Weeks 10-12
Modernism:
What does 'The Wasteland' mean?
1) how has it been interpreted? (cite examples)
2)what are some of the key features
3) In what way has it been influential
Post-Modernism
1) What common qualities do 'the beats' share? Why 'beats'?
2) How is beat poetry linked to rap?
3) How was Bob Dylan's 'Masters of War' involved in controversy during the Bush administration?
4) On what grounds was 'Howl' accused of being obscene - grounds for the defense?
5) What kind of protest song/rap other media have come out in the last decade? Is there a spirit of protest anymore?
What does 'The Wasteland' mean?
1) how has it been interpreted? (cite examples)
2)what are some of the key features
3) In what way has it been influential
Post-Modernism
1) What common qualities do 'the beats' share? Why 'beats'?
2) How is beat poetry linked to rap?
3) How was Bob Dylan's 'Masters of War' involved in controversy during the Bush administration?
4) On what grounds was 'Howl' accused of being obscene - grounds for the defense?
5) What kind of protest song/rap other media have come out in the last decade? Is there a spirit of protest anymore?
Modernism:
ReplyDeleteWhat does 'The Wasteland' mean?
1) how has it been interpreted? (cite examples)
Eliot was the greatest powerful poet in the 20th century, and he wrote “The Waste Land” that was used as a critical poem in modern society and culture according to Simpson (2007). Eliot declared that he is living in the culture that is mouldering and changing and will not ever stop. Eliot was a criticizer on the modern society later World War 1. Similarly, he believed of the past culture before the World War 1 and the optimistic effects that the culture had, but Eliot assumed that he was living in the discoloured culture now. With my experience, it was not the poem that contains how Eliot wrote about the bad condition that he had, but the poem that contain all feelings of people who were living in the culture.
This is one of Eliot's most famous poems. This poem approximate that printed close to the start of 1922. It's one of the additional illustrative pieces of literary Modernism.
“The Waste Land is a poem about spiritual dryness, about the kind of existence in which no regenerating belief gives significance and value to men’s daily activities, sex brings no fruitfulness, and death heralds no resurrection. “according to Education portal (2003, p.1)
Eliot himself provides one of the key clues to the theme and structure of the poem in a general note, in which he states that “not only the title, but the plan and a good deal of symbolism of the poem were suggested by Miss Jessie Weston’s book on the Grail legend: From Ritual to Romance” (Jessie. n.d)
References
Dexter, G. (2012). Why Not Catch 21? : The Stories behind the titles. Singapore, KHL Printing
Education portal. (2003). The waste land: structure and style explained. Retrieved 29 May 29, 2013 from http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/the-waste-land.html
Jessie, L. (n.d). The waste land and the fisher king. Retrieved 29 May 29, 2013 from http://wasteland.windingway.org/title/the-waste-land-and-the-fisher-king
Simpson, A. G. (2007). Analysis of T.S. Eliot’s the waste land. Retrieved from
http://voices.yahoo.com/analysis-ts-eliots-waste-land-594548.html
Modernism:
ReplyDeleteWhat does 'The Wasteland' mean?
3) In what way has it been influential
“The Waste Land”, originated from T.S.Eliot’s poems, is influential in that its debilitating gravity has impacted the field beyond the Modernist poetry. The meaning of “the Waste Land” is about the viewpoint of the world, which can be boiled down to that people can only obtain glimpses of truths while not being able to change but merely in power of hoping that all the known is suffice, for the complexity in the structure of the world. This sense of barrenness, from which the mire of aesthetics is formed, contributes to the birth of longer, more comprehensive works, like Finnegans Wake, Cantos, and Paterson (Burris, 1991, p.621).
Reference
Burris, Sidney. (1991). The Return of Eliot and the Discovery of Auden. The Sweanee Review. Vol.99, no.4, pp.617-623.
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ReplyDeletePost-Modernism
ReplyDelete1.What common qualities do 'the beats' share? Why 'beats'?
Commonly, “the beats” share the following qualities. Atop is a sense of visceral rage against the society where conformity accentuates. Following is that “the beats” are often educated and sophisticated. Last but not least, the beat generation often is associated to the works featured with foul language and use of slang through words. As a form of questioning the pervasive materialism, to which postwar economic boom led, the beat generation was in purpose of expressing dissatisfaction within Consumerism. This movement brought by “the beats” resonated with a colloquial sense of “beaten” and a connotative sense of “up to beat”.
3.How was Bob Dylan's 'Masters of War' involved in controversy during the Bush administration?
Bob Dylan’s ‘Masters of War’ stirred the controversy, in which the debate that whether or not the intention of the song’s lyrics is the calling for peace was the central theme. This controversy was particularly sensitive during the Bush administration, because of the American overseas military deployment decision at the time. Although Dylan announced this song was not made as “an anti-war song”, but to sing against “a military industrial complex” (Gundersen, 2001), the radical choice of words like “death plane”, “bombs”, and “guns” gives a harsh sense, in which the audience can easily associate them to violence. Because of the style on the presentation of lyrics, the song is accessible for interpretation of being an anti-war work with colored political stance.
