GSeweek6.htm

Student Led Seminar Presentation and Summary
Leaders: Alan Wong, Megan Emerick, and Jessica Ozberker

Summary Conclusion Questions Bibliography

Introductory Reflection

Modernist Poetry in Brazil and the United States: A Tradition of Change

At the beginning of the twentieth century it was apparent that traditional poetic forms were not adequate to convey the chaotic quickening that characterized modern life. Technology and industry were transforming the pace and tone of life and bringing the nations of the world ever closer together. Facing the same challenges for the first time, artists around the world sought out new means of expressing themselves. As Brazilian poet, Manuel Bandeira states in his appropriately self-conscious poem "Poetics", "I’m sick of cautious lyricism, of well-behaved lyricism, of a civil-servant lyricism complete with time card, office hours, set procedures and expressions of esteem for Mr. Boss, Sir" (Tapscott, p. 68). The new poetry would need to be free, unconstrained, and entirely original.
In the United States, it was free verse that would give modernist poets the voice they needed to speak of and to the modern world (Doreski, p. 55). Poems like William Carlos William’s "To Elsie" used a seemingly formless, conversational style in order to capture the essence of modern life, namely the sense of isolation and alienation that people had begun to feel. Less formal poems such as this also helped to convey the unique character and speech of the nation’s citizens. Williams describes "mountain folk from Kentucky" and the "north end of Jersey with its deaf-mutes, thieves, and devil-may-care men".
In Brazil, the creation and documentation of a unique national language would be the ultimate goal of the modernist movement. Emerging from a long history of colonial rule, it would be the duty of the poets and artists to shape a new national identity, one separate from that of the Portuguese colonizers. Brazilian modernist poets took indigenous traditions as well as the colloquial language of everyday citizens as inspiration for their work (Nist, p. 39).
Manuel Bandeira’s "Evocation of Recife" is a tribute to his hometown, which begins by defining what Recife is not. "Not the American Venice… not the Recife of Portuguese peddlers" (Tapscott, p. 69). Bandeira’s Recife is "without history or literature", it is the land simply as it is, unfiltered by human hindsight. "Life didn’t reach me through newspapers or books, but came from the mouths of the people, bad speech of the people" (Tapscott, p. 69). The voices of these everyday people, the casual speech that filled Bandeira’s ears as a boy finds new expression in Bandeira’s poem. Bandeira channels the voices of food vendors who yell out "eggs, fresh and cheap", and of little girls singing softly, "rosebush give me a rose". By amplifying the voices of Brazil’s most common citizens, Bandeira creates a language that is totally immediate, yet steeped in Brazilian tradition.
In the United States, modernist poets like Langston Hughes, also attempted to give a voice to the forgotten, marginalized people who formed the backbone of the nation (Jemie, pg. 1). In "Let America be America Again", Hughes speaks for "the farmer… the worker… the negro". "There’s never been equality for me", he says, "nor freedom in this ‘homeland of the free’". Hughes’ questioning of the American dream reflects a larger trend in the modernist movement the re-definition of ‘progress’ in general. Who did the rapid ‘progress’ occurring in the modern world really benefit? The mass destruction brought about by World War I caused modernists to question if great technological and industrial progress really benefited anyone at all, and in particular, those very laborers who had made it possible.
In "Sunday", Brazilian Mario de Andrade paints a desolate picture of the modern world and it’s supposed ‘conveniences’. "Closed automobiles…Motionless figures… The yawn of luxury… Burial" (Tapscott, p. 114). Images of modern anguish and alienation are followed by the recurring refrain, "Futility, civilization", a reflection of the hopelessness many modernists felt in response to their modern era. Fellow Brazilian Jorge de Lima’s poem "Stranger, Stranger" more directly addresses the massive, international war and bloodshed made possible in the modern age. "Stranger, despite our friendship are countries still are alienated from each other, are enemies" (Tapscott, p. 131). Even after such widespread suffering nobody, "did anything, resolved anything, made progress with anything" (Tapscott, p. 131). Here, it is obvious that ‘progress’ is defined differently than it normally is. Instead of representing a general advance of human knowledge, capability, and technology, it represents an advance in human understanding, compassion, and cooperation. It is a progress that will ease the suffering of humankind rather than escalate it. This was, perhaps, the most important function of poetry in the modernist era, to give voice not only to the voiceless people, but to those quiet, human emotions and ideals that had been rendered mute by the cacophony of modern life.

