20th-Century American Poetry
Robert Frost (1874-1963)
Robert Frost’s public fame
He is highly regarded for his realistic
depictions of the rural life and his
command of American colloquial
speech.
As a popular and often-quoted poet,
Frost was honored frequently during
his lifetime, receiving four Pulitzer
Prizes.
Honors
• The United States Senate extended
felicitations to him on his birthday in 1950;
its
• A mountain in Vermont was named after him in
1955;
• The State Department sent him to South
America, England, and Russia on good-will
missions in 1954, 1957, and 1962;
• In 1961 he was invited to read a poem at
John F. Kennedy’s inaugural ceremonies.
Robert Frost – the modern poet
Beloved poet of simple nature lyrics
Ambiguity and dread hidden
underneath
A flawed man with personal tragedy
A poet with more than his share of
fear
Form & Subject
Form: regular iambic meter
irregular speech rhythm
vernacular language
Subject: nature
confusion
fear
uncertainty
Poetry: “a momentary stay against
confusion”
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy
Evening" was Frost's favorite of his
own poems
The poem is written in iambic
tetrameter 四音步抑扬格. Each stanza
follows an a-a-b-a rhyming scheme,
with the following stanza's a's rhyming
with that stanza's b, which is a chain
rhyme except the last two lines.
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
simple vernacular language
Deceptively simple: ambiguous
Joy vs. Responsibility
Rejection of fascination with the
dark trees
Strong lure of death
Speaker’s hesitation (Death vs.
Life)
雪夜林畔小驻
余光中 译
雪夜林边
韦婷婷 译
想来我认识这座森林，
林主的庄宅就在邻村，
却不会见我在此驻马，
看它林中积雪的美景。
此林似相识，
他宅若比邻；
悄然此驻马，
赏其雪中林。
我的小马一定颇惊讶：
四望不见有什么农家，
偏是一年最暗的黄昏，
寒林和冰湖之间停下。
周遭不见人，
马驹恍似惊；
最是黄昏时，
寒林冰湖间。
雪夜林畔小驻
雪夜林边
它摇一摇身上的串铃，
问我这地方该不该停。
此外只有轻风拂雪片，
再也听不见其他声音。
摒念而惘思，
铃声扰绪觉；
四下静无声，
微风拂片雪。
森林又暗又深真可羡，
但我还要守一些诺言，
还要赶多少路才安眠，
还要赶多少路才安眠。
深黯林可羡，
我尚守诺言；
漫路方长眠，
漫路方长眠。
The Road Not Taken
simple vernacular language
iambic tetrameter四音步抑扬格 with
the rime sheme of abaab
similarities and differences of the two
roads
Which road does the speaker take?
Proud of his choosing the less
traveled road
Feeling sorry and sentimental
Ezra Pound (1885-1972)
American expatriate poet, critic
and intellectual
a major figure of the Modernist
movement in early-to-mid 20th
century poetry.
the driving force behind several
Modernist movements, notably
Imagism（意象主义） and
Vorticism（漩涡主义）.
Life and career (1885-1972)
born in Hailey, Idaho, and raised in
Pennsylvania
M.A. in Romance Language（罗曼语） from
the University of Pennsylvania 1906
In 1908, Pound arrived in Venice and lived
mostly an expatriate life since then
In 1945 arrested for treason by American forces
in Italy for his support of Mussolini and fascism
during WWII, imprisoned in a psychiatric
hospital for 15 years and released in 1958
Returned to Italy after his release
died in Venice, where he is buried
His major works
Poetry writings:
Personae (1909), Exultations (1909)
Cantos 《诗章》(1925-70)
Translations:
Cathay《神州集》 (1915), translations of Chinese
poems based on Fenollosa’s notes
Confucian Analects《孔子》 (1951)（《大学》、《
中庸》、《论语》）
The Classic Anthology 《诗经》（A Classic Anthology
Defined by Confucius,《孔子删定古诗选》）(1954),
Influence on modern poetry
As critic, editor and promoter, Pound helped
shape the careers of some of the 20th century's
most influential writers, including W. B. Yeats,
T. S. Eliot, James Joyce, Robert Frost, William
Carlos Williams, H.D., Marianne Moore, Ernest
Hemingway, D. H. Lawrence, and Charles
Olson.
Pound edited his friend T. S. Eliot's The
Waste Land, the poem that was to force the
new poetic sensibility into public attention.
Contribution to Imagism
responsible for the appearance and flourishing of
Imagism which was meant to be a new way of
writing emphasizing the objective presentation（
客观呈现）rather than subjective representation
（主观再现）
In “A Few Dont’s by an Imagiste,” which
appeared in Poetry in 1913, Pound announced
the modernist poetics of precision, concision,
and metrical freedom.
