directly in response to both Whitman and Williams and saw the lineage as crucial to the development of his approach. Our Dickinsonians are more disparate in their response to Dickinson’s writing. Of the three—Lorine Niedecker, Cid Corman, and Rae Armantrout—only the last could be said to be a direct poetic descendant of Emily Dickinson's aesthetic. </p><p><b>ASSIGNMENTS:</b> During this week, there are two quizzes due and a writing assignment. Writing assignment #1 is open for submission between 9 AM on 9/17/18 and 9 AM on 9/23/18; after that, peer reviews will be submitted any time between 9 AM on 9/24/18 and 9 AM on 9/30/18. There is also a live webcast on Thursday, September 20, at noon (Philadelphia time).</p>

watch video on William Carlos Williams’s “Smell!”15:14

watch video on William Carlos Williams's "Danse Russe"19:33

watch video on Allen Ginsberg's "A Supermarket in California"15:40

watch video on Lorine Niedecker's "Grandfather Advised Me"13:54

watch video on Lorine Niedecker's "You are my friend"12:03

watch video on Lorine Niedecker's "Foreclosure"8:07

watch video on Cid Corman's "It isnt for want"14:28

watch video on Rae Armantrout's "The Way"21:40

watch video on distinctions between “Dickinsonian” and “Whitmanian” proto-modernism11:36

与讲师见面

Al Filreis
Kelly Professor, Dir. Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing, Faculty Dir. Kelly Writers House

>> So we have another Lorine Niedecker poem.

Another well known one, You Are My Friend. Who's she talking to?

Who's the speaker talking to? We don't really know, but let's take some

guesses. Marise?

>> It's not really a guess, because autobiograph, autobiographiically, I think

she's referring to her lover, at the time, who.

>> Was averse to marrying her. So he.

>> Oh, you know something about [inaudible].

>> Yeah. You Are My Friend is not exactly a

positive title. >> It's not positive?

>> Don't think so. >> Oh, goodness.

You're doing some biographical reading. Okay.

In the poem, do we have some evidence about who this person is?

>> Clearly a companion who accompanies her, who prepares things for her.

>> Right. >> Helps her, assists her.

>> Right. >> And holds her hand.

>> Right. Someone who helps her, okay.

And your reading, knowing a little more about [inaudible], is that there is a

certain edge to this. About how friendly this friend is, okay.

Dave Poplar. Any other ideas about, ...

>> Who is, what's the, what kind of address is this?

What kind of poem is this? It's, it's the'You Are My Friend' and all

this help suggests that the poem might be in the love poem tradition.

>> I, I read it as her talking to her own hand.

>> Okay, so you jumped right to the end. >> The, the, the punchline right at the

beginning. >> After multiple readings...

>> Does that mean? Okay.

That means we're gonna have to, we'll have to come back to that.

Okay, good. We, we have to come back to that.

Okay, so, so tell the story, Anna, in the most pedestrian sort of way.

Not that you usually do anything that's pedestrian.

But, you know, tell us, what's going on here?

What does the friend do, and... >> Looks like she's speaking to a friend

of her who very nicely runs her peaches and cranberries, and carries her fish pole

for her. And....

>> What kind of activities are these? >> It seems like summertime friend things.

>> Okay. You're doing, you're doing it temporally.

But can you be, what kind of, is this manufacturing?

Is this you know, a professional assistance?

>> [inaudible]. Kind of country type.

>> This is a. >> [inaudible] the woods.

[inaudible]. >> You know, this is somewhat pastoral.

This is a, a, you know, someone who helps you out with, the, the good things in life

peaches, oh so sweet. Peaches have lots of connotations, should

we go back to the. The two of you who differently are having.

Do, do, sort of sexual power political reason for this.

>> [laugh]. >> On one hand you have, peaches, you

know, with, with its sexual connotation maybe.

>> [inaudible] >> It has a negative edge to it and Dave eat a peaches you know lets

face it, if. >> Yeah, it can be a very sensual type of

thing. >> Okay.

So we've got peaches, very nice. We've got cranberry, highbush cranberry.