Reference
Gundersen, Edna. (2001). Dylan is positively on top of his game. Retrieved on 25 May, 2015, from: http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/music/2001-09-10-bob-dylan.htm#more
Modernism:
ReplyDelete2) What are some of the key features?
In Eliot’s The Waste Land, he used several allusions and quotations from Shakespeare, Homer, Chaucer, and Dante etc. Also, he used various scriptural books such as Hindu, Buddha, and Bible extensively. In detail, he used more than 56 works from over 36 old writers as his citation or allusion, and he adopted his work into 6 languages except English according to Wikipedia (2013).
In addition, as references, the one of key features that Eliot loved to procedure can be combined of poetic fragments in “The Waste land” according to Lewis (2010). This can be well-defined as what one condition is corresponded with another situation. This point played a significant share in his poem and the fact also was essential in modernism. In my opinion, the significance of the idea could be a vital part in modernism.
References
Lewis, P. (2010). The Waste Land. Retrieved from http://modernism.research.yale.edu/wiki/index.php/The_Waste_Land
Wikipedia. (2013). The Waste Land. Retrieved from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Waste_Land#Structure
Post-Modernism
ReplyDelete5) What kind of protest song/rap other media have come out in the last decade? Is there a spirit of protest anymore?
As a keen radio listener of rap I myself overheard sufficiently of protest related songs, some of which have gone viral. I also believe the spirit of protest is still well an alive. ‘Conscious rappers’ and ‘conscious Hip-hop’ is very alive today, although a lot of it may not be receiving a spotlight. Delgado (1998) defines rap as “a form of communication and empowerment for a socially and politically voiceless segment of American society”. Nevertheless, it is not only that division of America which currently uses rap as a method to express a message or arouse an emotion.
Inspired by the Egyptian revolution in 2011 this video was mostly unforgettable to me. Labelled #Jan25, the date in which the protests instigated in Egypt, as well as a trending topic at the time on twitter this video features a rap by the conjoined effort of four different MC’s and one Vocalist.
Jan#25 - Omar Offendum, The Narcicyst, Freeway, Ayah, Amir Sulaiman (Prod. by Sami Matar)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCbpiOpLwFg
The lyrics can be found here:
https://www.facebook.com/notes/omar-offendum/jan25-lyrics/10150093099861500
Furthermore, this video showcase rap music with a strong message, it showcases the power technology has in order to get the message through. Delgardo (1998) declares, “music has often served groups who are powerless”, that is pretty true in this specific case. Throughout the protests in Egypt, their Government cut off mission in order to hinder communication so large masses of people would not protest together. However, this did not stop the people of Egypt as they took to the Twitter-sphere and YouTube, scattering their message through web-based activity.
The original version of the video is quite terrifying. The music has an incredible effect when it comes to the voices of protesters
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThvBJMzmSZI
Additional politically and socially alert rappers that come to mind are individuals such as Nas, Eminem, Talib Kweli, Lowkey, Lupe Fiasco, Biggie, Dead Prez, KRS-One, NWA, Public Enemy and Tupac between many others.
References
Delgado, F. (1998) Chicano ideology revisited: Rap music and the (re)articulation of Chicanismo. Western Journal of Communication 62:2, 95-113.
Question 3
ReplyDeleteWasteland is the texts which showing that they are shifting to the modernism.
In “The Waste Land”, the readers can see that World War One influenced it. Although Elliot is not writing about WW1, but it is illustrating through about how he is writing Wasteland. Although, Eliot didn’t intend, it is a reaction to World War One. And also, the code has re-written. For example,
“Unreal City,
Under the brown fog of a winter dawn,
A crowd flowed over London Bridge, so many,
I had not thought death had undone so many.
Sighs, short and infrequent, were exhaled,
And each man fixed his eyes before his feet” (line 60-65)
He is describing London city after the war.
“The Waste Land” has narrative coherent, yet it doesn't have a thematic coherent. It shows desolation of narrative and meaning.
Reference
T.S. Eliot. (1922). The Waste Land.
5) What kind of protest song/rap other media have come out in the last decade? Is there a spirit of protest anymore?
ReplyDeleteThere are various protest songs still relevant during the last decade. Musicians and Bands such as Rage against the Machine, immortal technique, Green Day, Henry Rollins etc are notable musicians that use their music and lyrics a way to get their politically awareness and social activism to their listeners.
The band Rage against the Machine used their music as a vehicle for social activism, as lead singer Zack de la Rocha one stated: "Music has the power to cross borders, to break military sieges and to establish real dialogue".
The punk movement has always been known to show political awareness and tends to promote the motives of anarchy and much criticism is used against the right wing conservatives. Especially during the Bush administration and the Iraq invasion, many protest songs were released speaking out against these doings. Green Day for example were a very light punk pop band, but however released the album “American Idiot” in 2004, with the single of the same name was completely speaking out against the bush administration. Other punk rock bands such as Anti-Flag, Nofx, Against Me! And Rise Against have written many songs criticising the right wing government in general. There is also a collaboration of punk rock songs speaking out against the Bush administration called, “Rock Against Bush” that are all aimed against the man himself.
