Author Archives: matthew.horton

Move or Be Moved

I’ve been up all night for weeks.  Now it is time to “lift up your heads!” as Marinetti’s Futurist Manifesto proclaims.  I have read books and articles and poems and ogled at art, and now I present to you my … Continue reading

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You’re in the Wrong Place, My Friend

Bob Dylan lived the life of a poet, a vagabond, a folksinger, a rock star and many other lives over the years.  He is known to be a voracious reader and a very serious reader of poetry.  One key influence … Continue reading

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A Table for a Wallydrag

During this imitation of Wallace Stevens’ poem “The Planet on the Table” I began to toy with the antithesis of the character Stevens created.  His speaker is writing the poem of the world and is one with the sun; my … Continue reading

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The Sterling Brown Blues: Beyond Poetry

While we have read some timely prose this semester, it is still difficult to grasp the notion that these poets did more to shape society than with their poetic works.  Fahamisha Brown wrote an article detailing the unpoetic work of … Continue reading

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Too Much Monkey Business

Arts and Culture: 1925 was a year for the American arts.  On February 21st, The New Yorker, a top-tier literary magazine still today, published its first issue.  Even more vital to American literature was the publication of The Great Gatsby, … Continue reading

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Reap Me: A Close Read of “Reapers”

The 1923 prose poem, “Reapers” by Jean Toomer possesses great technical skill in rhyme, meter, sounds, and the narrative arc.  The poem is a simple picture of somebody chopping down weeds with their scythe and a machine mowing weeds down.  … Continue reading

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Snow Day: “What is that noise?” Conversation in Eliot’s “The Waste Land”

“The Waste Land” is a fitting title for Eliot’s seminal piece, as the poem is a wilderness of allusions and footnotes; not only this, the poetry depicts the state of society as a wasteland, making the title both ambiguous and … Continue reading

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Do More and Sitwell: The Spinning Poetry of The Sitwell Siblings

The Sitwell Siblings are three authors who have been left to the side of the literary spotlight on modernism.  The three siblings— Edith, Osbert, and Sacheverell— have missed our reading schedule and maybe that is because most of their work … Continue reading

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“Subway” Stumbling

In this imitation of Carl Sandburg’s poem “Subway” I attempted to match his form, punctuation, and syllable count.  The original poem has a message that is both concise and precise.  With just six short lines Sandburg portrays the emotion of … Continue reading

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Changing Ezra: Pound’s Punctuation Choices

  Randolph Chilton and Carol Gilbertson, both college professors whom are considered to be top Ezra Pound researchers, published the article “Pound’s “‘Metro’ Hokku”: The Evolution of an Image” in an attempt to understand the concise poem’s place within the … Continue reading

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