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“I saw a man pursuing the horizon” by Stephen Crane Analysis

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In the literary realism movement, we have a great deal of authors and their novels doing some heavy lifting. In today’s post, a poem titled “I saw a man pursuing the horizon” by Stephen Crane will do the work.

Analysis of “I saw a man pursuing the horizon”

In the first stanza of the poem, Crane discusses seeing a man “pursuing the horizon.” For what purpose, we are yet to be sure. But, we know that as he watched the man, he goes “round and round,” speeding toward the destination.

Yet, the man’s strange pursuit “disturbed” the speaker. So, he engages the man. He tells him, “‘It is futile,'” I said, / ‘You can never–‘” Then the man cries, “You lie!” and runs on toward the horizon.

In this brief poem, Crane epitomizes a few things as it relates to human error. First, the poem addresses humanity’s fascination with futility. That is to say, even if something is not worth pursuing because it is hopeless, humanity has a way to strive straight for it head first. Second, Crane points out that no matter if humanity is confronted by their own ignorance, there narrowmindedness is so strident that even the obvious could not deter them.

Crane writes “round and round” not because the man is making a beeline toward the horizon. Rather that he is trapped in a desert loop, forever hunting for the horizon. It is in this realization that we understand the mocking nature that man must presume he is near when laboring under delusions. In “I saw a man pursuing the horizon,” Crane is letting his cynicism outward into the light. In other words, humanity will have their joyous ending whether it is there or not, and whether it kills them in following it or not.

The poem fits the literary realism only in its pessimistic view of humanity. It is certainly a view fellow literary realist writer Mark Twain would agree with. The desperate nature for humans to get what they want is unquenchable in Crane’s eyes. That does ring true if one considers historical accounts of bad decisions and outright irrational behavior for something as grand as catching the horizon.

Works Cited

Crane, Stephen. “I Saw a Man Pursuing the Horizon.” The Red Badge of Courage, Dover Publications, 1997, pp. 171-172.

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A Look at the Era of Literary Realism and its Authors

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We have looked at a lot of movements on this blog, but today we look at the era of literary realism. We have even discussed writers from this particular era, so it’s high-time to see what these realistic writers were up during the time of the American Civil War.

The Roots of the Movement

As we see so often from movements, artistic and otherwise, there can be a good deal of push-back from creators who were too young to contribute to the previous movement or just had no interest in creating in a style they didn’t like (the modernists, for example). Similarly, the realism movement exploded at the end of the Romantic period as the writers of this era wanted to depict a less glamorized world.

Thus, the “realism” aspect of the era itself is derived from authors avoiding a romantic view of the world. They wanted to show people living and breathing in a natural environment as honestly as possible.

Realism rejects imaginative idealization in favor of a close observation of outward appearances. As such, realism in its broad sense has comprised many artistic currents in different civilizations.

(Britannica)

If you look closely, it is actually fairly hard to distinguish literary realism from naturalism for the above reasons. However, keep in mind that conveying a real view of the world is essential for these writers, so more honest dialogue and setting were common in the books that appeared in the late 19th century.

Additionally, after the Civil War, the US advanced in numerous ways that included a more literate populace, increased urbanization, and a larger population, and this, “provided a fertile literary environment for readers interested in understanding these rapid shifts in culture,” (Campbell).

Important Authors of Realism

The genre was much defined by the author’s works and their attempts to interpret the world around them. Honore de Balzac, for instance, attempted to give an “encyclopaedic portrait of the whole range of French society …” (Britannica). Meanwhile, the genre did not fully develop until later in the 1860s and 1870s. These authors included Charles Dickens, George Elio, Leo Tolstoy, and William Dean Howells.

Some novels from the realism movement include:

  • Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
  • War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
  • Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
  • Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Works Cited

Campbell, Donna M. “Realism in American Literature, 1860-1890.” Literary Movements. Washington State University. Sept. 7th, 2015. Web.

“What is Literary Realism? Definition and Examples of the Realism Genre in Literature.” Masterclass. Aug. 15, 2019. Web.