That's very, that's terrific. And fishing fresh fish.

So it's rural. It has a feeling of, kind of, requirements

for living. But it's also very nice.

Okay. So what kind of life is she leading?

>> It's. >> It's not a city, this is not urban.

>> It seems laid back. >> Seems sort of full of basics, good.

Alright. Molly, anything to add about the.

>> [inaudible]. >> It seems that the friend is maybe doing

things that she can't do. Sort of, I don't wanna say man work.

But, maybe the highbush cranberry is very high, and she can't reach.

And somebody iii... >> They're not that high, but I think

that's... >> Oh.

>> That's okay, though. >> [laugh].

>> That's good. Speaker [inaudible] worms [inaudible].

>> So this is, you carry, you carry my fishbowl, you know?

It's, like, sorta like, you carry my books on the way to school.

There's a certain parnterishness about this.

Okay, so, it seems to be positive, right? [inaudible].

>> You are my friend, you bring me peaches et cetera, you carry my fishbowl, you

water my worms. What's happening there towards the end?

The fishbowl, you water my worms. What does it mean to water worms?

Anybody know anything about fishing? Oh we may not have a lot of fishing people

in here. Does anybody want to guess?

>> Well, I mean I would assume that the worms would have to be alive for the fish

to want them. >> Yes.

>> So maybe watering the worms just adds moisture.

>> Keep the, keep the worms from drying up, I think that's right.

Patching my boot? >> What's that all about?

>> It enables her to continue the journey that she's on, without injuring herself.

Her. >> With your mending kit.

So, he or she, the you, has a mending kit. What is a mending kit?

>> Or a boot. >> Like a patch kit.

Maybe a. >> It's a patch kit.

>> Needle or. >> I mean I wish I had a mending kit, but

you know, Glorine living in her rural location has a mending kit, or, or he

does. The partner does.

>> And then that's when the turn happens, right?

>> Oh. What's the turn?

>> The turn is, you go with your mending kit nothing in it, but my hand.

>> It is. >> So, it.

>> It refers to. >> The mending kit.

>> The kit. Right.

Nothing in it. >> But my.

>> But my hand. Why is her hand in it?

>> Well how can it be her hand, but in? >> You're the friend's mending kit.

I think that's exactly what David said, though.

>> She's got her hand in his mending kit. And makes you want to do a little more of

this biographical reading for us before we.

>> Ignore it and move on. >> I just had this horrible, image of an

amputated hand, in this box. And it seems like, it's like [inaudible]

ticking. But I'm like.

>> Oh. My goodness.

>> That was just the [inaudible]. >> After I said [inaudible].

>> Let's back track. >> This is, this is Rod Sirling.

I. Or, or some, something.

>> Or Thing [inaudible]. >> Yeah.

Thing from Adams Family. >> You, you [inaudible].

Anna calls this a turn. Nothing.

The word nothing. With all this plenitude.

>> Hm. >> You know, peaches, and cranberries, and

fish. Suddenly we have nothing.

>> Yeah. >> Is there even anything in the mending

kit? >> Well.

Her hand she's saying nothing in the mending kit.

The mending kit is empty, mending will not take place.

Alright Dave. Alright Dave [inaudible] with nothing else

on his mind. >> She's saying that when it comes down to

it she's self sufficient, she doesn't need anybody else.

>> The only thing that's there is her hand and if it's a love poem...

Go ahead Dave, if it's a love poem and the only thing she has is her own hand.

>> Emily just thinks this is great. >> Mm-hm.

They have to go there. >> I mean is she satisf?

Is she giving herself pleasure having been.

Maybe Almeres is right. Having been, disappointed by this friend?

>> Ally thinks so. >> I think so.

>> I have to say, I don't, I, you know, Marjorie Perlov, whom I tremendously

respect, has written about this poem, and I think she refers to it as a love poem,

as a poem about another person. So, I'm sure Marjorie would not disagree

with this, this reading of, self pleasure. But since we're talking about this in the

Dickensonian context, we at least need to talk about it as self dependence.

A little like the job poem. You know I, I depend on myself.