Imagism
Presenting a hard（坚实）, clear（明
晰）, concentrated（凝练） image or
picture
No discussion or comment on the
meaning of the image
Economy of words
Language of common speech
Rhythm from musical phrases rather
than for rigid metrical forms
Imagism (1909-1917)
U.S.: Ezra Pound, H.D. (Hilda
Doolittle), John Gould Fletcher,
Amy Lowell, William Carlos
Williams
England: F.S. Flint, Richard
Aldington, D.H. Lawrence
Japanese Haiku
Matsuo Bashō 松尾芭蕉（1644—1694）
“闲寂古池旁，青蛙跳进水中央，扑通一声响。”（《
古池》）
古池や 蛙飛込む 水の音
This separates into on as:
fu-ru-i-ke ya (5)
ka-wa-zu to-bi-ko-mu (7)
mi-zu no o-to (5)
Translated:
old pond . . .
a frog leaps in
water’s sound
“树下肉丝、菜汤上，飘落樱花瓣。”《赏樱》
Juxtaposition 并置
the placing of two or more distinct
things side by side in order to
compare or contrast them
Superposition 叠加 / 迭加
- a hidden metaphorical relationship
between the juxtaposed images, e.g.
雨中黄叶树，灯下白头人（司空曙）
照影溪梅，怅绝代佳人独立（辛弃疾）
In a Station of the Metro (1)
The apparition of these faces in the crowd;
Petals on a wet, black bough.
Or
The apparition of these faces in the crowd;
Petals on a wet black bough.
In a Station of the Metro (2)
What two images does Pound
juxtapose in “In a Station of the
Metro”?
- faces in the crowd
- petals on a wet, black bough
In a Station of the Metro (3)
One of the purposes of
juxtaposition is to evoke an
emotional response.
What emotion does the juxtaposition
in this poem evoke in you?
Response 1
a surprised rejoice at the unexpected
appearance of the faces’ colorful and lovely
freshness
A glimpse of something beautiful and fresh
in the most unlikely place
- apparition: appearance which is generally
startling, strange or unexpected
- petals & wet: blossoming flowers glowing
with the rain water
Response 2
A mournful regret at the vivid fresh-looking
individuals overwhelmed by society
Setting: the station is damp and dark with
countless anonymous people crowded
together
Apparition: suggests the fragility and
transience of individuals who, though fresh
and lively like the petals on the wet bough,
will be obscured by the surrounding
environment.
Response 3
a mysterious feeling about the sudden
appearance of immaterial beauty
Wet, dark setting suggests the
unknown mysterious or even
frightening nature of the beautiful
faces
Response 4, 5, …
车站 余光中 译
人群中，这些面孔的鬼影，
潮湿的黑树枝上的花瓣。
The Red Wheelbarrow
William Carlos Williams
(1883-1963)
The Red Wheelbarrow (1)
What depends on the wheelbarrow?
- daily chores / daily life
What do the first two lines suggest
about the speaker’s response to the
scene?
- heavy loads and great
responsibility
- important role as a tool
The Red Wheelbarrow (2)
What item is mentioned in stanza 2?
What might be the significance of its
color?
- wheelbarrow
- red
passion
energy, vitality
The Red Wheelbarrow (3)
What two items does the poet
describe in stanza 3 and 4? What do
you think Williams is saying in this
poem?
- rainwater and chickens
- harmonious picture of farm life
The Red Wheelbarrow (4)
What images are juxtaposed in this poem?
- red, wheelbarrow glazed with rain water,
white, chicken
To what sense do the images in the poem
directly appeal?
- sense of sight
What emotion does the juxtaposition evoke
in you?
- peace, joy of farm life
The Red Wheelbarrow (5)
Williams carefully arranges his
words, including breaking up the
words rainwater and wheelbarrow.
How, in your opinion, does the
arrangement of the words and
stanzas affect the look, feel, sound,
and pace of the poem?
anyone lived in a pretty how town
E.E. Cummings
E.E. Cummings (1894-1962)
"to be nobody-but-myself - in a world
which is doing its best, night and day,
to make me everybody else - means
to fight the hardest battle which any
human being can fight, and never
stop fighting." - Cummings
Uniqueness of Cummings's poems
lack of punctuation
use of lowercase letters
unusual arrangement of words
- breaking words apart
- changing their parts of speech
- a single word representing an entire
idea
anyone lived in a pretty how town
orignally no title
What is the name of the main
character? What is the name of his
wife? What do these names suggest?
What do "women and men" do?
What is the difference between
children and adults?
What happens to the two main
characters at the end of the poem?
anyone lived in a pretty how town
How do townspeople seem to react to
this event?
What three series of words are
repeated?
What lesson about life does the poem
convey?
Assignments
Read "The Declaration of
Independence" and find
- the most essential reasons for which
the declaratoin of independence is
made.
Read Faulkner's speech and find:
- What does Faulkner think is the
writer's duty?