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)
2)what are some of the key features
3) In what way has it been influential
1 Faulk (2009) interprets ‘The Wasteland’ as a portrayal of the city of London, a subtle reaction to the author’s emotions. Faulk (2009) suggests that a key feature of ‘The Wasteland’ is that it “recorded the main responses of multiple characters who are walking around and are expressing their reaction to the city.
According to Simpson (2007), Eliot was the most influential poet in the 20th century,'The Wasteland' was used as a critical poem in modern society and culture. Eliot said that he was in a culture that is degrading and developing and will never stop. Eliot was a critic on the society after World War 1. Also, he thought of the past culture before World War 1 and the positive things that the culture had, but Eliot said that that it was a discoloured culture now. it was not the poem that includes how Eliot wrote about the bad situation that he had, but the poem that include all feelings of people who were living in the culture.
ReplyDeleteReference
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
Post Modernism
ReplyDelete1
A common quality that ‘the beats’ shared could be considered an awareness of subculture. The beats wrote a lot of material on subculture and influenced by subculture. A lot of working pushed social norm boundaries in American, especially in terms of questioning war and in flying a flag for gay rights. Other similar qualities could be a rejection of materialism and sexual liberation.
The name ‘Beat Generation’ is first thought to have been coined by Jack Kerouac however the word ‘beat’ precedes this and was used in subcultures that could argued were a major influence for these writers. The term ‘beat’ was used in jazz circles to mean exhausted or broke. Similarly, the derelict community that William Burroughs was first a part of is said to have used ‘beat’ in a similar way. However, with the birth of the Beat Generation, the name was propelled from it’s original meaning (exhaustion) due to to social environment surrounding war (Pearl Harbour) and into a sense also of empowerment.
2
Beat poetry is driven by counter culture and a desire to push social taboos and break from them. Through out American history, African traditions were forced to become taboos by dominant white culture. One of these traditions is griot which is a tradition that involved boasting and commentary on social life. This tradition is recognised as an origin of rap however, it was taken away from Africans in America. Thus, there is a history of subculture tension in which a people and identity are being oppressed. This can be seen similar to what the beats were fighting for with gay rights – and racism was also a hot topic during this period too!
Additionally, both of these traditions and groups are founded in commentary through using words. Beat would often have live performances and poetry read out loud.
3
The song Masters of War by Bob Dylan is a strong and blunt protest song. The song is critical of Eisenhower but it has a strong sense of timeless relevancy especially regarding the Bush administration. During the 2000’s, when the American government announced that it would go to war with Iraq, Bob Dylan performed Masters of War at the Grammys. Later, when more movements in war occurred, Bob Dylan performed the song in protest at Madison Square. During this time, some high school students were influenced by this song and chose it as their item for a talent show. These students then changed the lyrics to reflect that it was explicitly about Bush. Parents who had heard this rendition were alarmed and the situation elevated to the secret service being involved.
4
ReplyDelete‘Howl’ is a brash and sexual powerful poem on the surface but a deep and sympathetic social and political commentary underneath. Homosexuality was significantly misunderstood in America and was categorically oppressed. Many people suffered due to this, which is a big part of what was fuelling the writing of Howl.
The allegations against Howl are purely from a superficial standpoint. The language and images depicted were incredibly raw for the time it was published. Many people could not handle what the poem was saying and would not see any other meaning behind it. This was the simple and major drive in the accusations of Howl.
However, there was a lot of support for the poem. It was deemed as a great work and the judge ruled that there was no doubt in it’s redeeming social values. This was a major milestone in gay rights, free speech and counter culture art.
5
Looking close to shore, in New Zealand there has a been a number of significant political artworks made. Namely by an Auckland group called Home Brew. This hip hop group, controversially released a song scathing John Key – similarly to ‘Howl’ this work was quite brash on the surface and caused a lot of controversy over the language used. This was very distractive and reductive of the actual point of the work, similarly to ‘Howl’.
I think this indicates there is still a spirit of protest however, I would hypothesise that in looking back over history and cornerstone protest movements (where issues were addressed that are still issues today e.g. racism), that todays generations may be uncertain on how to protest in a way that is effective and will bring about long lasting social change.
References
Ginserberg, A. (1995). On rap. US: Hibbet Radio.
Chase, N. (2005). The Beats on Trial: The Case against Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl”.
Retrieved from http://www.rhetcomp.gsu.edu/efolio/USERS/scottjulie/
4200FinalProject.doc.
