the poems and information about the author:
'it is the living who cannot'
http://www.poetryfoundation.
'rise up, rise up'
http://www.poetryfoundation.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
F Bell Modern/Post Modern Poetry
Read either 'It is the living who cannot' or 'rise up, rise up' by Hilda Morley and analyze how the poem fits into the postmodernist era.
the poems and information about the author:
'it is the living who cannot'
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=182043
'rise up, rise up'
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=182043
the poems and information about the author:
'it is the living who cannot'
http://www.poetryfoundation.
'rise up, rise up'
http://www.poetryfoundation.
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posted by Haley, Emily, and Ciara
ReplyDelete"In reading Morley, as we are wrapped up in seeing, and sensing what we see, we become aware that it is all suffused in light. We are in the presence of the luminosity of memory, and of life remembered, endured, celebrated and transfigured by light." This quote by Carolyn Kizer, who is a famous poet and critic, clearly recognizes and commends the writing of Hilda Morley (1919- 1998), whose poetry was not discovered until the 1970s, including her poem “Rise up, rise up”. In regards to the Post- modernist era, Morley’s poem fits very well because of its formless and groundless structure.
ReplyDeleteWritten in a very free format, the poem at first seems to present a religious connection which could contradict post modernism, but ordinary day speech along with specific details make evident that this poem carries a personal experience of the poet. This poem is part of Morley’s collection What Are Winds & What Are Waters. This compilation is a reflection of Morley’s life with her husband Stefan Wolpe, who died in 1972 from Parkinson’s disease. “Rise up, rise up” is very much an expression of Morley’s feelings in the “five and a half years” after her husband’s death. With “all (they) learned and thought of for each other”, the relationship between Morley and her husband was tightly- knit, with “touching, holding hands, embraces & half- broken laughter instead of weeping”. She knows that there many experiences together “promised for them still”. As a poem from the Post modernist era, Morley’s “Rise up, rise up” clearly expresses her voice and focuses on her experiences during one the most difficult periods of her life.
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/hilda-morley
Christiana: I love the quote you found describing Morley, it really depicts her personality as well as her poetry. I also like that you tie in how she focuses on her life in her poetry.
ReplyDeletePostmodernism began in the sixties. Poets felt that poetry had become too rigid and molded, so they broke away to form what is now Postmodernism. A major feature of Postmodernist history is its formlessness. This is abundantly illustrated in Hilda Morley’s “Rise up, rise up.” Throughout the poem spacing between words is erratic with fragments of text seemingly tossed into the poem. This parallels to the poem’s message; the love of the narrator’s life has died, leaving the narrator alone, broken, and lost which is displayed through the placement of words rather haphazardly throughout the poem. Formlessness also includes the absence of metaphors or elevated language. Throughout “Rise up, rise up” everything is said just how it is, without any superfluous fluff. Morley directly says, “Rise up… / out of / your grave / I refuse to / have you buried there / These five & a half years / should be separation only, never / a complete farewell.” She does not elevate her language or create symbols for people or events, she just says it how it is, a trademark quality of Postmodern poetry.
ReplyDeletePostmodern poetry may not have a specific definition, but it does have a style and rethink the boundaries place upon poetry to create art. At the first glance of "It is the living who cannot," by Hilda Morley, we see an immediate change in structure of her poem. The lines of the poem follow no specific pattern, and do not begin nor end in the same positions. The words within the poem do not rhyme and have no rhythm nor ambiotic pentameter. This creates a free verse, which is different from the modernist time period. After reading the poem, the theme of death was present. However, Morley delves beyond the typical death poem, she inquires about the life after death and what it entails as they are, “one step beyond it & suffer us/ to long for them.” She also incorporates the life of those still living in the poem because, “It is the living who cannot/live without the dead.” She fixates on the idea of death and its effect, and not the physical theme of death. She also does not keep with a specific pattern of punctuation. She is more free form in the technical aspects of poetry as she breaks from traditional prose and modernist poetry, and pays more attention to inward feelings after death than of death itself.
ReplyDeleteWhile postmodernist poetry and literature is a departure from Enlightenment ideals of the Modernist era, it also goes a step further to criticize and almost satirize society and what it has become over time. In Hilda Morley's poem, "It is the living who cannot," she criticizes the dependency of society on those of the past; people consistently base their lives and decisions off of things of the past, but Morley and her postmodernist thoughts champion a radical new idea of people thinking for themselves. By saying that modern-day people are people "who wish them back,/ who need their presences" act as though they are incapable of living on their own and must live, though it sounds strange, through the dead. Morley also characterizes postmodernist poetry through her structure, for example, as she uses much simpler, less elitist language. "It is the living who cannot" definitely represents the epitome of postmodernist poetry.
ReplyDeleteThe postmodern era of literature is an extension of the modernist era, which is often difficult to define. However there are certain themes and ideas that are often seen in this particular style of literature. "It is the Living Who Cannot" is the quintessential poem of the postmodern style. Of the many ideals of the postmodern era, loss and grief prevail as two of the most important components. From the start to the end of the poem, loss plays a starring role. Stating " it is the living who cannot live without the dead"; it is apparent that the entire poem centers around loss and the means by which we choose to grieve. The poem describes how we as a culture try to hold on to those who have passed and have a difficult time letting go. This theme of loss, which is the center of this poem, is a large component of postmodernism. Another component of the postmodern era that is present in this poem is a lack of structure. " It is the Living Who Cannot" is completely unstructured and does not follow any of the typical rhyme schemes that plague modern poetry. The lines are unevenly spaced and placed throughout the page. Through the common theme of loss and the lack of structure throughout the poem, "It is The Living Who Cannot" succeeds in finding its place in the postmodernist era.
ReplyDeleteHilda Morley has endowed her poetry with the sentiments of the postmodernism age. Her poetry has relaxed form unlike the classic couplet or sonnet. Her relaxed form gives "It is the living who cannot" depth to it's lines. The fragmentation of the lines reflects the shattered thoughts and feelings behind the words of the poetry. Morley is also fascintated with the afterlife of the individual. This works with the postmodernist ideals in that it explores the the psyche of the individual and examines the afterlife and how those already dead see, able to act nonchalantly towards those still left behind. These themes encompassed by Morley allow her work to be considered postmodernist.
ReplyDeleteThe postmodernist era is marked by a time of soul searching as well as outward and inward questioning. Although hard to define, poetry during this era is identifiable due to characteristics like “truth not being absolute”, “expectance/tolerance of all religions”, and “disillusionment”. These qualities also appear in the postmodern poems “It’s the living who cannot” and “Rise up, rise up” by Hilda Morley. Both deal with death and describe how the living cope with loss of someone we know using direct and blunt feelings as well as a creative format. Disillusionment is key element because it purposes a concept people of that era would not have thought. “It is the living who cannot” almost puts the living as the victim versus the person who has just died. Funerals aren’t necessarily for the person who has died but for the family, who hasn’t quite gotten over that their loved one is gone. Before the postmodernist era of the sixties, poetry tended to follow a strict regime. Morley’s poetry shows her upheaval to this regime through her creative word format in each poem. I also strongly agree with Virginia’s blog when she says that “Rise up, rise up” is very objective and to the point especially when saying things like Rise up/I say, out of your grave/I refuse to have you buried there, all f which are forceful and direct.
ReplyDeleteThe poem "It is the living who cannot" exemplifies post-modernism because it refuses all other forms and styles of poetry to write in free verse. Although the poem takes a subject that is present throughout all periods (the topic of death) what makes it postmodernism is that fact that the poem first organizes the poem into its own unique format of a swaying scheme but then also pictures death and the dead in a different light. In the poem Hilda Morely analyzes the situation of death from the standpoint of herself and others but also from the "viewpoint" of the deceased. By doing this she exerts her own opinions about how the dead do not mourn over us as we do them and that its only the living who wish the dead ones back instead of writing from a single standpoint like in romantic or earlier poems. By introducing this new account and standpoint of the dead, Morely has made this poem postmodernist because it takes a more abstract way of thinking and also views death as a whole and not just one single object or person like in the poems To Death by Anne Finch and Death Be Not Proud by John Donne.
ReplyDeleteWe categorize poetry by the era we were written in; however that seems a bit counterproductive when it comes to postmodern poetry. Much like present-day music and fashion, present-day poetry is about freedom, expression, and creativity. There are no rules to follow, and Hilda Morley certainly does not attempt to follow any in her poem, "It is the living who cannot." There is no set rhyme scheme. For instance, in the Elizabethan period, poems were usually written in the form of sonnets, where the rhyme scheme was "a-b-a-b-c-d-c-d-e-f-e-f-g-g." In stark contrast, "It is the living who cannot" has no rhyme scheme whatsoever. Morely seems to be writing in a stream of conscious style: The words were written as they came to her; she did not stop to find "better" words or words that would rhyme. This emotion and self-discovery is another important facet of post-modern poetry. Feelings and emotions have always been very important components of poetry, however in post-modern poetry, the emotion is raw. Whereas poets in previous literary eras have made their feelings appear sweet, clean, and pure through beautiful words and clever rhymes, post-modern poets are not afraid to write exactly what they feel. They are not opposed to appearing bitter, defeated, or afraid. They write what they see as they see it. Seeing the poem further adds to the experience of reading post-modern poetry. "It is the living who cannot" is not the standard poem that consists of four lines per stanza, with each stanza two spaces apart. The poem is written with random stops, indentations, and punctuation. Capitalization is done randomly in the middle of a line, not at the beginning as it usually is. Morely perfectly captures the essence of post-modern poetry in this eye-opening, bohemian piece.
ReplyDeletePostmodernism developed during the sixties. Postmodernism poetry was a movement away from modernism, which was a formed style with techniques and forms. The style of the new POstmodern poetry was that it was formless and strayed from the norm, almost disorganized. In reading "Rise up, Rise up" by Hilda Morley, the initial impact was the visual aspect. The use of disorganization puts an emphasis on the overflowing and disconnection of the rushing thoughts of the author. The poem as a whole is an expression of Morley’s feelings in the “five and a half years” after her husband’s death. It can be infered that through "All that relief of touching, holding hands", Morley and her husband's relationship was a close, loving relationship. This poem expresses her difficulty to letting him go after his death, initially brought on by the title, "Rise up, rise up", in which she is not content and wishes her husband to rise from the dead. It is clear that even years after his death she still feels connected to her husband despite the "5 & ½ years
ReplyDeleteof walls between us—& all that blankness
turned upside down!". Although predictable, a common quality of postmodern work, the chaotic or free form of this formless poem sets the tone of the author's intended expression of longing for her dead husband.
Hilda Morley’s poem “Rise Up, Rise Up” is very clearly an example of postmodernist literature because of its free style, free form, and openness to interpretation. Rise-up follows no certain rhyming pattern, specific structure, or any rhythm at all. These are very common in the post-modernist era where boundaries in literature are virtually endless. The most obvious characteristics of this poem are its freedom in form, style, rhythm, rhyming, and structure. However, a very interesting characteristic of “Rise Up, Rise Up” is its very open nature to interpretation. Honestly, without having talked to Hilda Morley herself, there are very few who could tell exactly what Morley was trying to address in the poem. In the opening lines of the poem, Morley makes it seem as if the narrator of the poem really wants someone to rise from the dead. However, when she writes, “These five & a half years should be separation only, never a complete farewell, & all we’ve learned and thought of each other…” Morley makes it seem as if maybe its just a relationship that the narrator wants to begin again. Many others could have various other interpretations of the poem as well. My best guess would have to be that she is referring to the rekindling of a relationship… but who really knows?? This kind of open-endedness along with the free style of the poem, make it very obviously a work form the post-modernist era.
ReplyDeletePostmodernism can be described as more of an academic movement, as opposed to modernism which is a movement much more reliant on socially constructed beliefs and theories. In the poem "It Is the Living Who Cannot", the author Hilda Morley employs a postmodernism feel by rejecting beliefs that it is dead that need us, by saying "It is the living who cannot live without the dead". Morley continues to imply that our society constructs beliefs to help us cope for our own closure, not for the good of the dead. We long for reconciliation and "knowledge of each other to the uttermost". Morley rejects all beliefs of religion that the dead are seeking salvation and takes a more realistic approach, rather than a spiritual one, by saying that once the deceased have left the earth, it is those left behind that are faced with the troubles, they do not bring their troubles with them. This much more realistic and logical response characterizes postmodernism.
ReplyDeleteVirginia- I really liked your discussion on the structure of the poem, and then your tie in with a quote from a poem showing that.
ReplyDeleteJessica- I enjoyed reading about your interpretation of the main theme of death in the poem.
Dan- Your highlight of the language in the poem really shows the postmodernism of the poem.
Margaret- Your discussion of the structure of the poem really defines the postmodernist era of poetry.