I can't be, I can't be fired because I'm a writer.

So. >> And use of the other, lets talk about

that. The use of this, the other, the, the sub

position of another, turns out, how? I mean what kind of strategy is to talk

about a friend and then have nothing in it, nothing in the [inaudible].

>> What kind of turn back on itself and that's sense it does become kind of a.

>> A, a poem about, kind of a meta-poem about process about self, about.

>> So it is recursive. It may be in the sci-fi sense of you

opening the mending kit your hand or something.

But if you open the mending kit and you put your hand in there, that, you don't

have to have a severed horrible sci-fi hand.

Just put your hand in the mending kit, and if you, if there's nothing in the mending

kit and you look in it, then your hand is there.

Okay. So.

We have said that poems in this course, modern poems are often recursive, they're

often self referential, and they're often meta-poems.

And to the extent that this poem, if it doesn't shout out as a meta-poem, is a

meta-poem, where do we find that evidence? >> Where do you find that answer?

>> I mean, I think the'it' definitely immediately refers to'nothing in it the

mending kit', but it can also refer to nothing in'it', the poem.

>> Okay. That's a pretty fancy reading.

>> 'But my hand'. >> I think there might be a more obvious

part of this poem to seize on, but we'll get back to'it'.

That's pretty good. Anybody else?

>> Well the beginning is a list of these practical provisions that the friend

carries along. >> Right.

>> But I think you can read it two ways. If the but my hand had been moved up in

the spacing of the poem to be right after the nothing in it, it might have a more

positive tone, but here. >> Okay, so what you're saying, what

you're saying is that there's, there's a way in which the form of the poem supports

its content so I think that's always important here.

Absolutely a condition of, of modernism. But there's something specific here, the

hand at the end. >> Hand is like handwriting.

Can you imagine? >> Mm-hm.

>> Someone's hand. It's the way that they write.

>> Yeah. >> So there's nothing at.

>> It's. >> Off.

>> It's. >> Of her.

>> Skin off connotations of hand. >> Hand in marriage, I think is important.

>> Hand in marriage. Keep going.

You, you started off. >> Hand, handwriting of course.

>> The hand. We, in the old days, when I was growing

up, we would say, your hand is a little cramped.

That is your handwriting. It's in his hand.

Who's hand is this? Right.

This is in Shakespeare's own hand. So hand, in our vocabulary not so much

today it's a, it's a kind of a dying connotation.

But certainly needed if it would have been aware of the connotation of, of hand

meaning writing. My hand.

The only thing in my [inaudible]. The only job I have.

The only occupation I have is to dwell on this, this work, this thing.

And my only friend is my poem. We may be over reading.

But if we're going to describe this poem as ultimately about love, loneliness and

maybe masturbation. There I said it.

I didn't say the P word, but I did say [laugh], I said the M word.

You don't have to go as far as to use masturbation to describe it self

dependency. The, the woman who not in this case in her

room but out there in her environment, who ultimately must depend on her own hand.

She must depend on her own hand for economy and grandfather advised me and for

occupation and life work. But here she must depend on her own hand

for love. And one will find love in writing.

>> In the imaginative space. Anrise did we finally come around to your

view of what you take to be an angry poem? >> Well, not exactly angry, but.

>> Or poem about rejection. >> Not even about rejection.

I feel like it's a poem about disappointment that she ultimately feels

not resigned to in a negative sense, but acceptant, accepts, ...

>> That self sufficiency. >> And what I'm saying I think in the end

is that, I agree with you. But I'm saying in the end is that this is

a poem unlike Supermarket in California ...

>> Not a. >> Which starts off embracing [inaudible]

platitude and diversity. In the excitement of American life, but in

the end it's kind of soured, about it and sad.

This is a poem that starts off. May be disappointed by the failure of

friendship but in end knows that it can depend on its own hand, which we what have

in front of us, the words we have in front of us.

So we have taken a poem that doesn't strike one as a meta-form because we are

beginning to understand, why modern poetry works particularly in Dickensian mode, we

see the self reference and we the see that the poem is always about itself

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