Contemporary American Literature Part 43

1. As Miss Lowell is the princ.i.p.al exponent of the theories of imagism and free verse in this country, careful reading of some of her critical papers leads to a better understanding of her work. Especially valuable are her studies of Paul Fort in her volume ent.i.tled _Six French Poets_, of "H.D." and John Gould Fletcher in her _Tendencies in Modern American Poetry_, the prefaces to different volumes of her poems and to the anthologies published under the t.i.tle _Some Imagist Poets_ (1915, 1916), and her articles in the _Dial_, 64 ('18): 51 ff., and in Poetry, 3 ('13): 213 ff.

2. In judging her work, consider separately her poems in regular metrical form and those in free verse. Decide which method is better suited to her type of imagination.

3. To what extent does her inspiration come from cultural sources--travel, literature, art, music?

4. Consider especially her presentation of "images." How far do these seem to be derived from direct experience? Test them by your own experience. What principles seem to determine her choice of details?

Which sense impressions--sight, sound, taste, smell, touch--does she most frequently and successfully suggest? Note instances where her figures of speech sharpen the imagery and others where they seem to distort it. In what ways is the influence of Keats perceptible in her work?

5. It is worth while to make special study of the historical imagery of the poems in _Can Grande's Castle_.

6. If you are familiar with the impressionistic method of painting, work out an a.n.a.logy between it and Miss Lowell's word pictures.

7. Study separately her varieties of free verse and polyphonic prose (cf.

her study of Paul Fort and the preface to _Can Grande's Castle_). Choose several poems in which you think the free verse form is especially adapted to the content and draw conclusions as to the problems of development of this kind of verse or of its possible influence upon regular metrical forms.

8. Use the following poem by Miss Lowell as a basis for judging her work:

FRAGMENT

What is poetry? Is it a mosaic Of colored stones which curiously are wrought Into a pattern? Rather gla.s.s that's taught By patient labor any hue to take And glowing with a sumptuous splendor, make Beauty a thing of awe; where sunbeams caught, Trans.m.u.ted fall in sheafs of rainbows fraught With storied meaning for religion's sake.

9. In summing up Miss Lowell's achievement, consider the different phases of it that appear in her volumes taken in chronological order, noting the successive influences under which she has come. In what qualities does she stand out strikingly from other contemporary poets? Do you expect different and more important work from her in the future?

BIBLIOGRAPHY

A Dome of Many-Colored Gla.s.s. 1912.

Sword Blades and Poppy Seed. 1914.

Six French Poets. 1915.

Men, Women and Ghosts. 1916.

Tendencies in Modern American Poetry. 1917.

Can Grande's Castle. 1918.

Pictures of the Floating World. 1919.

Legends; Tales of Peoples. 1921.

Fir-Flower Tablets. Poems Translated from the Chinese. 1921. (With Florence Ayscough.)

STUDIES AND REVIEWS

Boynton.

Hunt, R. and Snow, R.H. Amy Lowell. 1921.

Untermeyer.

Bookm. 47 ('18): 255. (Phelps.) Chapbook, 1-2, May, 1920: 8.

Dial, 61 ('16): 528; 65 ('18): 346; 67 ('19): 331 Egoist, 1 ('14): 422; 2 ('15): 81, 109; 3 ('16): 9.

Freeman, 4 ('21): 18.

Ind. 87 ('16): 306 (portrait); 88 ('16):533 (portrait); 93 ('18): 294.

Lit. Digest, 52 ('16): 971; 63 ('19): Nov. 29, p. 31 (portraits); 72 ('22): 38.

Lond. Mer., 3 ('21): 441.

New Repub. 6 ('16): 178.

No. Am. 207 ('18): 257, 736.

Poetry, 6 ('15): 32; 9 ('17): 207; 10 ('17): 149; 13 ('18): 97; 15 ('20): 332.

Sewanee R. 28 ('20): 37.

Spec. 125 ('20): 744.

Touchstone, 2 ('18): 416; 7 ('20): 219.

+George Barr McCutcheon+ (1866)--novelist.

The creator of Graustark. For bibliography, see _Who's Who in America_.

+Percy (Wallace) Mackaye+--dramatist, poet.

Born in New York City, 1875, son of Steele Mackaye, dramatist and manager. A.B., Harvard, 1897. Traveled in Europe, 1898-1900, studying at the University of Leipzig, 1899-1900. Taught in private school in New York, 1900-04. Joined the colony at Cornish, New Hamps.h.i.+re, 1904. Since then has been engaged chiefly in dramatic work.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Fenris the Wolf. 1905. (Tragedy.) The Scarecrow. 1908. (Also, d.i.c.kinson, _Chief Contemporary Dramatists_.

1915.) The Playhouse and the Play. 1909. (Essays.) A Garland to Sylvia. 1910. (Comedy.) Anti-Matrimony. 1910. (Satirical comedy.) Tomorrow. 1911. (Play.) Yankee Fantasies. 1912. (One act plays.) The Civic Theatre. 1912.

Sinbad the Sailor. 1912. (Lyric drama.) A Thousand Years Ago. 1914. (Comedy.) The Immigrants. 1915. (Lyric drama.) A Subst.i.tute for War. 1915. (Essay.) *Poems and Plays. 1916.

American Conservation Hymn. 1917.

The Community Drama. 1917. (Essay.) Was.h.i.+ngton. 1919. (Ballad-play.) Rip Van Winkle. 1919. (Folk-opera.) Dogtown Common. 1921. (Verse.)

For full bibliography see _Cambridge_, III (IV), 770.

STUDIES AND REVIEWS

Am. M. 71 ('10): 121 (portrait).

Bookm. 25 ('07): 230 (portrait), 231; 32 ('10): 256 (portrait only); 39 ('14): 376 (portrait); 47 ('18): 395.

Craftsman, 26 ('14): 139 (portrait)=R. of Rs. 49 ('14): 749 (condensed); 30 ('16): 483.

Cur. Op. 60 ('16): 408.

Everybody's, 40 ('19): 29.

Harv. Grad. M. 17 ('09): 599 (portrait).

No. Am. 199 ('14): 290.

Survey, 35 ('16): 508.

World Today, 17 ('09): 997 (portrait).

+(Charles) Edwin Markham+--poet.

Born at Oregon City, Oregon, 1852. Went to California, 1857. Worked at farming, blacksmithing, and herding cattle and sheep during boyhood.

Educated at San Jose Normal School and at Christian College, Santa Rosa.

Princ.i.p.al and superintendent of schools in California until 1899. Made famous by the publication of _The Man with the Hoe_.