Weeks 10 - 12 Modernism and Post Modernism
Week 10-12
Modernism
What does The Wasteland mean (Lol)?
OK, well, let's unpack that:
1. How has it been interpreted? Use citations.
2. What are some of its key features?
3. In what ways has it been influential??
PoMo
7. What kinda protest song/rap/other media have come out in the last decade? Is there a spirit of protest anymore?
What does The Wasteland mean (Lol)?
OK, well, let's unpack that:
1. How has it been interpreted? Use citations.
2. What are some of its key features?
3. In what ways has it been influential??
PoMo
1. What common qualities do the "Beats" share? Why were they so-named?
2. On what grounds was Ginsberg's HOWL accused of being obscene, and on what grounds was it defended?
3. In what ways are Beat poetry and rap linked?
4. How was Bob Dylan's song Master of War involved in controversy during the Bush administration?
5. What were the links between black protest music and revolutionary political movements, such as the Black Panthers, in the 1960s and how did things play out then and into the 1970s?
6. Identity some linked themes in rap of the 1980s from the period of the previous questions.
5. What were the links between black protest music and revolutionary political movements, such as the Black Panthers, in the 1960s and how did things play out then and into the 1970s?
6. Identity some linked themes in rap of the 1980s from the period of the previous questions.
8) Supplementary question on Bob Dylan. Should Bob Dylan have been granted the Nobel Prize for Literature? Argue for or against.
What does The Wasteland mean (Lol)?
ReplyDeleteOK, well, let's unpack that:
1. How has it been interpreted? Use citations.
2. What are some of its key features?
3. In what ways has it been influential??
The Wasteland
The Waste Land is an exotic piece. being first published in 1922 it is a landmark and possibly the most important example of modernist literature from the 20th century.
it is a complicated poem by TS Elliot and is considered within many societies of western culture as one of the largest influential poems of the 20th century.
Some themes it discusses are (the most obvious one, in general) War and its perceived inherent futilities. From a presented from a perspective responding to the social experienced disillusionment of the horrors of trench warfare experienced by western societies during the onset of the Great War.
However, in analysis, there are many other important pertaining themes to consider/interpret during relating to the zeitgeist of the time such as the overarching themes relating to the opening thrall modernism, loss of prevailing social identities, love, the cyclical nature of history and death/rebirth.
Many have interpreted it as an upended social mirror to the movements of the realization and advancement of the modern era.
Humanity witnessing its loss of the innocent to the previous social movement found within rhetoric glancing romantic view of westernized society in general. Towards this, it enters the modernistic era and its newly represented social values and ideas.
First, let’s begin to discuss its formative structure within the composition and its literary context.
It is considered a Georgian poem (a variety of lyrical poetry produced in the early 20th century by an assortment of British poets (Young, 2018) during the reign of King George V.
Interpretations: exploring themes/context/explanations
The poem’s length and ornate intricacies are obscenely palpable. It breathes into its complexities and ties into the concept that the advancing ideas of the events and ideas of modernism future from a perspective “A Waste Land” (hence the title) within it carrying many interpretations are indeed concurrently valid.
The themes Akanksha Barthwa independent research describes it firstly within a contextual reference to a conceptual “Waste Land” desolate and derived from perhaps in more than just a generic general term of textual metaphorical/ metaphysical description.
However several interpretations we find in a common ground within its contextual symmetry (given the imagery the use of language) to allow these possible similar interpretations and common ground of agreed interpretation.s
To this interpretation A seething unseen disconnection of the interconnected references and a disconnected timeline. Within the journal article published in 1963 by RJ Owens (research and a post contemporary of T S Elliot), Owens iterates.
‘The Wasteland writes, the first impression of The Waste Land is of multiplicity, of plurality. The reader is aware of and responds to, the various parts of the poem, but he feels that the parts are separate, unconnected, and lacking in any cohesion.
Which from my perspective is plain to see, the narrative device of the description seems initially a discombobulated miasma: there is a lack of connectedness from the titled sections of the poems with each section: it is hard to interpret without a directly given structure.
Yet however other interpreters do exist to explain and bring meaning to the underlying understanding (in terms of what the poem’s value and most importantly) of what the poem means.
Abu Sufian advances the concept there exists within the poem a sentiment of the “postwar disillusionment of the 1920s:” in the opening section of his essay. (Sufian, 2014)
Shan Lyer! you always have such great and interesting posts to read. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this it helped me understand The Wasteland alot! Terrific! Thanks!
DeleteHowever, indubitably the lengthy poem isn’t a solely contextual expository reference to the experience of the post-war era but a concerted effort to abase concurrent themes: the approach of society's reactions to modernism as well and what it brings to the table into the changing human experience.
ReplyDeleteA concurrent interpretation which is agreed upon by Barthwa “ ….deconstructs the structure of modernism and everything it offered.” (Barthwa, 2018) who further argues that the poem details create an environment where the realm of modernist theories, points of advancement is reflected within the work and further discussed.
It further alludes that concept social era of modernism however championed as an age of ‘progress’ believed by certain aspects of societies that some sort of progress has been achieved.
To further the establishment of the central theme of modernism Abu Sufian argues that society tells it us is a lost motion of societal motion and questions, as Abu Sufian argument articulates:
“At a time when traditional stabilities of society, religion, and culture seemed to have crashed dramatically in the hands of ‘rapid change’ of both social and technological in every sphere of human lives. Modernity destroyed the old order of any kind” (Sufian, 2014)
“Exposing a picture of mundane wasteland that symbolically suggests the spiritual death of modern men,” (Sufian, 2014) here
and looking to the oriental east for a possible remedy. (Sufian, 2014)
A collective reaction of similarity to the loss of innocence profoundly vastly agreed upon by today’s generation with the accession of technology in the post( and possibly post-post-modern) theorized and furthered as considered our society as posthuman. This is what The Waste Land prophesized almost a century ago to what we are witnessing the ramification fo effects.
A future Era an advancement similarly felt by poets reactionary rebelliousness found in the era of romanticism and within sonnets to experience demonstrated rebel of the sublime against the modernism of values promulgated within the formation of the age of enlightenment.
The pertaining symbol of the old being thrown out in his vision for values and ideas that no-one who contends or desires to change.
Delete“The Wasteland seeks to portray a world which is dry from all human emotions and feelings. Eliot describes wasteland as a place which is barren, dry, infertile, desolate, inhospitable, sterile having no vegetation. “ a shock from world wars …” (Barthwa, 2018)
Here Barthwa then further elucidates into further terse, that humanity en-masse is s treading on grounds that is undesirable, barren without love or metaphysical values that were so cherished within previous centuries.
“The poet discovers a condition of the modern world,”
An allusion here is the emotional and intellectual era of classical romanticism towards the celebrations of “modernism”. Themes of loss of innocence following the romanticizing of the Great War itself into full blooming fruits of the onset of the era of modernism.
From these interpretations we find similar ground to help characterize the Waste Land and discover its essence of the wasteland as a path to a wasteland for humanities to experience.
The Waste Land: some key features
The wasteland has many key features, but some are more prominent than others.
The first example: A pertaining disjointed timeline.
1. Disjointed timeline
The nature of the poem narrative structure is in carried in the fashion of a “disjointed timeline”
i.e. the form of the narration style is disconnected akin to a narrative of cultural text where the narrative is questionable and not an example of straightforward poetic structure.
This structure typically found within the pre-modernist movement forms of poetry and is a form found in modernist interpretation (however thematically continued within the seemingly antimodernist stance of the content carried by Elliot himself in The Waste Land) of how the medium of literature could create and reflect perspectives in a changing society.
The Disjointed timeline is (according to Jeff Carelso) a feature of the poem that is worthy of note.
