Intro to the Long Poem: In-class discussion

A Super-Superficial look at the complexity of the long poem

We don’t have enough time (it would take weeks) to really nail down the bits and pieces that make these works highly complex and admired, but we can discuss their importance to poetry and to the generation of poetry they belong. To help us discuss these poems, here are some questions to explore today in class:

1. What statement is the poem making about society or a culture? How does poem represent the culture, and what tone does it take towards the culture it discusses?

2. What are some basic elements of language the author uses to make that statement?

3. What are the main themes of the piece used to make the larger cultural statement?

The Long Poem: Tuesday, May 5th:

As you read the following poems, make note of the figurative language both line-to-line and of the poem as a whole text. 

What statement on life and society are each poem making? Or, how is each poem seeing its society?

Here are other questions to help prepare for Tuesday's discussion of these poems, and answering the above more general question:

1. What is the main subject of the poem? (a person, place, animal, etc.)

2. What is that main subject being compared to? (metaphors and similes)

3. Are there multiple comparisons (there should be!)?

4. Is there a connection among all of the comparisons?

5. At any point in the poem, do the comparisons change? When? To what?

6. What thematic meaning do you get from the different comparisons?

 Allen Ginsberg's "Howl", part I and II  with the poet reading!

T.S. Eliot's "The Wasteland" and "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"

Also, here is a link to some of the work from Juliana Spahr's collection of long poems, Fuck You-Aloha-I Love You:

Here is Spahr reading the first poem, a preface to the collection (one could say), with the catalyst for the poem explained!

Here is the the long poem "things" through Google Books. Click through each page. 

And, in class you will be given a handout!