Poetry An Introduction Poetry An Introduction RUTH MILLER State University of New York at Stony Brook ROBERT A. GREENBERG Queens College of the City University of New York M Copyright© 1981 by SI. Mart in's Press, Inc. All Right s Reserved. No part of thi s publication may be reproduced or transmitted , in an y form or by any means, without permi ssion . Published 1981by TH E MACM ILLAN PRESS LTD LOlldolland Basingstok» Companies and represematiues throughout the world typ ography: Patr icia Sm ythe cove r art : Tom McKeven y ISBN 978-0-333-32985-6 ISBN 978-1-349-06317-8 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-06317-8 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The ed itors and pub lishers wish to than k the followi ng who have kind ly given permission for the use of copyright mat erial: FL EUR AD COCK : 'The Wat er Below' from fixers by Fleur Adcock, V O xford University Press 1967. Rep rinted by permis sion of Oxford University Press . CONRAD AIKE N : 'The Road' from Callected Pocms. Second Edition , by Conrad Aiken. Copyrig ht :v 1953, 1970 by Co nrad Aiken. Rep rint ed by permission of Oxfo rd Uni versity Press Inc. SAMUEl AllEN: 'To Sateh' from IlJory Tusks and Otller Poems, and 'A Momen t Please' from Amt'ricQII ,"" t'.~ r () Poetry by Samuel Allen . © Samuel Allen an d reprin ted by permission of the autho r. ALURI ST A: 'Add ress' from Floricanus, copyright ':0 1971 by the Regen ts of the Lniv ersitv of Ca lifornia and reprinted by permission of Chica no Studies Resea rch Center. A . R. A M MONS: 'SO I Said I am Ezra' an d 'Choice' from Collected POt'm s 1951- 1971 by A. R. Ammons . Copyrigh t £> 1972 by A. R. Ammons.Reprint ed by permission of W. W. Norton & Co mpany Inc. A~O f'l,;Y MOUS : 'Hunting Song' urig inall y titled 'Comes the Deer to My Singi ng' from The indians Rook, recorded and ed ited by Na talie Curtis. Published by Dover Publica tions Inc ., and reprinted by pe rmission . ANOJlOYMO\'S: 'Dinka So ng' ('Do Yo u Not Hea r') from Di t'ill il.1I arId Lsperiencr. Tilt' RrJigimJ (l,f tilt Dillka by Godfrey Lienhar d t. f) Oxfo rd Unive rsity Press, 1961. Rep rin ted by per miss ion of Oxford l:niversity Press. ANONYMOUS; 'A Spe ll to Destroy Life' from Literalurt of the American ", diaus, edi ted by Th oma s E. Sanders and Walter W. Peek . Co pyright 'C Glencoe Press , and reprinted by per mission of Macmillan Publ ishi ng Co. Inc. MAR GA RET ATWOOD: 'We Are Standing Facing Each Other' from Power PolillcS by Margar et Atw ood . Cop yright '0 by Marga ret Atwood 1971. Repri nted by permission of House of Ana nsi Press. w. H. AUOEN: 'That Night Whe n joy Bega n', 'If I coold Tell You', 'In Memory of W. B. Yeats', 'Luthe r', 'The Unkn ow n Citize n', and Musee des Beaux Arts' fro m C olfectt'd Poems by W. H. Auden: "Ih e Cu ltura l Presupposit ion ' from Th e EnglISh Audtn (1977) edi ted by Edwa rd Mendelson . All repri nted by pe rm ission of Faber and Fabe r Ltd . Ar-t1RI BARAkA (LeRoi jones) : 'W.W: from Black MaXic P'''''ry: 1961-1 967 by Amiri Baraka. Cop yright D 1969 LeRoi Jones. Reprinted by pe rmission of The Ste rling Lord Agency Inc. BASII O: 'As Firmly Ce mented Clam-Shells' and 'O nly For Morni ng Glories' from Till' Narrow Road 10 tlte Dr?(f' North and OtherTra,...1Skelches by Matsuo Bash o. translated by Nobuyuk i Yuasa <penguin Classics , 1966). Cop yrig ht © Nobuy uk i Yuasa 1966. Reprinted by permission of Penguin Books Ltd . JUANITA BELL: ' Ind ian Child ren Spea k' by juanila Bell in f rom the Bdly of the Shark edited by Walte r Lowenlels. Published by Vintage Books, a Divis ion of Random House. Copyright i' 1973 by Walte r Low en fels . Rep rinted by permission of Man na Lowenfels-Perpehtt . Literary Execu trix for the Estat e of Walte r Lowenfels. JOII S BERRYMAN: 'Eleven Add resses to the Lord Master of Beauty' from W l>('and Fame and ' Life Friends, Is Be ring . We Must No t Say So' from 77 Dream Sanxs by Joh n Berryman. Reprinted by perm ission of Faber and Fabe r Ltd . ELIZA BETHBISHoe: 'The Fish ' from Tire Complete Poemsby Elizabeth Bish op . Cop yright C 1940, 1969 by Elizabeth Bish op ; 'North Ha ven ', copy right C 1978 by Elizabeth Bisho p. Reprinted bv pe rmissio n of Farrar, Straus an d Giroux, Inc. RO BERT BLY: ' Poem in Thr ee Parts' from SilmCt' in the Snou'Y Fields published by Wesleyan L'niversity Press. Co py right '0 1962 by Robert Bly. an d reprinted wi th his permi ssion . T he Gre al Socie ty" fro m The Light Arm",d the Body by Robert Bly. publish ed by Rapp and Whit ing Ltd . LOU ISE BOGAN' : To an Artis t, To Take Heart ' a nd 'Med usa' from The Blue Estuaries by Loui se Bogan . Copyrigh t © 1923, 1929, 1930, 1931. 