He considers The Waste Land…
“a plot that's kind of not a plot or not that easy to follow. 'The Waste Land' really doesn't have a plot that takes you from beginning to end.” (Caraleso, 2012)
DeleteIts direction contains structures: five separate sections of division which orders an example of literature but is not clear from beginning to end a stylization (which a literal device directly contextual of modernist literature).
Also within this frame and references of a gathering exegesis of characters, a literal delight to obscure references are interwoven who seemingly are unrelated.
“For example, Madame Sosostris, a fortune teller, and Phlebas the Phoenician, literally an ancient sailor who's in this poem and drowning. These threads of all these characters weave in and out. They don't seem to be that related to each other. “(Caraleso, 2012)
A key feature argued into an agreement by R. J. OWENS a stoic researcher of TS Elliot
“The first impression of The Waste Land is of multiplicity, of plurality. The reader is aware of and responds to, the various parts of the poem, but he feels that the parts are separate, unconnected, and lacking in any cohesion” (Owens, 1963)
2. Voices/Characters
Another key feature of this example of modernist literature is the array of characters employed. Both from historical and contemporary sources to portray discuss themes and ideas towards contextual complexities within the poem’s stanzas itself.
Firstly, the male characters are in examples, given in stereotypical roles, as are the females. By A.W.
“Many male characters were soldiers and were casualties of the war at the time and women now are usually not aristocrats or having five children.” (A.W., 2018)
To which A.W. further discusses to the diatribe that each section of the five poems has similar traits that situate each theme of the sectioned stanzas.
“After isolating characters by sections, the characters in each section have similar traits or are in similar situations which clarify each section’s theme/topic.“
(A.W., 2018)
And that women are used in symbolism to further the motif of the core theme of the social wasteland itself.
Which examples of female characters in the poem, TS Elliot gives examples that the women further the theme” …specially the woman characters. It is through these characters that Eliot gives us the picture of arid waste of our modern civilization.” (Thakur, 2020)
3. Inclusion of word constructions from non-english languages
DeleteThe waste Land also typifies a response of diction: phrases, words, and sentences from a pantheon of foreign idioms: French, Russian, Sanskrit and German, and Dutch giving a sense of uniqueness.
Influences of The Waste Land
Personal response
I also like the inclusion of the Sanskrit terminologies. Another way it has been influential to the modern ethos of the mainstream with the inclusion of the Mantram and word extracted from the Brihadaranyaka Upanishads.
Datta. Dayadhvam. Damyata.
Shantih shantih shantih
“Datta. Dayadhvam. Damyata” in its current form is roughly translated into “give, compassion, control” (sometime from ~9th to 6th century BCE)
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad containing within its core Hindu and Buddhist concepts. Detailing three duties in life
(giving, compassion, and control). These are things each individual must sacrifice to the gods, to other people, animals, and so on. It is part of the lessons of ethical responsibility for each person. (Young, 2018)
With the last three “Shanti He’” lyric meaning as a way to end a prayer or Sanskrit sloka (Verse) in a blessing of prayer in ancient Hinduism scripture
“(Hinduism) Hinduism a Sanskrit word meaning peace or inner peace prayed at the end of an Upanishad”
(Shanti Definition, 2014)
Which is interesting as it is a social reference and personally resonates with my own culture.
I also found and highly agreed within the stance of Akanksha Barthwal’s passage “
Wasteland is a poem where the present civilization is confused, chaotic, and lacks any emotion towards mankind. It portrays a barren land where humanity is degrading” (Barthwa, 2018)
A theme and concept reflected and postulate further that humanity has been in the degradation of social architecture since the advent of the “modernist” (not to be confused with the artistic and literary movement which brought progress) era in which technology has succumbed over all metaphysicialites to the guidance of social value.
4. How was Bob Dylan’s song Master of War involved in controversy during the Bush administration?
ReplyDeleteBob Dylan’s song Masters of War was “originally written to protest the Vietnam War” and was considered as an anti-war anthem at its initial release and in the more recent days, the song is still relevant (Callesen, 2015). The song is very confrontational and direct, it talks about the ‘masters of war’ a.k.a the rich hiding “in your mansions as young people’s blood flows out of their bodies.” (Dylan, 1963, track 3). The song illustrates the idea that those people from upper-class society orchestrate wars and while they profit from it everyone else suffers. The song has strong sentiments of peace rather than senseless violence and death. Now, while this song was written in the 1960s, Dylan’s song still has some modern-day relevance, in particular, in relation to the Bush administration. There was an incident in 2004 where students were performing Dylan’s song for a talent show, however, during rehearsals those students allegedly threatened the then President Bush by including his name in the song; the students chose Masters of War because they were concerned about the state of their country and about future wars that could occur and put their society at risk (ABC News, 2006). That caused some controversy because the students were supposedly implying that Bush is a ‘master of war’. This incident proves that the themes and ideas included in Dylan’s song, though it was written approximately 57 years ago, is timeless and still relevant in modern society since it conveys an anti-war message that many idealise nowadays.
7. What kind of protest song/rap/other media have come out in the last decade? Is there a spirit of protest anymore?
DeleteIt can be argued that music and protests go hand in hand. Around the time Bob Dylan released Masters of War, his song reflected the anti-war ideals most Americans wanted to see in their society and now the song represents those ideals on a more universal level. But, is there still a spirit of protest anymore? Without a doubt, yes, there still is a strong spirit of protest. In the last decade, there are numerous protest movements that have gained more momentum such as the MeToo movement which is part of the overarching Feminist movement and the Black Lives Matter movement which very recently has gained more momentum and widespread support.
In relation to the Feminist movements, there are quite a few different types of media which have come out in the last decade and have contributed to the movement. For example, Natalie Portman’s 2020 Oscars dress had the names of female film directors embroidered on it, to highlight the point that once again, no female directors were nominated for the ‘Best Director’ award. In a Ted Talk, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie talked about “why we should all be feminists” and spoke about her own experiences concerning the topic (Adichie, 2012). Musicians as well create and produce songs with a feminist message such as Boys Will Be Boys by Dua Lipa, where she talks about harassment and criticises the saying ‘boys will be boys’ which is often used to dismiss and justify bad behaviour by men.
In relation to the Black Lives Matter movement, there have also been various types of media released in the past decade which supports the movement. For example, following her time as the First Lady, Michelle Obama’s autobiography Becoming explores some of her past experiences with racism in America. In terms of music, Beyonce’s 2016 Super Bowl performance of her song Formation had made various references to the Black Lives Matter Movement. For example, the costumes worn by Beyonce and her backup dancers are a reference to the Black Panthers, also the dancers eventually move together into an ‘X’ position to reference Malcolm X (Beyonce, 2016). Both the Black Panthers and Malcolm X are important figures/ groups in relation to this protest movement.
While there is a strong spirit of protest and while protest style music and other media with protest messages are still being created, it could be argued that certain forms of media do not play an important role in protests anymore. Novels and texts are important to protests as they provide important information concerning those specific protest movements. For example, with the recent drive forward for the Black Lives Matter movement, more individuals are actively seeking novels written by black authors to support them and/or novels which address racism as an issue (Epic Reads, 2020). Artwork which shows unity in a time of adversity is also a popular form of media used in protests. Music, however, does not play a key role in protests in the more recent years, as much as it previously did for Bob Dylan’s song for instance. Arguably, musicians and by extension their songs, are highly commercialised and they do make some sort of profit by releasing a song which associates them with a particular group or ideals. Also, musicians and celebrities tend to face more scrutiny for their actions nowadays. Natalie Portman, for example, had to deal with claims of being a hypocrite for her Oscars dress. While she was angry at the fact that no female directors were nominated for the ‘Best Director’ award, she does not have many female directors hired in her film studio, so her support was considered as “lip service… fake support of other women is the problem” (McIntosh, 2020). This resulted in her action being interpreted as hollow and meaningless. So, while there is a strong spirit of protest, in relation to protest media, some successfully support the protest movement, while other forms of media like music does not play a huge role in it anymore.
