contemporary poetry

{ And Why It‘s Important (And Also Frustrating)

  What Contemporary Poetry is Not
getting started
 Defining What Lacks Definition

 ―Where Did This Come From?‖

 One Question: ―Why?‖

 So What is ―Good?‖

 What Does This Mean to Me?

 Assignment Details

 HomeWork: The Skinny

1. what
contemporary
poetry is NOT
{ Dispelling Commonly
Believed Myths
contemporary poetry is…
• NOT found on social networking websites
• NOT a coping mechanism for whiny teens
• NOT a string of words stuck together without thought
or planning
• NOT without rules and guidelines
• NOT the same thing as modern song lyrics

turns out,
contemporary poetry actually is something.
but what is it?
you tell me
2. defining
what lacks
definition
{ How Can You Define
Something Without a Standard
Form?
technically, ―contemporary poetry‖ is:
poetry written after the start of the 1920‘s, especially
poetry having to do with modern literary genres, such as
modernism and post-modernism

however,
this is just a start at something much bigger
contemporary poetry implies more than
simply a time period and an association
with various literary styles.
when referring to contemporary poetry,
writers and critics tend to be discussing a style of poetry
that follows a specific series of traits and literary tools,
such as…

• inconsistent meter
• variations upon standard rhyme
• abandonment of a classical ―musical‖ style
• variations on the conventions of poetic lines
• an otherwise inconsistent regard for standard poetic
structure
this is commonly called…

Free Verse
free verse:
―verse whose meter is irregular in some respect or whose
rhythm is not metrical‖

Pretty Simple?
not so much.
free verse still has rules and limits
but more on
that later
3. where
did this
come from?
{ Exploring the History of
Contemporary Poetry
History:
• King James Bible
• Walt Whitman – ―The Father of Free Verse‖
• experimented throughout the Victorian era

Now:
• very popular
• some controversy
• recurrence of classical forms of poetry
• conflict
4.
one question:
―why?‖
{ ‗nuff said
why is free verse important?
art, music, literature, and other forms of media and
artistic expression have experienced a paradigm shift as
some point as they have entered contemporary times

art – impressionism, abstract expressionism, pop art, performance art

music – classical, jazz, rock & roll, British invasion, metal, death metal
literature – neoclassicism, romanticism, modernism, post-modernism

poetry does the same thing!

why is free verse important?
• poetry, like other forms of literature, is a living medium
• free verse allows for new ideas and experimentation
• it has an expressive capacity different than traditional
poetry
• it has a following
• the form is advocated by numerous professionals

free verse, through its freedom and structural looseness,

provides an incredible amount of expressive potential,
with arrhythmic meter, alternative rhyme schemes, and
attention to subtle poetic tools – making it an optimal
style for poets and professional writers
what other ways
is free verse important
5.
So…
what is good?
{ How Can We Grade a Style
That is so Strange?
what qualities might
make free verse good
good free verse poetry
• free verse is not without rules
• some free verse is absolutely better than others
• it has to align with the same poetic tools that
traditional uses

while free verse is not dependent upon meter, rhyme, or

other structural poetic tools, the majority of good free
verse pays attention to these tools and incorporates
them somehow
qualities of free verse
• imagery
• metaphor, simile, and conceits
•
•
rhythm
internal rhyme all of
this
• alternative rhyming
• slant rhyme
• off rhyme
• alliteration, consonance, and assonance
• onomatopoeia and
MORE
• creative use of ―white space‖
• caesura
• enjambment
• end-stopped lines
 Crossing Brooklyn Ferry
by Walt Whitman

FLOOD-TIDE below me! I watch you face to face;

Clouds of the west—sun there half an hour high—I see you also face to face.

Crowds of men and women attired in the usual costumes! how curious you
are to me!
On the ferry-boats, the hundreds and hundreds that cross, returning home, are
more curious to me than you suppose;
And you that shall cross from shore to shore years hence, are more to me, and
more in my meditations, than you might suppose.

…continued
Stillborn
by Sylvia Plath
These poems do not live: it's a sad diagnosis.
They grew their toes and fingers well enough,
Their little foreheads bulged with concentration.
If they missed out on walking about like people
It wasn't for any lack of mother-love.

They are not pigs, they are not even fish,

Though they have a piggy and a fishy air --
It would be better if they were alive, and that's what they were.
But they are dead, and their mother near dead with distraction,
And they stupidly stare and do not speak of her.
6. so what
does this
mean to me?
{ Yes, It Does Have Personal
Applications
personal application
• free verse is extraordinarily expressive, making it very
personal
• it is often very enjoyable to write
• and frankly, you have an assignment on the whole
thing
7.
assignment
details
{ You Knew It Was Coming
assignment objectives
demonstrate a practical understanding of contemporary
poetry by writing two free verse poems from the following
prompts:
• use a kitchen application • write an confused poem
as the subject to convey about a piece of artwork
your hypothetical feelings or artistic photograph
of romance
assignment guidelines
• at least 8 lines long
• at least 4 different poetic tools
• cannot be whiny or angsty
• must use imagery, metaphor, and simile
• include photo of kitchen appliance
• include image that inspired you
• include poem titles
• print each poem on its own paper
• size 12 font (unless it‘s a different size for effect)
• font: Times New Roman, Helvetica, Didot, or Cambria
both drafts

ARE DUE
this Friday

final poems and drafts

ARE Next
DUE Friday
8.
HomeWork:
the skinny
{ Muaha
hahahahahahahahaha
HomeWorkTheSkinny
• read pages 70 – 80 in your text
• complete comprehension questions
1-5 on page 81
• finish autobiographical essay and
turn in on Wednesday
• work on free verse assignment