Marcus, G. (2006). Stories of a Bad Song. Retrieved June 12, 2013, from
http://www.threepennyreview.com/samples/marcus_w06.html
Russell, J. (2012). The Beat Generation. London, England: Oldcastle Books.
Post-modernism
ReplyDeleteAns. (2) There are several theories that dictate the various ways in which beat poetry is linked to rap. Although it is fair to say that they do not completely share the same exact literary characteristics, there are certain similarities observed. Through some research, I have listed below, a few of these notions that attempt to explain the relationship between beat poetry and rap.
- According to Vickers (2005) , Allen Ginsberg is a prominent figure that helped a general audience comprehend and consider some of the similarities that can be observed in both beat poetry and rap. Both genres puts a general emphasis on, and establishes their foreground on a number of different related aspects -such as language, life events, beat and the theatrical nature of verbal expressions (Vickers, 2005). According to Vickers (2005) , Geinsberg's main purpose of breaking down the barriers of reputed professional writing and apply written obscenities to further convey the message that underlies real life circumstances resonates with the structure and intention of rap (Vickers, 2005). Perhaps an example that demonstrates the similarity or a potential link between the two genres is depicted through Allen Geinsberg's poem "Ballad of the Skeletons" - Initially just a poem, in 1997, music was later added to it making it appear somewhat like a modern-day rap music video (Springer, 2012). Here is a link to his Ballad of the Skeletons, with music; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lrc96uGWyrE&feature=kp
- As Pate (2009) suggests, the literary value or regard of rap as a link to beat poetry has sparked a significant amount of friction between those who support and oppose the idea of a relationship or the existence of any sort of association between them. According to Pate (2009) , the aesthetics of both beat poetry and rap can be analysed in a systematic fashion that amounts up to both genres utilising different aspects of the same seven elements - which are; saturation, linguistics, imagery, flow, spirituality, themes and social expositions. Thus, a correspondence between both genres is observed.
In conclusion, although the structure and the way in which both beat poetry and rap is presented appear to vary - it is perhaps important to note that certain features taken into consideration in the creative process of both genres do establish a link between them.
References:
Pate, A. D. (2009). In the Heart of the Beat: The Poetry of Rap (African American Cultural Theory and Heritage): Scarecrow Press.
Springer, M. (2012). ‘The Ballad of the Skeletons’: Allen Ginsberg’s 1996 Collaboration with Philip Glass and Paul McCartney. Film,Music & Poetry.
Vickers, C. (2005). Brief Look at the Beat Poet Who Helped Form a Type of Poetry Whose Descendent is Modern Rap Music
Post-modernism
ReplyDeleteAns. (3) Bob Dylan's 'Masters of War', an anti-war song, stood the test of time and generated a certain level of controversy during the Bush administration - This was mainly fuelled by the fact that the vowed regime of change was not practiced or put into play and having forced an immoral invasion of Iraq putting the US military troops in obvious danger (Scowcroft, 2002).
According to Marcus (2006) Dylan had stopped performing 'Master's of War' by 1964, and gradually brought it back to his tour set list by the 1980's. It was his performance of the song in the 1991 Grammy awards that gained a favourable number of attention/notoriety as he was intent on showing his disapproval against the idea of 'operation desert shield', which became an official mission at the time (Marcus, 2006).
It was reported that he was under the influence of drug as his behaviour on the night seemed 'bizarre' (Deem, 2008). Whether or not this was true, it did not stop him from getting his message across. It was instantly deemed an infamous performance - Dylan started off by singing the song in disguise - indistinctly slurring his words (Marcus, 2006). When asked about why he chose to perform the song, he simply replied that it was because "the war was going on" (Marcus, 2006).
In 2002, when a second plan to declare war on Iraq was put into plan, Dylan appeared at Madison Square Garden as an opposing response to this decision (Marcus, 2006).
Again, in 2004, Dylan had began singing 'Masters of War' continuously without an end, at a seemingly faster pace with certain alterations to the original lyrics of the song - adding in lines such as; "You put a gun in my hand" and "you put a gun to my head" (Marcus, 2006).
Clearly, Dylan wanted to express his approval towards the actions taken by Bush administration through his song - along the way, being strongly influential and creating awareness about the issue.
References:
Marcus, G. (2006). "Stories of a bad song." The Threepenny Review. 1.
Scowcroft, B. (2002). "Bush: Iraq war plans memo wrong" Wall Street Journal.
Deem (2008). "Dylan at the 1991 Grammy Awards." Music Corner. 2014.