Bibliography

Doreski, William. The Modern Voice in American Poetry. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1995.
Jemie, Onwuchekwa,. Langston Hughes: An Introduction to the Poetry. New York:
Columbia University Press, 1976.
Nist, John. The Modernist Movement in Brazil. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1967.
Tapscott, Stephen. Twentieth Century Latin American Poetry. Austin: University of
Texas Press, 1996.

Activities

During the second half-hour of seminar, the seminar will be broken into three groups. Each member of our group will have two poets and one poem from each of the poets for discussion. The seminar will count off by threes and separate accordingly. Each group member will be responsible for making sure the small group discussion is useful and relevant by posing questions and answering questions about the material that may come up. The small group leaders will also attempt to keep the discussions focused on our main themes in our presentation, Change, Identity, and Awareness of Modernity. The groups will be as follows: Jessica Ozberker will focus on Cecilia Meireles’ "Sketch" and Marianne Moore’s "Poetry;" Alan Wong will focus on Manuel Bandeira’s "Evocation of Recife" and Langston Hughes’ "Let America be America Again;" Megan Emerick will focus on Carlos Drummond de Andrade’s "Seven Sided Poem" and T.S. Eliot’s "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock."

Questions

Change

What does change do to society? What are some common reactions to change in society?
How did poets change with modernism? Why did they change?
Why are people afraid of change?
What was frightening about modernist poetry?
What kinds of affects do technological advances have on the art of a nation?

Identity

How does poetry relate to identity?
What do you think causes the reader to identify with the words of a poet?
Do you think poetry can contribute to the creation of a national identity?
How is poetry identified, what separates it from other types of writing? How are William Carlos William’s poems different from a newspaper article?
How did the use of unique/common dialects in poetry create a sense of identity for the reader? What about colloquial language draws the reader in?
Do you think the language of everyday, common people should be used in such a refined art form as poetry?
Awareness of Modernity
If a reader was not aware of the progress taking place in society, would they understand modernist poetry?
Did awareness of modernity affect society’s view of poetry?
What did the modernist poets do to make their work original? What was new about it?

Conclusion

There were two components to our group’s seminar facilitation and presentation: small groups and the one large group at the end of seminar. Within the small groups, many different topics for conversation were raised and then addressed in the large group. The topics raised from small groups were:

The advantages and disadvantages in using colloquial language in poetry.
The role time plays within poetry and what specifically is used to represent time in poetry.
How animals and nature are incorporated into poems and what their significance is.
The way in which poetry is used as a tool to help understand or define national identity.
The roots of nationalism in poetry.
After listing off these ideas and topics for conversation, the seminar chose from this list, which they would like to examine more and had a discussion which led them to other ideas and questions. Those ideas and questions were:
How accessible is poetry in Latin America and who does in fact read poetry?
Why did there need to be an identity or definition of nationalism? People have an innate need to feel connected and part of a group.
Was nationalism created in order to be manipulated or did it just end up being manipulated inevitably? Nationalism acts as a lubricant, it helps society to function and run smoothly. Without national pride, no one would want to obey the laws set out within that society or would want to participate within that society’s norms and/or options.
Poetry is a powerful tool to use to convey national ideals because it uses language that reflects how people actually speak, as a pose to an essay or newsletter which is not a mirror of real spoken word.

Everyone that participated in the discussions towards the end of seminar, started to question and try to figure out the actual meanings of terms, such as nationalism and meaning. We ended on this note, having addressed a large array of questions, that not only focused on the poetry and modernism but also on the themes we have been examining in the program. The seminar participants were engaged and posed many ideas and questions for further discovery, which made seminar facilitation interesting and educational.