DeleteReferences (for both questions):
Delete1) ABC News. (2006, January 8). School Talent Show Draws Secret Service. ABC News. Retrieved on June 1, 2020 from https://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=247437&page=1
2) Adichie, C. (2012, December). We should all be feminist. Retrieved June 5, 2020 from
https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_we_should_all_be_feminists?language=en
3) Beyonce - Formation Live At The Super Bowl 50 Halftime Show. (2016). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIX2ENPZo-8
4) Callesen, E. (2015, November 30). “Masters of War” by Bob Dylan. Retrieved June 1, 2020, from https://musicpolitics.as.ua.edu/timeline-articles/masters-of-war-by-bob-dylan/
5) Dylan, B. (1963). Masters of War. [Song recorded by Bob Dylan]. On The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan. Columbia Records.
6) McIntosh, S. (2020, February 13). Natalie Portman responds to Rose McGowan’s Oscars dress criticism. BBC. Retrieved June 5, 2020, from
https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-51487161
7) EpicReads. (2020, June 2). 17 New YA Books by Black Authors to Support - Now and Always. Epic Reads. Retrieved June 5, 2020 from
https://www.epicreads.com/blog/new-ya-books-black-authors/
Great write ups and great information! I think Bob Dylans music is historic and I believe it will still be historic in 100 years to come. I agree with you and loved how you wrote that it "is timeless and still relevant in modern society since it conveys an anti-war message that many idealise nowadays." I couldn't of said it any better. Thanks !!
Delete4. How was Bob Dylan's song Master of War involved in controversy during the Bush administration?
ReplyDeleteThe song ‘Master of War’ from artist Bob Dylan was released in 1963 on the album The Freewheelin’ and is considered as an anti-war song both during the time of its release and still in modern days. It is a song that still holds relevance even today given the current state of the world. As the title implies the song speaks directly about the masters of war, people who start and perpetuate war. They are called on to listen to the song, in the very first verse of the song weapons manufacturers are told to come out. “Come, you masters of war, you that build the big guns, you that build the death planes, you that build all the bombs.” (Dylan, 1963). The rich are also called out as masters of war, and the song states that these people sit back and watch the next generation go out and fight and die for their country. “You hide in your mansion while the young people’s blood flows out of their bodies.” (Dylan, 1963). These people in the upper-class profit from all the chaos while everyone else suffers in return. Dylan then also asks these masters of war if causing all this suffering just for the sake of lining their own pockets is worth it. “Let me ask you one question is your money that good, will it buy you forgiveness do you think that it could.” (Dylan, 1963). Considering how little these masters of war care for the people who go out to fight their wars this sentiment rings true. Essentially, the song strongly believes that all the senseless violence and death that comes with war is pointless, and as previously stated the song still holds a lot of relevance today.
An instance of the song resurfacing after a long period of time was in relation to the Bush administration. In 2004 the Secret Service showed up at Boulder High School in Colorado over concerns that a band at the school, who were performing the song for a talent show, had threatened George Bush’s life. These students allegedly had threatened George Bush by choosing to include his name in the song, effectively implying that Bush was one of the masters of war described in the song. This entire incident was, frankly, ridiculous. The idea that a group of high school students was planning to kill the then president is absurd and, in a way, proved the relevance of the themes originally presented in the song. So, despite ‘Master of War’ is a song that was recorded 57 years ago, the ideas presented in it and the song itself are truly timeless and continue to be relevant even today. Looking at the current state of America the song is even more important than it has ever been due to the many injustices that have occurred during the Trump administration.
References
Dylan, B. (1963). Master of War [Song]. On The Freewheelin’. Columbia Records.
Interesting piece, especially the last part. Thank you for sharing!
DeleteI think "Master of War" is written as a protest the cold war between the USA and the Soviet Union in the 1960s and it was linked to protest against the Afghanistan and Irag wars over 40 years later.
Delete1. What common qualities do the "Beats" share? Why were they so-named?
ReplyDeleteThe name of the ‘Beats’ was initially chosen to represent being ‘beaten down’ by society, as much of the Beats’ writing was concerned with the various ways that this occurred especially within America at the time. However, as the movement and it’s members grew and evolved, it later took on several other meanings, such as the ‘Beats’ of musicality and ‘beatific’ spirituality implying a connection to God/godliness. The Beats were connected through their shared interest in writing as a form of protest against or rejection of the societal ‘norms’ of the time; this included writing in a looser, more ‘casual’ form than the ‘literary’ style poetry had celebrated previously – something pioneered especially by Jack Kerouac and his ‘first thought, best thought’ style of writing – and including explicit language and references to sex and drug use. Members of the Beat generation also had a shared interest in achieving a sort of personal ‘enlightenment’ through drugs, sex, the exploration of Eastern religions and jazz music, along with styling themselves outside of the norm in dress and speech, pulling influence from the jazz singers many of them enjoyed. (The Poetry Foundation, n.d.) (The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2020)
2. On what grounds was Ginsberg's HOWL accused of being obscene, and on what grounds was it defended?
DeleteThe second printing of Howl published by Lawrence Ferlinghetti of City Lights Publishing was initially seized on the grounds of obscenity specifically due to the explicit content around homosexuality and sex. This was not the only time a book or piece of writing had been banned on the grounds of perceived obscenity – notable other instances included work by Walt Whitman, Oscar Wilde and James Joyces. The passing of federal anti-obscenity laws in 1842 and 1873 respectively gave the ability to ban and seize ‘obscene’ books, and specifically outlawed sharing anything to do with sex – known as Comstock laws. As Nancy J. Peters writes in ‘Howl on Trial: the Battle for Free Expression’: ‘No matter how beautifully written or ethical it’s viewpoints, if a work of literature employed frank sexual language or depicted sexual acts, it was considered obscene and banned in the U.S.’
But while the U.S. court maintained ‘obscene material that would present a clear and present danger to society’ would not be protected under free speech/first amendment rights, what was considered ‘obscene’ was (and still is) shifting, changing, and being argued all the time, and it was this which helped protect and defend ‘Howl’. The prosecution of book dealer Samuel Roth in New York brought about a new standard for obscenity – the Supreme Court declaring that literature was protected by the First Amendment, and the test of obscenity to be ‘whether to the average person, applying contemporary standards, the dominant theme of the material taken as a whole appeals to the prurient interest’. (Cambridge English Dictionary defines ‘prurient’ as ‘too interested in the details of another person's sexual behaviour’.) This change in what defined ‘obscenity’ – occurring at the same time in 1957 that copies of Howl were being seized and Ferlinghetti was being charged - allowed a multitude of critics, editors and fellow writers to argue for Howl’s literary merit and the book was deemed not obscene, with Judge Clayton W Horn stating that, “An author should be real in treating his subject and be allowed to express his thoughts and ideas in his own words." (Hoby, 2011) (Morgan & Peters, 2006)
References
Hoby, H. (2011, February 23). Allen Ginsberg, Howl and the voice of the Beats. Retrieved from The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/feb/23/allen-ginsberg-howl-poem-film
Morgan, B., & Peters, N. J. (2006). Howl on Trial: The Battle for Free Expression. San Francisco: City Lights Publishers.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. (2020, May 07). Beat Movement. Retrieved from Encyclopædia Britannica: https://www.britannica.com/art/Beat-movement
The Poetry Foundation. (n.d.). An Introduction to the Beat Poets. Retrieved from Poetry Foundation: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/collections/147552/an-introduction-to-the-beat-poets
2. On what grounds was Ginsberg's HOWL accused of being obscene, and on what grounds was it defended?
ReplyDeleteOn March the 25th, 1957, customs officials seized 520 copies of the poem Howl by Allen Ginsburg that were being imported by England. They did this claiming that the book was obscene. This also led to arrests of Shig Murao and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Ferlinghetti had been prepared for this though, and had previously gotten the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to agree to representing him in court if any legal troubles were to occur. In the august of 1957 the obscenity trial for Howl would begin. On the prosecuting side was Ralph McIntosh who represented the state of california in the case. On the defensive side, The ACLU had selected J.W. Ehrlich as their lawyer. The Judge was Clayton W. Horn.