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Reflections on Mortality in ‘End of Summer’ by Kunitz

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Today, I thought that I would share my analysis of the poem “End of Summer” by Stanley Kunitz. I love it dearly. Particularly, the second-to-last stanza. It reminds me that even though life moves quickly, it is okay to sit back and reflect on the days gone by. Hopefully, it does that for you, too. The poem can be found here.

Analysis of “End of Summer”

In the first stanza, Kunitz discusses how he experienced an unsavory year. With that knowledge, he looks to the future as “the unloved year / Would turn on its hinge that night.” In the next stanza, he writes about the “stubble and stones.” In it, he talks about his waking mortality by using “a small worm” and referencing “my marrow-bones.”

Yet, in the next stanza, Kunitz writes, “Blue poured into summer blue, / A hawk broke from his cloudless tower, / The roof of the silo blazed, and I knew / That part of my life was over.” Specifically, if you have ever looked out over a field at the end of summer, you know what the author is saying. The golden sun shining on a vibrant, green and darkened hill then you know exactly what Kunitz is writing about. Death is a far-reaching theme in poetry.

In other words, life is fleeting and we forget that fact. As each year passes, our mortality becomes more and more relevant. To this extent, Kunitz’s poem brilliantly addresses this feeling. It delivers such emotion to the reader for us to chews over.

Works Cited

Kunitz, Stanley. “End of Summer.” The Collected Poems, W. W. Norton & Company, 2000, pp. 145-146.

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The Trial Surrounding “Howl” by Allen Ginsberg

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Society is capable of strange evils, like burning books or banning them from curriculum. Society can also convict people of thought crimes, because words have a great deal of power. Today, we are going to look at the trial of the poem “Howl” by Allen Ginsberg.

Poetry Readings: “Cops Don’t Allow No Renaissance Here”

Allen Ginsberg hadn’t even started his career as an influential Beat poet (the post-war Baby Boomer radicals) when he got himself into trouble. After giving a reading of his poem “Howl” at the art house Six Gallery in North Beach, San Francisco on Oct. 7 ,1955, Ginsberg was accused of obscenity.

Publisher Lawrence Ferlinghetti had read “Howl” before Ginsberg presented it at the gallery that night, and he knew it was a transformative piece. As such, “Howl” is a poem that is technically challenging and impressive in its message. Ginsberg was able to adeptly use his influence with Whitman and Blake and use an amalgamated style to convey new themes. This newness resonated with people of the age.”

“… I knew the world had been waiting for this poem, for this apocalyptic message to be articulated. It was in the air, waiting to be captured in speech. The repressive, conformist, racist, homophobic world of the 1950s cried out for it.”

Ferlinghetti

The reading event featured other notable poets and was a smashing success for the San Francisco poetry scene. It also launched Ginsberg’s career. According to Ferlinghetti, after hearing the poem, and in mimicking Ralph Waldo Emerson’s message to Walt Whitman after hearing “Leaves of Grass,” he sent Ginsberg a Western Union telegram that read: “I greet you at the beginning of a great career. When do we get the manuscript?” (Found SF).

Ferlinghetti called the 29-year-old Beat poet soon after to publish “Howl” in City Lights in 1956. After the poem’s publication in paperback, authorities promptly arrested Ferlinghetti and book seller Shigeyoshi Murao on obscenity charges. The book featured explicit four-letter-words and homosexual overtones, which the moral sensors of the 1950s disliked. After the police made their arrests, one local newspaper headline read: “Cops Don’t Allow No Renaissance Here.”

Opinions on the Poem’s Impact

Ferlinghetti wrote that “Howl” was targeted for more than just being “obscene by cops.” He said that it was because, “it attacked the bare roots of our dominant culture, the very Moloch heart of our consumer society.” As stated by Andrew Spacey in his analysis of “Howl”: the poem is a “game-changer” because it adequately captured the feelings of the era. He writes: “… it expressed for the first time a modern psychological angst, an urban existence fueled by drugs, jazz, travel and expansion,” Spacey writes (Spacey).

The poem was a departure from what most writers and poetry consumers considered verse. It revolutionized an approach to writing. While some wrote letters criticizing Ginsberg’s poem, writers, poets, and artists unanimously criticized the trial. They said it was unnecessary censorship because the court was dealing with a true work of art.

