1. Modern American Poets: Robert Frost & e. e. cummings

2. His realistic depictions of rural life (New England) in American colloquial speech. His realistic depictions of rural life (New England) in American colloquial speech. Receiving four Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry. (1924 for New Hampshire: A Poem With Notes and Grace Notes; 1931 for Collected Poems; 1937 for A Further Range; 1943 for A Witness Tree) Receiving four Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry. (1924 for New Hampshire: A Poem With Notes and Grace Notes; 1931 for Collected Poems; 1937 for A Further Range; 1943 for A Witness Tree) Robert Lee Frost (1874-1963) The epitaph is from his poem “The Lesson for Today”

3. “A Momentary Stay against Confusion” Nature as a kind of perfection against confusion: “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” : The ultimate aim in writing of making life “whole again beyond confusion”: “After Apple-Picking” “And were an epitaph to be my story, I’d have a short one ready for my own. I would have written of me on my stone: I had a lover’s quarrel with the world.” (“A Lesson for Today”)

4. Form of Poetry He insisted that poetry have a definite form, that it be dramatic, and it rely on voice tones to vary the effect of the traditional iambic rhythm. He insisted that poetry have a definite form, that it be dramatic, and it rely on voice tones to vary the effect of the traditional iambic rhythm. For him form is as important as sense; the ordering of sound and theme is one major concern of his career. For him form is as important as sense; the ordering of sound and theme is one major concern of his career. He tends to use the formal stanza pattern. He tends to use the formal stanza pattern. His theory of the “sounds of sense” or “sentence sounds”: Uniting the regularity of iambic meter with the freedom of the speaking voice. “Making all poems sound as different as possible from each other.” His theory of the “sounds of sense” or “sentence sounds”: Uniting the regularity of iambic meter with the freedom of the speaking voice. “Making all poems sound as different as possible from each other.”

5. Frost revolutionized blank verse. It reflects the plainness of his characters’ lives and it surges with the combination of their drivenness and their reflective hesitancies. Frost revolutionized blank verse. It reflects the plainness of his characters’ lives and it surges with the combination of their drivenness and their reflective hesitancies. His style is rich in detail, determined to stay with the exact but down-to-earth word, and bent on avoiding exaggeration. His style is rich in detail, determined to stay with the exact but down-to-earth word, and bent on avoiding exaggeration. Use of metaphors Use of metaphors Deceptively Simple Style

6. Regional or Universal? Regional or Universal? The difficulty of maintaining the will to order in a world of confusion and chaos (the spirit of his time). The difficulty of maintaining the will to order in a world of confusion and chaos (the spirit of his time). How does human relate to each other? How does human relate to each other? A fruitful affection and dependence and also a self- respecting and self-reliant independence. A fruitful affection and dependence and also a self- respecting and self-reliant independence. “Fire and Ice” “Fire and Ice” “The Road Not Taken” “The Road Not Taken” Modern or Traditional?

7. e. e. cummings (1894-1963) Edward Estlin Cummings ■ As an eminent voice of the 20 th century poetry, his body of work encompasses approximately 2,900 poems, two autobiographical novels, four plays and several essays, as well as numerous drawings and paintings. ■ He exhibited Transcendental leanings his entire life. The inhumanity of science and materialism made it impossible for mankind to be human.

8. ■ Cummings wanted to be a poet from childhood and wrote poetry daily aged eight to 22, exploring assorted forms. He went to Harvard and developed an interest in modern poetry which ignored conventional grammar and syntax, aiming for a dynamic use of language. ■ As a modern painter, he was fascinated with Post- Impressionist and Cubist paintings and sculptures and with Picasso and other modern masters. “A juggler with syntax, grammar, and diction”

9. ■ His linguistic play was fully developed with “his scrambled word order in syntactic anagram, his extension of the semantic possibilities of words he chooses to stretch, squeeze, or intensity by typographical acrobatics or grammatical innovations”. ■ He values vitality (“aliveness”), celebrates individualism and rejects groupiness. ■ His poems, more ideogrammatical and pictorial and low-case, peculiar punctuation, and jamming of words, produce often a shocking effect and reveal the author’s attitude of nonconformity. ■ “Portrait” and “Chanson Innocenter”

10. Blank Verse vs. Free Verse  Blank verse is poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter. It has been described as “probably the most common and influential form that English poetry has taken since the sixteenth century”. (Robert Frost)  Free verse is an open form of poetry. It does not use consistent meter patterns, rhyme, or any other musical pattern. It thus tends to follow the rhythm of natural speech. (Walt Whitman)

11. Thank you! Thank you!