Arguments against Howl
Howl was declared obscene because of references to drug use, and both heterosexual and homosexual sex. Outside of these references the point was made that the poem was obscene because of the language used in the poem, in particular, some certain four letter words. The main points as to why this was something that should classify Howl as obscene was because it would influence its readers to partake in the obscenity that was being referenced and that people would be generally offended by the poem. A major legal reason for howl being considered obscene was that there was a precedent of books being declared obscene and banned specifically for sexual explicitness.
Arguments in defense of Howl
The main argument against Howl being obscene is that the poem has literary merit to it, and that just because the poem had obscene words in it, did not mean that the poem itself was obscene. It was argued that even though certain words in the poem had offended individuals, the words themselves were not actually harmful to the general public. It was also argued that even though the poem could cause lewd thoughts in its readers, it was not sold or bought for this intention, which would not make it pornography.
The Trial
The Core of Ehrlich’s strategy during the trial was to convince Horn that Howl was not obscene despite containing things that were obscene because of its literary merit. To this end Ehrlich had a large roster of literary experts as witnesses who would all attest to Howl’s literary merit.
McIntosh seemingly understood this, because a large amount of his arguments outside of attacking the language of the poem was trying to dispel this point. Firstly, He had two literary experts of his own for witnesses, David Kirk and Gail Potter. Though neither of these two had particularly compelling arguments as to why they thought Howl lacked literary merit, it allowed McIntosh to argue that expert opinion could differ substantially on a single text. With this made clear McIntosh then argued that since expert opinion could and did differ it was irrelevant. McIntosh took this a step further by saying that even if experts thought there was social value in Howl, the average person would still be offended by it because they wouldn’t understand it. Ehrlich countered this by stating that many texts with obvious literary merit have been rejected by people who condemn everything that they don’t understand.
Ehrlich then stated that Allen Ginsburg did not write Howl to demoralise its readers, but rather to detail his own personal experiences.
The interaction that I feel defines the debate was when the man responsible for seizing the 520 copies of the poem, Chester Macphee said that the poem was something that “you wouldn’t want your children to come across.” and during the trial Lawrence Ferlinghetti mirrored these words, saying the poem was portraying “a world, in short, that you wouldn’t want your children to come across.”
1. What does The Wasteland mean (Lol)?
ReplyDeleteOK, well, let's unpack that:
1. How has it been interpreted? Use citations.
2. What are some of its key features?
3. In what ways has it been influential?
Five individual sections of the poem "The burial of the dead" is the first section in the Wasteland. The opening of the poem "April is the cruellest month" the author said that because the land is dead, and the winter snows which will cover this dead land. People live there will not be able to see what is included and let them forget what lay beneath. "The Burial of the dead" established the themes of the Wasteland: Death, burial, rebirth. It was affected by the First World War on the people of Europe. Next is the story "A Game of Chess". The story focuses on two scenes involving women: the first upper-class women and the second a lower-class one. There is a suggestion they are dealing with their issues and husbands who have served in the recent war. The theme of these stories in the Wasteland is marriage, wideness, relationship and sexual relationship, in the modern world. The two women in this story are both trapped in their unfulfilling relationships with men. It like a painful circle life for them, the only situation that can rescue them from this circle life of pain is death, and that seems unthinkable. The third story is "The Fire Sermon". The poem opens with the River Thames "the river's tent is broken". The theme is full of "empty bottle, sandwich papers. The author uses words such as silk handkerchiefs, cardboard boxes, cigarette ends, the summer nights and the nymphs. The author says: "The nymphs are departed" that means he says that the modern world lost its magic and spiritualism because the nymph is a goddess of spirit in the form of living in a tree, river, mountain etc.. but on the other hand, in the poem, this can be mean "prostitutes".
The poem he talks about extended views as a spiritual union sealing the holy rite of marriage. "Death by water" talks about "Phlebas the Phoenician, a fortnight dead", and the profit and loss are about life and death. In this poem, the Phlebas, a Phoenician sailor, is drowned. "Phoenicia was an ancient Semitic region in the eastern Mediterranean, where modern Lebanon and Syria are now located" (Tearle, 2020). It is a highly economically aware poem. In the "Death by water" how can he forgets in death is the "profit and loss". The last final section of The Wasteland, "What the Thunder said" is irregular free verse. This final part of the poem is about a hunger for water here in the poem because there is no water but only rock and the sandy road. The road is twisting above between the mountains, Which are mountains of rock without water in the poem: "Water is needed to restore life to the earth, to return a sterile land to fertility" (Tearle, 2020).
There is no plot for the poem, but it shows the sequence of images, we can see somehow ambiguous, apparently unconnected and various interpretations and it links to each other by the technique of association of ideas (Sangeetha, Peter, 2018). The poem divided into five sections that are from its lack of faith to the lives into a sterile, arid wasteland (Sangeetha, Peter, 2018).
DeleteThe Wasteland is a voice of the 20th century (Sangeetha, Peter, 2018). The prophetic words of T.S.Eliot hold for generations. Humans being stupid, corruption and death have been accepted in ordinary life (Sangeetha, Peter, 2018). He reveals the pessimism and undergoes psychiatric disturbances due to the total dishevelled of the world (Sangeetha, Peter, 2018). He wants the social purged and free of sin, corruption and enmity. He needed the quiet and claim of a peaceful living (Sangeetha, Peter, 2018).
Eliot manifests his thoughts and aid by the writing of pre-war and early war poets (Sangi, Khan, 2011). In his poem, death cannot speak, which implies a loss, and passing of something, but the images are vague (Sangi, Khan, 2011). Eliot tries to find a more vibrant metaphor in the shape of a historical or literary reference (Sangi, Khan, 2011). Eliot's technique in "The wasteland" overcome this barrier (Sangi, Khan, 2011). However, he borrows and uses more concepts from Georgians and war poet to produce a new image that has more capacity for the allusion (Sangi, Khan, 2011). Various references, quotations, themes and characters give poem impression, which throughout all the section of the poem (Sangi, Khan, 2011). Eliot has tried his best to refer his work to numerous foreign language quotes to depict the situations in the desired manner (Sangi, Khan, 2011). This method does not only help to retain his concept of tradition but also help to uphold the other important concept such as impersonality of poetry (Sangi, Khan, 2011).
References:
Sangeetha, M., & Peter, C. (2018). Social Criticism in T.S. Eliot's The Wasteland. Language in India, 18(1), 154–160.
Sangi, M. K., & Khan, F. E. Y. (2011). The Waste Land in the Light of T. S. Eliot's Concept of Tradition. Language in India, 11(12), 427–441.
Tearle, O. (2020). A Short Analysis of T. S. Eliot's 'Death by Water – Interesting Literature. Retrieved 18 June 2010, from https://interestingliterature.com/2016/11/a-short-analysis-of-t-s-eliots-death-by-water/
Q: What common qualities do the "Beats" share? Why were they so-named?
ReplyDeleteWho were The Beats?
The Beat Movement, also known as the Beat Generation, was a literary movement that was started by a group of authors whose work would both explore and influence American culture and politics in the post-World War II era.
San Francisco became the heart of the Beat Movement in the 1950s.
The Beat Generation is composed of writers and poets. The Beats were writers who published stories on certain themes with a distinguished style during a certain time frame in history.
The three men who can be considered as the centre of the Beat Movement were Jack Kerouac, William Burroughs, and Allen Ginsberg. They were the three core members. They wrote much but were met with little success. They did, however, manage to gain notice as a bohemian presence in New York City.
What common qualities did the Beats share?
ReplyDelete• Early American Figures
The Beats were heavily inspired by figures of early American history, such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Herman Melville, and especially by Walt Whitman. In fact, Walt Whitman is addressed as the subject of one of Allen Ginsberg’s poems. American writer Edgar Allen Poe was also acknowledged, and Ginsberg viewed Emily Dickinson as having a major influence on Beat poetry.
The Beats were also inspired by Modernist writers. William Burroughs was heavily influenced by T.S. Eliot, and William Carlos William (American poet associated with modernism and imagism) was a mentor to Allen Ginsberg in university.
• Jazz
The Beat writers were heavily influenced by jazz artists such as Billie Holiday and the stories that could be told through jazz music. Jack Kerouac and Beat poet Bob Kaufman incorporated emotions they felt toward jazz. They used their work to discuss emotions, people, and objects that they associated with jazz music, as well as their life experiences, ones they felt reminded them of this particular style of music.
Beat writers found inspiration in jazz music and used it to fuel the Beat movement.
• Romanticism
The Romantic poets were a major influence on Beat poets and their work. Some of the Romantic poets the Beats were influenced by included Percy Bysshe Shelley and William Blake. These two Romantic poets were inspirations for Beat poets such as Kerouac and Ginsberg.
The Beat poets were influenced by Romantic poets because of their style: more personal expressions of passion that challenged readers to use their imaginations and to open their minds. Different beliefs regarding religion and lifestyles can be seen throughout the work of the Beat artists.
• Sexuality
Free love and sexual liberation were one of the key beliefs and practices of the Beat Generation. At the time, such thoughts strayed far from the Christian beliefs and ideals of American culture.
Some Beat writers were openly homosexual or bisexual, including two of the centre figures of the Beat movement (William Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg.
Jack Kerouac’s novels often featured relationships among men that were homosocial.
• Drugs
The Beat generation members used a number of different drugs, including alcohol, marijuana, morphine, etc. Often, they approached drugs experimentally, being unfamiliar wit their effects.
Drug use for Beat writers was broadly inspired by intellectual interest. Many Beat writers believed that their drug experiences helped to enhance their creativity, insight, and productivity.
Why were the Beats called the Beats?
ReplyDeleteJack Kerouac gave the Beats their name when he referred to them as the “Beat Generation”. He used the word “beat” originally to mean “tired”, “fatigued”, or “beaten down”, but he later associated the word “beat” with “beatific”, the Catholic term for blissful happiness.
Both connotations of the word “beat” were intentionally used. The authors of the Beat Movement felt “beaten down” by society, and deeply wanted to gain beatitude, bliss.
References:
ReplyDeleteBeat Movement. Retrieved from:
https://www.britannica.com/art/Beat-movement
Introduction to the Beat Poets. Retrieved from:
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/collections/147552/an-introduction-to-the-beat-poets
Wow Rija, that's so interesting that there is a Catholic meaning in there as well as commentary on society! Before this paper I would have probably just thought on a surface level that they produced beats as in music!
DeleteQ2.
ReplyDeleteHowl is a poem written by Allen Ginsberg (1926 – 1997) in 1955 and was published as part of a collection in 1956 under the title Howl and Other Poems. The book was published by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, City Lights Books (Wallenfeldt, 2020). The 25th of March 1957 authorities seized 520 copies of the second printing of the book. It was said that the poem was vulgar and many of the phrases that were called obscene referred to sex and sexuality (Rehlander, 2015). The district attorney was outraged by Howl’s descriptions of drug use, homosexuality, graphic language and profanity. The attorney wanted to ban the book because of obscenity (Wallenfeldt, 2020). The following week, the American Civil Liberties Union said they’d contest the legality of the seizure. They had spoken with Ferlinghetti and seen the manuscript for Howl before it was published and said they’d defend it if it was needed (Miles, 2019). The case was dropped on the 29th of May, but the drama was far from over. Undercover cops purchased a copy of Howl from Shigeyoshi Murao at City Lights, they arrested Murao for selling an obscene book and issued a warrant for Ferlinghetti (Miles, 2019).
Nine literary experts defended the book and its social importance during the trial (Sova, 2006).
The experts said Howl was a work of “Social criticism… a literary work that hurdled ideological accusation after accusation against American society.” When handing down his decision the judge read out a statement saying that “unless the book is entirely lacking in ‘social importance’ it cannot be held ‘obscene’.”
Miles, B. (2019, March 18). The Beat Goes On. Poetry Foundation. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/149462/the-beat-goes-on
Rehlander, J.L. (2015, April 28). A Howl of Free Expression: the 1957 Howl Obscenity Trial and Sexual Liberation. Portland State University. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1065&context=younghistorians
Sova, D.B. (2006) Literature Suppressed on Social Grounds. Facts On File, inc.
Wallenfeldt, J. (2020). The “Howl” Heard Round the World. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. https://www.britannica.com/story/the-howl-heard-round-the-world
Q7.
DeleteWhere do I begin? The amount of protest songs that have come out the last decade is both impressive and terrifying, because one would think things would be better by now.
The lists of protest songs are never ending and with the new Black Lives Matters movement a new wave of protest songs and media are on the rise. YG - FTP, Che Lingo - My Block and PIG FEET by Terrace Martin & Co are just some of the song made as a result or now associated with the Black Lives Matters movement. However, protest songs never took a break. Artist’s like Green Day, Lady Gaga, Dixie Chicks, Black Eyed Peas and so on, haven been creating music in protest of political and social issues for years. Although music plays an important part when it comes to getting a message out, there are also other medias who are being used in protest. Poet Foundation provides a long list of Poems of Protest, Resistance, and Empowerment. The article states “From the civil rights and women’s liberation movements to Black Lives Matter, poetry is commanding enough to gather crowds in a city square..” (Poet Foundation, n.d.).
Is there a spirit for protest anymore? Yes. If you don’t believe me, you should have a look around social media. According to Stuff.co.nz thousands of people gathered in Auckland and Wellington for the Black Lives Matters protest.
Poet Foundation (n.d.). Poems of Protest, Resistance, and Empowerment. Poet Foundation. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/collections/101581/poems-of-protest-resistance-and-empowerment
Owen, C & Chumko, A. (2020, June 14). Black Lives Matter: Thousands at Auckland and Wellington marches. Stuff. https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/121745476/black-lives-matter-thousands-at-auckland-and-wellington-marches
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DeleteThe BLM movement is a big topic at the moment around the entire world, protests are indeed happening and the demand for change is growing. I enjoyed reading your piece and liked how you also included poetry.
DeleteThanks for sharing
I agree with Sia, it's really interesting to see a poem there. I may just be out of the loop but I rarely see modern poetry, I had kind of assumed that pop music or rap was the new poetry. I also agree that the amount of protest music out there is both "impressive and terrifying" I wonder if a lot of it goes over people's heads though. Before researching for this blog I hadn't really listened too closely to the lyrics of a lot of songs.. I did attend the BLM protests in Auckland though so maybe the message is getting through subliminally... or I spend a lot of time on Instagram.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWhat kinda protest song/rap/other media have come out in the last decade (2010-2020)? Is there a spirit of protest anymore?
ReplyDeleteMusic is an ideal mode for conveying political messages and protest. By projecting new or controversial ideas into the mainstream with a catchy tune, one can reach the ears of those who may never have considered such issues before (Haycock, 2015). Over the last decade, a number of artists have produced music which acts as or encourages protests against injustices experienced by Black, Indigenous and other people of colour.
One example of this is the music video for Apes**t by The Carters (Beyoncé and her husband Jay-Z) which is filmed inside the Louvre, an art museum in the French city of Paris which displays artwork by predominantly White artists. The Carters are shown posing and dancing in front of many famous works of art; by inserting their Blackness into the predominantly White space, makes the contrast more obvious to the audience (Leight, 2018). In addition, the image of mostly Black dancers lying on the steps, attempting to get up before lying down again may symbolise the way Black people have been, and continue to be, oppressed; the stairs can be compared to their status in broader society. Moreover, the lyrics “I said no to the Super Bowl, you need me, I don't need you, every night we in the end zone, tell the NFL we in stadiums too” with the accompanying imagery of Black men on one knee, referring to the protest movement against police brutality lead by Colin Kaepernick, American National Football League player (Beyoncé, 2018, 3:33; Leight, 2018).
Another example of recent protest in music is This Is America by Childish Gambino. The opening scene shows a man, who appears to be harmlessly playing the guitar, is shot by Gambino who takes on the position of a previously popular blackface minstrel character ‘Jim Crow’, representing racist white man shooting an innocent person (Inside Edition, 2018). Gambino continues to dance into another room where he murders a Church choir and walks straight past a police car as he leaves, getting away without punishment for the murder. Dr Brooks asserts that this is a reference to a church shooting in Charleston, South Carolina in 2015, where the murderer also got away without punishment (Inside Edition, 2018). As the video continues, there appears to be an increasing amount of chaos in the background whilst Gambino continues to dance in the foreground, which likely represents how Black people are perceived by the non-Black members of the community; as providers of entertainment, without acknowledging the ongoing systemic racism they face (Inside Edition, 2018). Gambino also suggests to the audience that they should film their experiences of injustice with their cellular telephones through the lyric “this a celly, that’s a tool” (Glover, 2018, 2:26; Inside Edition, 2018). The tool which also promoted the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020 with the murder of George Floyd by police caught on video. This song has also become a popular sound to use on the social media platform TikTok, for users to create short informational videos in support of the Black Lives Matter movement protests.
DeleteThe spirit of protest continues to have a prominent place in popular culture, not just through music, but also on social media platforms, such as Twitter and Instagram. Since any person can post on social media, audiences are able to access a variety of perspectives, as opposed to mass media such as newspapers which are often biased due to their vested financial interests through ownership or advertisement revenue. The extensive daily use of such platforms, by Gen Z and Millennials in particular, allows messages to be conveyed in easily digestible, and in the case of Instagram also aesthetically pleasing, pieces of information which can ‘plant a seed’ which can evoke further research and change of opinion. The effects of which can be seen worldwide at present with the numbers of people participating in protests which were advertised solely on social media. An example of this is the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020, which started in the United States of America, the first protest in Aotearoa New Zealand gathered thousands of people, despite the ongoing risk of infection from the global coronavirus pandemic.
References:
Beyoncé. (2016, December 10). Beyoncé - Formation. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDZJPJV__bQ
Beyoncé. (2018, June 17). APES**T - THE CARTERS. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbMqWXnpXcA
Glover, D. (2018). Childish Gambino - This Is America (Official Video). YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYOjWnS4cMY
Haycock, J. (2015). Protest music as adult education and learning for social change: a theorisation of a public pedagogy of protest music. Australian Journal of Adult Learning, 55(3), 423–442.
Inside Edition. (2018, May 16). The Hidden Meanings Behind Childish Gambino’s ‘This Is America’ Video. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWTBTRGfKew
Leight, E. (2018, June 17). How Beyonce and Jay-Z defy western art tradition in ‘Apeshit’ video. Rolling Stone. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/how-beyonce-and-jay-z-defy-western-art-tradition-in-apeshit-video-665915/
What does The Wasteland mean? How has it been interpreted? Use citations. What are some of its key features? In what ways has it been influential??
ReplyDeleteT.S. Eliot’s The Wasteland is among his most iconic poems and a landmark text in Modernism and literature as a whole. Modernism was a movement borne out of the idea that modern life had changed our experience of life to the point that old modes of expression in art had becomes outdated. In the wake of World War One Europe was left devastated and disillusioned with its future on the world stage, with society being industrialized to the point that having a job was a completely different experience. The field of psychoanalysis developed Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud (among others) revealed the depths of the human psyche.
In reaction to these historical forces artists threw out all conventions in an attempt to, as Ezra Pound stated, “Make it new.”
The Wasteland embodies the spirit of this era in literature in its dark, mournful atmosphere and it’s web of interconnected references and allusions to others texts which make it a complex and powerful text. Much of the text is fragmentary and disjointed to reflect as well as deeply introspective. One of the most interesting fragments is the incorporation of the Arthurian Legend of the Fisher King narrative – that once the King is healed then the Kingdom will also be put in order. In the context of the early 19th century this meant that the solution to the alienating and depressing world we must look within ourselves for answers. The world around us is a wasteland. In the wake of World War One and under the crushing weight of modernity we have found ourselves fragmented, and without moral centre.” (Big Joel, ) The solution is this “Datta, Dayadhyam, Damyata”. Latin for “Give, sympathize and control.” Set yourself in order and the wolrd will follow suit.
This perhaps does not encapsulate the poem fully, and the fragmentary nature of the poem makes it difficult to describe any one grand overarching meaning to it. Indeed the poem “includes an interpretation—and one “probably not in accordance with the facts of its origin” as part of the poem, and it is therefore a poem that makes a problem of its meaning by virtues of its apparent (and apparently inadequate) effort to explain itself.” (citation) James Joyce’s novels Ulysses and Finnegan’s Wake are took a similar approach. The Wasteland is long for a poem and Joyce’s texts are long even for a novel, with incredibly long and dense pieces of work filled with literary references. It is easy to see how the literary Modernists were forerunners to Post-modern authors such as Thomas Pynchon and David Foster Wallace, who also feature dense, almost impenetrable narratives. Today there are several websites which link to a hypertextual version of The Wasteland, in which the reader can click over and find annotations explaining what each line of the poem may be referring or alluding to. Wallace’s novels often featured lengthy footnotes and explored every moment in intimate detail, and seem a precursor to the hypertextual world we live in now.
References
Menand, L. (1987). Discovering modernism: T.S. Eliot and his context. Oxford University Press
Big Joel. (2020, January 4). The wasteland of Jordan Peterson [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZoHGAK3k-I
What kinda protest songs/rap/other media have come out in the last decade? Is there a spirit of protest anymore?
ReplyDeleteIn light of current events I find this question incredibly interesting. I do believe that we had started to get lethargic as a whole when it comes to protest movements, until recently. The punk music scene has died down a lot in terms of widespread appeal since the 2000s. We have not seen much in the way of protest songs since Green Day's "American Idiot" and their pairs. However, I do believe this is starting to change, just not in the way we might have expected. Starting with the Me Too movement that took hold around 2016 and the current civil rights protests and Black Lives Matter marches of 2020 we are entering a new world of vocal movements run by the people. The masses have had enough years of racism, sexisum, transphobia and homophobia all while the people in charge destroy the only planet we have. This is also where the new protest songs are coming from, the people. It is no longer very marketable for big names to produce protest songs and they certainly do not gain very much attention when they are released. Pop stars and other high profile artists are far too concerned about their image to rock the boat. The backlash that hit The Dixie Chicks after their comment about the then president of the USA at the time has a significant impact on the celebrity landscape when it comes to protests and being politically vocal. Taylor Swift talked about this in her recent Newflix documentary, about how she always wanted to speak up but was always told “don't be the Dixie Chicks” (Wilson, 2020) She then released her own protest song recently, "Only The Young", which, while a good song with a good message, hardly anyone has heard of. Even though Taylor Swift is one of the biggest names in the business and her coming out as a Democrat was headline news in 2018. There have admittedly been some outliers to this trend however. "This Is America", by Childish Gambino was a massive hit and is one of the most used tracks in association with the current Black Lives Matter movement. Interestingly, the smash hit musical "Hamilton", could also be seen as a series of protest songs about the current world climate viewed through a historical lens. Musical theatre actually has recently become a larger vertical for protest than it has been in the past. "Hadestown" is an acclaimed musical about the suffering people face under capitalism and is very anti-Trump’s America. However, I believe the most protest music I am seeing these days are coming from YouTube, Twitter and TikTok. Places where normal people can now have a platform to voice their opinions, their anger and their art. We no longer need the people with the most money and privilege to do it for us. I hope in time these talented and vocal artists are able to share their music and stories as far as possible. There is still so much more music begging to come out as we continue to fight. Protest songs are a necessity, “They aggregate, reinforce and propagate common symbols and beliefs that help movement participants and leaders construct effective action frames” (Payerhin, 2012). As long as we have something to fight for, we will have something to sing about.
References-
Payerhin, M. (2012). Singing Out of Pain: Protest Songs and Social Mobilization. The Polish Review.
Wilson, L. (2020). Miss Americana (Film). Tremolo Productions.
ReplyDelete1. What common qualities do the "Beats" share? Why were they so-named?
What exactly is a beat poet, what qualities do they share and why were they named this way?
Beat poets were a type of poet who sparked what is known as the ‘Beat Generation’ of the late 1940s, 1950s and even into the 1960s; they were very much of a counter cultural movement. Generally speaking, the beat poets were counter cultural because they looked at the way society was during the time following the Second World War and chose to use their poetry as a way to speak against it. What they were against was the capitalism and materialism rife within post war American culture, going so far as to reject literary formalism in their poetry and expression. Popular Beat poets of the time were Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and Gary Snyder, among others. In fact, the name itself is attributed to Jack Kerouac, though appropriated from another source and changed somewhat. As for the style of the beat poetry itself, it follows Jazz in its rhythm and takes inspiration from eastern religion and other spiritual systems. Beat poets, and others who followed beat poetry and the culture were often called ‘beatniks.’ A description of beat poetry can be found on Poetry Foundation, where an unknown author has written “Beat poetry is largely free verse, often surrealistic, and influenced by the cadences of jazz, as well by Zen and Native American spirituality.” (Poetry Foundation, n.d.). Here we can see plainly described the structure and style of jazz and its spiritual links. Likewise, the editors of the Encyclopaedia Britannica have described the beat movement as a whole, writing that the beat movement was an “American social and literary movement originating in the 1950s and centred in the bohemian artist communities of San Francisco’s North Beach, Los Angeles’ Venice West, and New York City’s Greenwich Village. Its adherents…They advocated personal release, purification, and illumination through the heightened sensory awareness that might be induced by drugs, jazz, sex, or the disciplines of Zen Buddhism. The Beats and their advocates found the joylessness and purposelessness of modern society sufficient justification for both withdrawal and protest.” (Encyclopaedia Britannica, n.d.).
Here, the reader can see its origins in the 1950s in certain locations in America, its links to drugs, jazz, sex and eastern religion and their protest of modern society. In regards to the rebellious nature of the beat poet, historian Stephen Petrus writes in a journal article for Studies in Popular Culture that “The ‘Beat Generation’ refers to a group of post-World War II novelists and poets disenchanted with what they viewed to be an excessively repressive, materialistic and conformist society, who sought spiritual regeneration through sensual experiences.” (Petrus, 1997, p.3). Here we can see that the beat poet, and in fact the so-called beat generation, was rebelling against the mainstream society. On the origin of the term ‘beat’ and ‘beat generation’, Wikipedia describes Jack Kerouac introducing “the phrase "Beat Generation” in 1948 to characterize a perceived underground, anti-conformist youth movement in New York. The name arose in a conversation with writer John Clellon Holmes…The adjective "beat" could colloquially mean "tired" or "beaten down" within the African-American community of the period…but Kerouac appropriated the image and altered the meaning to include the connotations "upbeat", "beatific", and the musical association of being "on the beat", and "the Beat to keep" from the Beat Generation poem.” (Wikipedia, n.d.). Here we can read of the origin of the term itself, coming out of colloquialism in the African American community of the late 1940s but meaning something else to all who are aware of the ‘beat generation.’
DeleteTo conclude, the beat generation is a title describing a group of beat poets and their likewise non-conformist community in the late 1940s and 1950s who rebelled against mainstream society, politics and materialism through their poetry. They often took inspiration through jazz and eastern religion.
References:
Poetry Foundation. (n.d.). Beat poets. Retrieved June 29, 2020, from
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/learn/glossary-terms/beat-poets#
Encyclopaedia Britannica. (n.d.). Beat movement. Retrieved June 29, 2020, from
https://www.britannica.com/art/Beat-movement
Petrus, S. (1997). Rumblings of Discontent: American Popular Culture and its Response to the Beat Generation, 1957-1960. Studies in Popular Culture, 20(1), 1-17. Retrieved July 3, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/23414596
Wikipedia. (n.d.). Beat Generation. Retrieved July 3, 2020, from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beat_Generation#:~:text=Kerouac%20introduced%20the%20phrase%20%22Beat,with%20writer%20John%20Clellon%20Holmes.
ReplyDeleteWhat kind of protest songs/rap/other media have come out in the last decade? Is there a spirit of protest anymore?
Despite the tumultuous political times we live in and protests going on in the world right now, protest music has never gained the same prominence it had in the 1960s or previous decades. The genres traditionally associated with protest music – folk and punk – no longer occupy the same space in the cultural consciousness they once did, although they are still present with varying degrees of success in their artistic goals. (TheNeedleDrop, 2017) The electronic rock/punk band Le Tigre (singer-songwriter Kathleen Hanna was formerly part of the punk band Bikini Kill, although Le Tigre’s sound and aims were different) received intense backlash for their song “I’m With Her”, a blatantly pro-Hillary, anti-Trump propaganda during the 2016 election. For many fans it was a betrayal – endorsing a candidate, especially one so heavily with old money and corporation. The song was criticized for its sound and the surreal music video in its attempts to capture voters’ hearts through cute cat videos intercut with pro-Hillary rallies and anti-Trump protests. Le Tigre reunited to bring this song, and have not made music since, leaving the public eye on a bitter note.
We now live in the ashes of the 2016 election and looking back at bizarre media circuses such as this is a perplexing experience. The song attempted to straddle the line between protest song and a glorified attack ad, and failed miserably because of that.
For the most part protest music finds it’s home in the realm of hip hop. Perhaps the most famous example is Donald Glover’s (stage name “Childish Gambino”) This Is America, tackling the subject of police racial discrimination and mass shootings. In many respects this has more to do with the viral music video rather than the song by itself which never explicitly mentions it’s subject matter until the very end. The catchy refrain and lack of language that could be considered incendiary or disagreeable may be what propelled it to the top of the charts, in addition to the now iconic music video. This Is America does not sound like a protest song, but becomes one with further analysis. With the music video’s popularity there also came an endless series of memes, with one article decrying this as “missing the point” (Mufson, 2018). Despite this the song has been adopted as the unofficial anthem of the Black Lives Matter movement, and current events prove that this growing sentiment has not died down and has in fact only grown stronger.
DeleteI think it is important to acknowledge that the internet has changed that protest music and the protests themselves are received. It can be said that everything in the internet exists in a kind of “superposition” where everything must be simultaneously interpreted as true or untrue. Perhaps more accurately it can be described sincerely or insincerely. Internet culture encourages an ironic “detachment from truth” (Don Jolly, make you stupid), and because of this it is difficult for protest music to function the way it once did. In the 1960s Phil Ochs wrote “Davey Moore” decrying the sport of boxing after the titular boxer died from injuries sustained in the ring, does not the fragmentary nature of how we consume media now, through a constant trickle of information, narratives that are rewritten constantly. Having one man recount his particular opinion through song, assembled from newspaper headlines and articles, is not as captivating as simply expressing your own on social media as society. Indeed social media is likely a more immediate and effective way to express their political opinion, rather than attempting to find a spokesperson through music or to make an entire artistic project to do so (TheNeedleDrop, 2017).