1933, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938. 1941. 1949, 1951. 1952, 1954, 1957, 1958, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968 by Louise Bogan . Rep rinted by perm ission of Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Inc. JOSEPH BRO DSKY: 'Odysseus to Tele rnach us' from Selected Poems by Joseph Brodsky, tran slated by George L. Kline (Peng uin Mode rn Europea n Poe ts, 1973). Translalion and Introdu ction copyright © Ge orge L. Kline, 1973. Re pr inted by per miss ion of Pen gu in Books Ltd . GWENOOL' N BROOkS: 'We Real Coo l: Th e Pool Players. Seven at the Gulden Shovel' from TireWorld of Gwendolyn Brooks by Gwendo lyn Brooks. Co pyright © 1959 by Gwendolyn Brooks . Rep rint ed by permission of Ha rpe r & Row. Pub lish ers, Inc. 'An Aspect of Love, Alive in the Ice and Fire' from Riol by Gwendolyn Broo ks, copyrig ht 1%9 . Reprinted by pe rmission of Broad side/Crurnmel Press . AUSTI N C LAR KE: ' Penal Laws' from Selected Potms by Aus tin Clarke. Repro duced by pe rmi ssion of R. Dard is Clar ke. SARA H N . C LEGH ORN; 'The Golf Links ' (rom Portraits and Protests by Sa rah N'. Clegho rn . All right s reserved. Reprinted by pe rmission of Holt, Rinehart a nd Win ston, Publishers. LUCIL LECLIFTON : 'Good Times ' from Good Times by Lucille Clifton . Copyright f> 1969 by Lucille C1iftun . Reprinted by pe rmission of Rand om Ho use Inc . 'In Salem' from An Ordinary Woma/l by Lucille Clifton . Cop yr ight @ 1974 by Lucille Clifto n. Reprinted by permission of Curtis Brow n Ltd .. New York. Acknowledgements and cop yrights appear at the back of the book on pages 55&-559, wh ich con stitute an extension of the cop yright page. To T.V.B. Preface This book provides an introduction to the elements of poetry, formulates a series of contexts for the interpretation of poems, and offers a sub­ stantial anthology. Our purpose throughout is to enable students to read poems with understanding and pleasure and to provide them with a basic vocabulary for analyzing and talking about poems. Part One comprises a full discussion of the elements of poetry. After a brief opening chapter, we introduce the basic concepts of speaker or persona, setting, subject, and theme and then progress from the par­ ticular uses of language and devices of prosody to more general consid­ erations of structure, genre, and tone. The inclusion of a chapter on genre is perhaps unusual in an introductory book on poetry, but we think it is important for the student to see how poems often depend for a part of their meaning on the ways in which they are related to a particular tradition. The larger sense of Part One is of the interplay of all the elements; we repeatedly emphasize the integrative, organic nature of the poem. As much as possible we have avoided the abstract, seeking always to keep particular poems in the forefront of our discussion. Part Two, "Perspectives," shows how poems may be illuminated when they are considered from various, often complementary, points of view . Its seven chapters take up successively the perspectives of biography, history, society, philosophy, religion, psychology, and myth. Our interest here is in the kinds of new insights and perceptions, the fresh meanings and implications, each perspective makes possible. We vii are deliberately pluralistic in our treatment, favoring no one approach over another, although we do emphasize that any single approach has its limitations and we point these out as they arise in the course of our discussions. Our aim is to set forth the premises of each approach, to show it in practice, and thus to generate the kind of exciting discussion that results when diverse points of view collide in the give and take of the classroom. About 350 poems are included in the discussions and exercises in Parts One and Two. Part Three, the anthology, provides some 150 additional poems for further exploration, presented without editorial comment but with occasional glosses and explanatory footnotes. Taken all together, the nearly 500 poems in this book represent every major style, voice, and genre in English and American poetry, beginning with Ceedmon and Chaucer and extending to poets whose first significant work has appeared within the past two decades.