"Torture, rape, murder and death are all waiting for you;
Democracy subversion, well, they got that covered too.
The grad names on their walls, most infamous of all dictators/coup learders
Learn well, someday you may be ranked with these awesome k-k-k-k-killers!"
These lyrics come from the Rock against Bush collaboration from the band Anti Flags song School of Assassins comparing Bush to evil dictators of the past.
1) What common qualities do 'the beats' share? Why 'beats'?
ReplyDeleteAfter WWII the word 'beat' was a slang term used by jazz musicians and the youth to describe being broke or tired, physically and spiritually "down and out". Keuroac took this term but also referred to the beat as in the beat of the music (specifcally Jazz music), and the beat of the heart, thus we can see that the 'beat' had positive connotations as well. And so the term "Beat Generation"was coined by Jack Keroauc, author of 'On the Road', during a conversation with John Clellon in 1948.
In the conversation regarding the nature of generations past and present, Keuroac came to elaborate on the new mentality and spirit he saw amongst the young in Time Sqaure. In which Holmes' goes onto recount the conversation in his essay 'The Name of the Game',
"It's a sort of furtiveness. Like we were a generation of furtive. You know, with an inner knowledge there's no use flaunting on that level, the level of the public, a kind of beatness, I mean, being right down to it, to ourselves, because we all really know who we are-and a weariness with all the forms, all the conventions of the world. It's something like that. So I guess you might say we're a beat generation."
Common qualities shared by 'beat' writers and artists would be an exploration of the human condition surviving against the post-war economic boom which restructured society into a consumerist-capitalist society, alongside the prudent conservative mindset of the generation before. "Prophesying a new style for American culture" (Kerouac, 1958), they would experiment with drugs to induce mind-altering states and exploring hidden states of being and consciousness, reject standard social morals and order, and traditional aesthetic and literary form and style. Their style was bold, honest and expressive of the " nakedness of mind, and, ultimately, of soul; a feeling of being reduced to the bedrock of consciousness." Holmes, 1952.
The original founders of the beat generation, like Ginsberg, were heavily influenced by the Romantics such as Percy Bysshe Shelly and William Blake, Surrealist, Absurdist and the American Transcendental Movement inspiring the Beats to take a very confrontational stance against politics of the time. They disregarded the neo-classical formalism of T.S. Elliot, which as denoted as being too much removed from real life and experience, and the precise formalism of the early twentieth century Modernists.
University of Missouri, (n.d.). Beats on Beat. Retrieved 12/06/2014 from: http://www.umsl.edu/virtualstl/phase2/1950/events/perspectives/documents/beatsonbeat.html
The Literature Network, (n.d.). The Beat Generation. Retrieved 12/06/2014 from: http://www.online-literature.com/periods/beat.php
Post Mod. Question 2
ReplyDeleteWhen we look at the surface of poetry or beat poetry I can immediately see a relationship between poetry linked to rap. For starters, artists (rappers) describe their material before it becomes a rap as a poem. It describes or talks about their life, their experiences, emotions or whatever they feel the need to express. Krims examines how rap music deals with identity. Rap or the content of rap defines who you are, not only as an artist but also as a person.
We listen to different type of rap. If we pay attention to the lyrics we are actually listening to their life experiences or journey to how they reached where they are at that point in time. Rap can cover controversial topics such as politics, social issues etc. This is why rap lyrics can relate to different people. Rap is considered to be “musical poetics” described by Krims.
The notion of Identity is important when it comes to “Howl” since ‘who’ is the most repeated word in the poem. When examining the word ‘who’ by itself, it automatically links you to the concept of identity.
References:
Krims, A., (2003). Rap Music and the poetics of identity. New perspectives in music history and criticism. Retrieved from http://books.google.co.nz
Ginsberg, A. (1956). Howl and Other Poems. San
Francisco: City Lights Books
Post-Modernism
ReplyDelete5) What kind of protest song/rap other media have come out in the last decade? Is there a spirit of protest anymore?
There have been numerous and different types of protest songs/raps that have come out in the last decade. As usual rap or music is a platform or an open platform in this case which allows music or rap to express yourself without being judge.
Alicia Keys hit song “We are Here” as she sings alongside an Israeli and Palestinian artist is a solidarity song to some failed states in the world in hopes of bringing awareness to the world about the ongoing war happening between different states. Along with this she had a whole heap of backlash about her song as people were not happy. Through this song, Keys sings about her frustration with both national and international issues including the conflict between Israel and Gaza and the outbreak of the Ebola virus as well as problems with education and gun laws in the United States.
I personally think we have our own individual rights to freedom of speech and one way of expressing your right to speech can be through rap and music. We live in a world where (today) different things are happening and of course it is common knowledge that not everyone will be happy about these issues or how these issues are being handled.
References:
NYTimes.com. The New York Times. September 20, 2014. Retrieved September 24,2014.