Author Archives: Jenny C

Oppen and Whitman: Paper Proposal

Posted on November 17, 2010 by Jenny C

My paper will address the Whitmanian echoes in George Oppen’s poetry. I will explore how Oppen engages with, but ultimately distances himself from Whitman by not manufacturing a glorious recovery. I hope to make my argument by comparing “Song of … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Remember Me

Posted on November 2, 2010 by Jenny C

In This Connection of Everyone with Lungs there is a defining moment when Spahr says, “I know that my ties with yous are not unique. That each of those one hundred and thirty-six people dead by politics’ human hands over … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Remember Me

wounding and loving touch

Posted on October 20, 2010 by Jenny C

Oppen and Whitman have been found by Zack Finch to be figures united by touch. In his article “Walt Whitman and the Aesthetics of Curiosity in George Oppen’s Critique of Violence”, Finch discusses how Oppen’s opinion about touch developed into … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on wounding and loving touch

Personism and Negative Capability

Posted on October 6, 2010 by Jenny C

In “Personism: A Manifesto”, O’Hara offers Personism as a literary technique like Keats’s Negative Capability. I loved that he made that comparison, because I had already drawn parallels between O’Hara’s feelings about formal poetry and Keats’s feelings about formal poetry. … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Obligation

Posted on September 28, 2010 by Jenny C

In his poem, “Poet’s Obligation”, Neruda expresses his desire to bring poetic freedom to those who are not able to reach it. He longs to bring the sea to the prisoner, the career person, and the factory worker–people stuck at … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Knowledge

Posted on September 22, 2010 by Jenny C

For Langston Hughes, knowledge is freedom. Hughes uses his knowledge and extensive travels to exhibit complexity in “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”, and because of knowledge the speaker says, “My soul has grown deep like rivers”. In “Theme for English … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

An Echo of Whitman.

Posted on September 14, 2010 by Jenny C

“The responses have been varied, ranging from indictments to accolades. Poetic responses to Whitman sometimes fall into his cadences and in other ways mimic his style, but many poets have understood, with William Carlos Williams, that the only way to … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Whitman and PTSD

Posted on September 8, 2010 by Jenny C

After our discussion in class yesterday, I began thinking about Whitman and his connection to post-traumatic stress disorder. “The Artilleryman’s Vision” is ahead of its time in so many ways. Whitman appreciates the social impact of war and he identifies … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | 4 Comments

What is the grass?

Posted on August 31, 2010 by Jenny C

“A child said What is the grass? fetching it to me with full hands” Whitman makes an interesting decision in section 6 of “Song of Myself”, he has a child pose the question that determines the meaning behind his book … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment