Unit 7 Review

1. Unit 7 Review Disillusion, Defiance, and Discontent

2. Imagist Poetry • Ezra Pound – “Make it New” • In a Station of The Metro • Pound talks about the pace of modern life • People rush around so quickly that their faces become a blur, they disappear as quickly as they appear • A Few Don’ts by an Imagist • Pound helps to define the philosophy if Imagism • Warns against the pitfalls of writing, less is more • Warns against mixing abstract concepts with concrete ideas • “Don’t use such an expression as “dim lands of peace” • The River-Merchant’s Wife • Demonstrates the simple power of human emotion • Two children play giving us a sense of innocence. They are eventually married as a result of their parent’s arrangement. We eventually get a sense of the extreme affection that grows between them because she is willing to travel a great distance to meet him on his way home.

3. Imagist Poetry • William Carlos Williams • His poetry is simple but not easy • Evokes emotions and ideas through presentation of simple ideas. • The Great Figure • Shows how an everyday object like a fire truck can have beauty, power, and significance. • The Red Wheelbarrow • Shows the influence of Imagism through the simplicity of language and images utilized in the poem. • This is Just to Say • Apology note that is not apologetic • Appeals to the senses • Sight, taste, and touch

4. Carl Sandburg • Chicago • Cities grow and change as they mature, just like people • Talks about Chicago’s reputation and its nicknames • Uses apostrophe to address the city • A literary device in which the speaker directly addresses a thing, an abstract concept, or a person who is dead or absent • Grass • The grass speaks to the audience • It makes the point that human’s have short memories for the atrocities they perform

5. E.E. Cummings • “old age sticks” • Satirical poem about the cyclical nature of life • Young people rebel and old people uphold the rules • Young people eventually become the old people they rebelled against • “anyone lived in a pretty how town” • Satirical view of the way people live their lives • Calls his title character “anyone” to suggest his common humanity, he could literally be anyone • Describes people as both little and small • Society coerces people into abandoning their individuality so that they will fit in

6. W.H. Auden • “The Unknown Citizen” • Modern society takes away individuality and discourages people from acting boldly • Satirical critique of societal emphasis on obedience and conformity • Uses statistical analysis to show how little is known about an individual • Society never worries if people are happy or free

7. Katherine Anne Porter • The Jilting of Granny Weatherall • Written in stream of consciousness • a narrative technique that presents thoughts as if they were coming directly from the character’s mind • Moves back and forth between flashbacks and the last day of Granny’s life • Strange way to tell the life story of a woman who values being orderly above all else • Fixates on being jilted by George 60 years earlier • Granny is jilted for a second time as she dies • She loses faith in the last moments of her life, which reflects the unit theme of Disillusionment

8. Robert Frost • Wrote primarily in Blank Verse • Unrhymed lines of iambic pentameter • Birches • Talks about the pressures and stresses of adult life emphasized by ruminations about childhood • Longs for a temporary return to a youthful, carefree state • Mending Wall • Two neighbors go on an annual walk to repair a wall that separates their farms • The narrator does not like the wall or see its purpose, he thinks it is a negative thing symbolizing mistrust • His neighbor thinks that good fences make good neighbors, he has no interest in getting to know the narrator • Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening • Theme: responsibility/duty versus the desire to rest and relax • The Gift Outright • Land claims us before we claim it • American colonists still thought of themselves as English even though they were already Americans

9. William Faulkner • “Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech” • Writers allow themselves to wallow in their own fears and it leads to inferior writing. • They are too concerned with superficial things to focus on what is really important. • It is the duty of writer’s to help humanity endure and prevail.

10. “A Rose for Emily” • Crazy Emily • Refuses to pay taxes • Denies her father is dead for three days until the town insists on removing his body from the house • Begins “dating” a poor construction worker from the North who everyone believes is beneath her • Buys poison for an undisclosed reason • Kills Homer and sleeps with his corpse for 40 years • Is only discovered after she dies and it buried since no one can open the door where Homer is

11. Ernest Hemingway • “In Another Country” • Narrated by an American officer who was wounded in Italy • He broke his leg and needs physical therapy, he will fully recover • He and his companions are insulted as they walk through the Communist quarter • His companions learn that he only received his medals because he’s American • They lose respect for him • An Italian major tells him never to marry because it will only cause him pain

12. Langston Hughes • “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” • The rivers symbolize the deep roots and connections that people of African ancestry have to the earliest civilizations • “I, Too” • Hughes speaks directly to the inaccuracies he sees in Walt Whitman’s description of America • “Dream Variations” • The speaker sees the day as a time to dance; the dream is to have days which are joyful and restful nights. • “Refugee in America” • Liberty means more to those who have lived without it.

13. Claude McKay • “The Tropics of New York” • McKay uses vivid descriptions of tropical fruit to give the reader a sense of the lushness of the tropics. • He remembers Jamaica as a place with fruit laden trees, dewy dawns, mystical blue skies, and nun-like hills.