“Mark S. Wittenberg, in the San Francisco Chronicle, represented this perspective. He stated: ‘I should say that when (Federal Collector of Customs) saw too many four letter words, he neither saw nor read anything else. Allen Ginsberg’s poem may be a lot of things…but it is not obscene” (Rehlaender).

The Trial of Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl”

The trial began in Aug. 1957, and the defense had some support. Lawyer Jake Ehrlich, and Lawrence Speiser and Albert Bendich of the ACLU defended Ferlinghetti and Murao. Meanwhile, Ginsberg, free from arrest, wrote letters of support from outside the judicial circus.

The overall argument from The State of California, represented by Ralph McIntosh, was that the words would harm the American people in mediums other than poetry. Thus, the poetry must be banned, because if it appeared on the radio then it would be inappropriate. Both sets of lawyers brought up expert witnesses to discuss the poem as art or as offensive material.

“Ehrlich closed by arguing the poem is only obscene if you purposefully read it that way; he argued that just because the words may be vulgar, does not mean the message is, so this should not detract from the literature’s value. Ginsberg wrote this way to detail HIS life, HIS experiences, and it is not intended to corrupt readers.”

Howl and Beyond

After spending time in consideration, Judge Clayton W. Horn ruled that the poem could not be obscene because such a ruling with tamper with the First Amendment. Horn’s ruling was important because it made way for the publication of previously censored works, such as Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D. H. Lawrence and Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller.

Works Cited

Rehlaender, Jamie. “A Howl of Free Expression: the 1957 Howl Obscenity Trial and Sexual Liberation.” Portland State University. March 19, 2015.

Spacey, Andrew. “Analysis of Poem Howl by Allen Ginsberg.” Owlcation. Jan. 10, 2020. Web.

“Howl and Beyond.” URL: https://howlandbeyond.weebly.com/the-obscenity-trial.html

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“Howl” as Read by Allen Ginsberg

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In today’s post, we listen to Allen Ginsberg read his infamous poem “Howl.” While accused of being obscene, this poem conveys a changing dynamic in American culture. The freedom and breakaway from the 1950s-1960s culture was becoming apparent, and this poem embodies that message. There are many universal themes in poetry, but “Howl” tapped into the minds and feelings of a generation.

“Howl” discusses many themes, but relies on its outside approach to conveying themes and messages. It is considered a significant work of the Beat Generation, which was already in full swing against the establishment. The poem has three sections, and each one critiques different aspects of society, discussing personal freedom, mental illness, and oppressive society.

The poem also discuss disillusionment with 1950s culture, and the nature of capitalism as a negative principle. It often refers to “Moloch” within the poem as a monstrous force. Similarly, it discusses how those with different ideas do not fit within the confines of a stratified society. “I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness,” Ginsberg writes. In addition, Ginsberg talks about sexuality in varying degrees, from homosexuality to heterosexuality. Lastly, the poem discusses Ginsberg’s outlook on the holy and the reverent by mixing mystical and theological imagery.

“Howl” as Read by Allen Ginsberg

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“Hap” by Thomas Hardy Analysis

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Thomas Hardy wrote “Hap” in the 1860s and it was one of his earliest poems. It details happenstance, misfortune, and the random nature of the world. Hardy, who was in his 20s, was touching on a theme that would dominate much of his work throughout his life: that there is no Gods’ plan and that chance rules our lives instead.

Background and Analysis

We could look at this poem, ideally, from a previously discussed discipline that appears in the neutral form of “naturalism,” which doesn’t “care about humanity and (is) neither good nor bad” (BA English Notes). This, of course, is a more rational appeal toward nature and our own lives because we aren’t necessarily looking to the mystical for knowledge, but, rather, our own abilities and intuition.

“Hap” is a blending of Italian and English sonnet forms because “the first eight lines rhyme ababcdcd rather than abbaabba,” and this, “makes the poem a curious hybrid of the English and Italian sonnet forms, lending the poem’s rhyme scheme an air of uncertainty …”  (BA English Notes). So, the structure is definitely an amalgamation of styles, which suits the topic perfectly.