In his essay “Be The Spectacle” Don Jolly (a man always a few hundred dollars away from being homeless and whose real name I do not know) details how protests have changed over the years through his personal experience. He recounts how in high school he decided to attend a protest in 9/11, and how the older generation of baby boomers were excited to revisit their protest songs, seeing protest as a noble act. However, in the more recent protests in Portland concerning a conflict between the “Proud Boys” and “Ant-Fascists” (the former a far-right neo-fascist group and the latter a loose coalition of leftist groups throughout the world) the protests were much more violent and polarizing, with several conflicting accounts and news delivered through social media. Don Jolly criticizes the protest, believing that the message had become detached from the spectacle of violence and bizarre press stunts such as dressing up as a banana or neo-fascists dressed as Roman Centurions. While the baby boomers could aim to see themselves on television the protest had become normalized as part of the endless 24 hour news cycle which seeks only to propagate itself for profit, “By the end of the 20th Century everyone knew a little cathartic street violence never hurt anyone, except the people with the cracked skulls. If you make a play for television you will play between commercials and your antics, whatever their intended message, will be used to sell toothpaste and anti-depressants.”
While protest music has not died out and many protests are aided by social media which allow mass gatherings to take place, the internet and the divisive political climate make it a difficult field to navigate.
References
Big Joel. (2020, January 4). The wasteland of Jordan Peterson [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZoHGAK3k-I
Don Jolly. (2019, August 7). The internet makes you stupid. [Video]. YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMp4uwjOg9Q
Don Jolly. (2019, August 20). Be the spectacle. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDHMRz7qsxw
Mufson, B. (2018, May 9). For the love of god, don’t meme Childish Gambino’s ‘thisis america’ music video. Retrieved from https://www.vice.com/en_nz/article/qvndjm/childish-gambino-donald-glover-meme-this-is-america-new-music-video
TheNeedleDrop. (2017, January 12). Punk isn’t coming back (just cuz the president sucks) [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPfcEVcvpsQ
7. What kinda protest song/rap/other media have come out in the last decade? Is there a spirit of protest anymore?
ReplyDeleteRap is the most recent in a long line of musical expression used by the black community in order to protest their surroundings. The advent of “Trap” music, which is a subdivision of rap further points to black people using this medium to express themselves creatively, and along the way achieve success. The Trap genre is an evolution of “rap” which itself is derived from “Gansta rap” in the 80s which got its beginnings through hip hop (Besora,2020). The constant evolution of the rap genre imitates the constant technological changes that happen, Old “Gangsta rap” had a slower more simple beat but had intense political lyrics, an example would be, “Fuck the police” by rap group, “N.W.A”, this song has a strong anti-police message, giving examples of how police would mistreat black people by racially profiling them and committing the act of police brutality based on the colour of their skin.
In more recent times, America has remained a capitalist country, prioritizing money over all else, and because “things” are held dearly, personal protection like guns have remained very popular. The increase in guns has a proportionate increase in mass shootings at schools and [public places. One song in recent times which shines a light to this problem would be, “This is America”, by Childish Gambino, in the video for the song guns are used throughout, making them hard to miss. Guns are treated with respect and care in the video, whenever they are carried a red cloth is used so as not to damage them, while dead bodies pile up behind Gambino, symbolizing their effect on America. The song also touches on police brutality in the lines, “Look at how I'm livin' now/ Police be trippin' now (woo)”, telling the viewer how police get angry every time a black person finds success. The song also talks about social media and how influencers and models on those platforms perpetuate unrealistic standards of both beauty and wealth, making those who aren’t able to attain a Gucci bag, for example, feel worthless and less than these rich models and influencers in the lines, “I'm so fitted (I'm so fitted, woo)/ I'm on Gucci (I'm on Gucci)/ I'm so pretty (yeah, yeah)/ I'm gon' get it (ayy, I'm gon' get it)/ Watch me move (blaow)/ This a celly (ha)/ That's a tool (yeah)”. “This is America”, has become a phrase people say wherever something bad happens in America, using it in a way that points out how bad it has gotten, and how complacent everyone has gotten to disturbing situations like mass shootings, it shows how futile we are in the grand scheme of things, where bad things happen yet we must continue with our daily lives as if nothing has happened to earn money and continue on the path of extreme consumerism and capitalism our society has delved into.
I believe the spirit of protest still lives on through rap as many rappers use the medium to express their thoughts on politics, and the unheard stories faced from the people there. One artist that does this exceptionally well is Kendrick Lamar, with his album, “To Pimp a Butterfly” (Leah, 2020), in the album he has the tracks, “King Kunta”, “Institutionalized”, and “The Blacker the Berry”, these three songs convey how Kendrick feels about racism, the fetishization of black people, and how having money can change your perspective on the world. The entire album is amazing in conveying his messages and stories but the three songs I have listed are perfect examples of how the spirit of protest is still alive.
DeleteReferences
Leah, R. (2020, June 02). The 25 best hip-hop protest songs ever. Retrieved from https://www.salon.com/2017/10/28/the-25-best-hip-hop-protest-songs-ever/
Besora, M. (2020, February 11). Extremely Short History of Trap Music. Retrieved from http://lab.cccb.org/en/extremely-short-history-of-trap-music/
Lyrics sourced from:
https://genius.com/Kendrick-lamar-the-blacker-the-berry-lyrics
https://genius.com/Childish-gambino-this-is-america-lyrics
3. In what ways are Beat poetry and rap linked?
ReplyDeleteThere are many things that link beat poetry to rap. In some cases, you can view rap as an African-American rendition of classic beat poetry. The first would be its American origins. Both rap and beat poetry were born from struggle and questioning mainstream politics and culture in America. Both rap and beat poetry are very critical of contemporary America, American government and Americana. Rap comments on the history and continued poor treatment of African-American minorities. Beat poets like Allen Ginsberg would often comment on injust and selfish actions of the American governemtn, such as their involvement in the war in Vietnam. Another example of the link between beat poetry and rap would be the way its perfomed. Both beat poetry and rap has a musicality in its perfomance, both being perfomed on beat and in time, with varying timing (e.g. common time).
5. What were the links between black protest music and revolutionary political movements, such as the Black Panthers, in the 1960s and how did things play out then and into the 1970s?
Music was always a key part in the African-American civil rights movement. It dates back to the era of slave labour in America where work African work songs became the voice of empowerment. These work songs with their call-and-response style of musicality later founded black jazz. Anderson, W (2015) states that black people have sung songs amid the persistent onslaught of struggle in the United States. This statement is clearly seen in the Black civil rights movement in the 60s and moving to the 70s. Songs like Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind" questioned the listener's morality, evoking images of doves, death and the sky, all connotating to the want and need of peace and freedom. Queen of soul; Aretha Franklin's song, "Respect" called for the need and demand for respect and in turn, became the anthem of the black power and women's rights movemements.
7. What kinda protest song/rap/other media have come out in the last decade? Is there a spirit of protest anymore?
The spirit of protest in the modern day is still very much alive. The atrocities of pro-white America against minorities are still sadly present to this day. With the recent killing of George Floyd, interest from the greater public from all around the world in all colours has been established. Childish Gambino's song: "This is America" talks about how America would rather neatly cover up its history of oppression against minorities with song and dance, while atrocities are still being commited.
Sources:
DeleteAnderson, W. C. (2017, May 29). Sounds of Black Protest Then and Now. Pitchfork. https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/898-sounds-of-black-protest-then-and-now/
Drake, M. V. (2018, October 30). The soundtrack of the Sixties demanded respect, justice and equality. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/the-soundtrack-of-the-sixties-demanded-respect-justice-and-equality-105640