What follows is the poem in its entirety.

“Hap” By Thomas Hardy

If but some vengeful god would call to me
From up the sky, and laugh: “Thou suffering thing,
Know that thy sorrow is my ecstasy,
That thy love’s loss is my hate’s profiting!” 

Then would I bear it, clench myself, and die,
Steeled by the sense of ire unmerited;
Half-eased in that a Powerfuller than I
Had willed and meted me the tears I shed.

But not so.   How arrives it joy lies slain,
And why unblooms the best hope ever sown?
—Crass Casualty obstructs the sun and rain,
And dicing Time for gladness casts a moan. . . .
These purblind Doomsters had as readily strown
Blisses about my pilgrimage as pain.

Conclusion

We often stumble upon all sorts of good poems by happenstance, and “Hap” is one of those. The poem takes a few styles and transcends with an interesting theme and excellent imagery. Using naturalism as a center, it conveys the fight against nature and the dangers of

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An Analysis of “My Voice” by Oscar Wilde

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Oscar Wilde has had many popular pieces of writing shared since he put pen to paper. He also has some great poetry. “My Voice” by Oscar Wilde is one such poem that is singularly sweet and important to identity and understanding.

Analysis of “My Voice” by Oscar Wilde

“My Voice” by Oscar Wilde appeared sometime between 1854-1900. It is written in a ballad or ode form, and it contains three stanzas that have four lines in each paragraph. Additionally, it is written in iambic pentameter with rhyme scheme that follows abab / cdcd / efef.

The poem details the end of a relationship, with the narrator’s ex-lover not reciprocating in the heartache that he feels. Wilde writes in the first stanza that, “Within the restless, hurried, modern world / We took our hearts’ full pleasure–You and I, / And Now the white sails of our ships are furled / And spent the lading of our agony.” Wilde is telling us that the relationship began, but now it is over, and the “agony” has set in. In other ways, Wilde is discussing emotional separation, and the strain that it causes.

Similarly, this individual has had a profound impact on him through voice and evocation of memories. He writes in line 8 of the second stanza, “And Ruin draws the curtains of my bed,” which further builds on the theme of loss and desolation after love has gone. Meanwhile, in stanza three he states that though he feels this intense pain, the subject of his loss does not feel the same way. “Of viols, or the music of the sea,” he writes, “That sleeps, a mimic echo, in the shell.” There are some interpretations that pull optimism from the passage, but “echo, in the shell” seems to indicate his own voice coming back to him no matter how he calls for his love.

It’s an extremely relatable poem, and Wilde handles the theme well with heartbreaking tones.

Conclusion

Wilde’s style and ability to craft an ambitious atmosphere of debate and apprehension enamors, but, by the same token, Wilde has such a strong writing voice that either through prose or verse–there is similarity. This makes all of his writing appealing to me, and this poem is a prime example of telling a story, alluding to love, while also encapsulating a heart-breaking theme of calling for a loved one and immortalizing them in our minds.

“My Voice” by Oscar Wilde

Within the restless, hurried, modern world
   We took our hearts’ full pleasure—You and I,
And now the white sails of our ships are furled,
   And spent the lading of our argosy.

Wherefore my cheeks before their time are wan,
   For very weeping is my gladness fled,
Sorrow hath paled my lip’s vermilion
   And Ruin draws the curtains of my bed.

But all this crowded life has been to thee
   No more than lyre, or lute, or subtle spell
   That sleeps, a mimic echo, in the shell.
Of viols, or the music of the sea

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Biography of George Bernard Shaw: Socialist, Critic, Playwright

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George Bernard Shaw’s name looms large amongst the litany of famous authors. Both fascinating and contentious, he has all the makings of a literary icon. Likewise, he has many shared traits with other authors. Moreover, his sheer volume of work along, puts him in the pantheon of influential authors. In this George Bernard Shaw biography, we are going to dig into his life, times, and literary works.

Biography of George Bernard Shaw

Upbringing and early novelist

To start, Shaw was born in Dublin on July 26, 1856. He was the third child in his family, and he hated school. However, he found no interest in the workings of academia. Eventually, Shaw worked in an estate agent’s office before moving to London in 1876. There, he struggled to find work through multiple jobs. Eventually, he settled on pursuing a full-time career as a writer—with mixed results.

As stated by Britannica: “Despite his failure as a novelist in the 1880s, Shaw found himself during this decade. He became a vegetarian, a socialist, a spellbinding orator, a polemicist, and tentatively a playwright.” In these words, Shaw became the character and writer that would leave a mark on the literary world.

(Britannica.com)

The Fabian Society and Critic

In 1884, Shaw joined the Fabian Society. The group spent time advancing the principles of democratic socialism. Furthermore, in this society, he used his writing abilities to craft pamphlets and to debate the application of such beliefs. In addition, somewhere in the midst of novel writing failure, Shaw began critiquing plays. These critiques were published in papers in London and became quite successful.  He worked as a critic for the Pall Mall Gazette, The World, The Star, and The Saturday Review.

As Britannica further states, Shaw knew a great deal about the arts, which gave him critical acumen. The source states, “Shaw had a good understanding of music, particularly opera, and he supplemented his knowledge with a brilliance of digression that gives many of his notices a permanent appeal …”

Bernard Shaw as Playwright and Death

Shaw’s first collections of plays appeared in “Plays Unpleasant” and “Plays Pleasant.” Both collections were replete with “what would become Shaw’s signature wit, accompanied by healthy doses of social criticism.” Both of which “stemmed from his Fabian Society leanings” (biography.com). Shaw produced a great deal of work in a variety of genres, which kept him busy working on his craft.

Finally, with the 19th century coming to a close, Shaw really began churning out his best work. He wrote Man and Superman in 1903 and Major Barbara in 1905, and Pygmalion in 1912. In 1925, Shaw was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature for Saint Joan. He died in his home in England in 1950 at 94 years old.

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Claude McKay, writer, poet, and political activist

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The Harlem Renaissance writers had skill and audacity, and they were committed to writing transcendent work to show history and community. Similarly, their works were politically-minded and spoke to a generation of marginalized Americans. In this post, we examine Claude McKay, a writer who wrote from his moral center.

Biography

Claude McKay was born Festus Claudius McKay on Sept. 15, 1889, in Clarendon Parish, Jamaica. As a youth, McKay was instantly attracted to British poetry even though his parents had utmost pride in their Malagasy and Ashanti Heritage. McKay would blend both cultures together to form a strong writing voice with the help of a few friends:

“Under the tutelage of his brother, schoolteacher Uriah Thephilus McKay, and a neighboring Englishman, Walter Jekyll, McKay studied the British masters, including John Milton, Alexander Pope, and the later Romantics—and European philosophers …” (poetryfoundation.org)

McKay’s Writing Life

With education under his belt, McKay explored other aspects of culture and civilization. He wrote about the life of poorer Jamaicans and explored inequality. In 1912, McKay published Songs of Jamaica and Constab Ballads under a London publisher. Afterward, he moved to the US to study at the Tuskegee Institute and Kansas State College. He remained at the institute for a few short months.

Two years later, in 1914, he moved to Harlem, New York. In 1917, McKay published more poems in Pearson’s Magazine and Liberator, which featured his poem “If We Must Die.” The poem details the lengths that people should strive in order to see themselves vindicated in the eyes of the establishment.

Here’s the poem in its entirety:

If we must die, let it not be like hogs

Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot,

While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs,

Making their mock at our accursed lot.

If we must die, O let us nobly die,

So that our precious blood may not be shed

In vain; then even the monsters we defy

Shall be constrained to honor us though dead!

O kinsmen! We must meet the common foe!

Though far outnumbered let us show us brave,

And for their thousand blows deal one death-blow!

What though before us lies the open grave?

Like men we’ll face the murderous, cowardly pack,

Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back!

“If We Must Die” by Claude McKay

Political Activism

McKay would leave the US for a few years and publish Spring in New Hampshire in 1920 during his European travels. After returning to the US, McKay began his journey into political activism. He involved himself with communists and the Universal Negro Improvement Association. He would leave the US again to travel to Europe and North Africa, where he stayed for over 10 years, publishing a few notable works, including Home to Harlem and Banjo.

While he had dabbled in communism, he later began to dismiss the idea. After he returned to the US once more, he started engaging in more spiritual pursuits with the theologians in Harlem. Eventually, he converted to Catholicism, and toward the end of his life, he worked as an educator for a Catholic organization.

He died of a heart attack in Chicago on May 22, 1948.

Conclusion

Due to his monumental literary and political pursuits in life, he left a lasting impression.

“McKay’s viewpoints and poetic achievements in the earlier part of the twentieth century set the tone for the Harlem Renaissance and gained the deep respect of younger black poets of the time, including Langston Hughes.”

Poets.org

Notable Works

  • Songs of Jamaica
  • Constab Ballads
  • Spring in New Hampshire, and Other Poems
  • Harlem: Negro Metropollis
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The Life and Poetry of Emily Dickinson

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Emily Dickinson crafted phenomenal poetry and led an interesting life, albeit a quiet one. Her poems, such as “Faith” and “Much Madness is Divinest Sense” give credence to her ability to craft verse, and her body of work is more than exceptional in the face of modern literary studies. Nevertheless, the mark of a good artist is someone whose art is worth talking about and someone whose life is worth discussing (e.g. Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Stein). This is regardless of their interest in abstaining from the broader culture. For today’s post, we will examine Dickinson’s life and a few of her achievements.

Dickinson’s Biography

Early Years

Dickinson was born on Dec. 10, 1830 in Amherst, Massachusetts. She was the middle child of three children and grew up in a strongly devout area of New England. She was close with her two siblings and by all accounts experienced a lovely childhood under the roof of her lawyer father and housekeeper mother.

Dickinson went to Amherst Academy and was an excellent student and later attended Mount Holyoke Female Seminary; however, according to researchers, she may have left school for a variety of reasons.

“… theories offered say that her fragile emotional state may have played a role and/or that her father decided to pull her from the school. Dickenson ultimately never joined a particular church or denomination, steadfastly going against the religious norms of the time.”

(biography.com)

Other research claims that her leaving school was due to Holyoke’s “strict rules and invasive religious practices, along with her own homesickness and growing rebelliousness, help explain why she did not return for a second year” (Britannica.com).

Budding Poet

In her youth, Dickinson was writing and crafting hundreds of poems, which explored ideas of the burlesque (“Valentines”) and viewing the world through a more altruistic lens. She was also a letter writer and had crafted a great deal in her youth, with a few letters from as early as age 11 still in existence. By the age of 35, Dickinson had written more than 1,100 poems about a variety of subjects, from grief to nature. Many of these poems were put down in fascicles, or handmade booklets.

Here is an example of a short poem titled “Faith is a fine invention” that was penned by Dickinson in 1891:

“Faith”is a fine invention

For Gentlemen who see!

But Microscopes are prudent

In an Emergency!


Poetryfoundation.org

And, while Dickinson didn’t share many poems through publication, she certainly sent a great deal to friends and family, sending her mother Susan “more than 250 poems” and to her friend Thomas Wentworth Higginson “about 100 poems”(emilydickinsonmuseum.org).

I don’t even think I’ve sent that many emails in my life.

Later Years and Seclusion

Dickinson’s hermit lifestyle in her late years is almost as famous as her poetry. She lived a quiet life (always had seemingly) with her sister and extended family—her brother even bought the lot next door to the family home to raise his own children. Speculation is somewhat rampant as to why Dickinson decided to dive deeper into isolation in her later years.

“Scholars have thought that she suffered from conditions such as agoraphobia, depression and/or anxiety, or may have been sequestered due to her responsibilities as guardian of her sick mother. Dickinson was also treated for a painful ailment of her eyes.”

(biography.com)

Emily Dickinson died of kidney disease in Amherst on May 15, 1886.

Notable Works

  • Success is counted sweetest (1859)
  • Hope is the thing with feathers (1861)
  • I felt a funeral in my brain (1861)
  • Wild Nights! – Wild Nights! (1861)
  • Because I could not stop for death (1863)