Katelyn's Poetry Spring 2020 Blog

I've encountered Gertrude Stein before, but that does not make her any less "unfamiliar" to me. Her writing style seems to be just putting words on a page, only with regard to the word that came before, but with no particular overall context. Going through a few of her poems, I can say with almost complete certainty that there is very little meaning to her poems besides the fact that she could  write them if she so desired. For example, we can look at part of her poem, A Substance in a Cushion: "The change of color is likely and a difference a very little difference is prepared. Sugar is not a vegetable.    Callous is something that hardening leaves behind what will be soft if there is a genuine interest in there being present as many girls as men. Does this change. It shows that dirt is clean when there is a volume." Reading the poem, my eyes keep sliding through the words as if they have meaning only to realize after I've finished them, I have cons...

Robert Burns' poetry is a keystone of Scottish culture. Widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, he's written poetry about trivial things such as the seasons or animals, and he's written about his Scottish culture in the form of poetry reflecting anything from the Scottish highlands to, possibly most famously, haggis. Burns is a symbol of Scottish literature not just for what he writes, but how he writes it. He consistently uses vernacular in his writing to create what might be almost unintelligible poetry to our American midwestern eye. This habit of writing in such a way has shunned his poetry to the outskirts of high praise and into an area where his poetry has been deemed superficial and unsubstantial. Here is part of Burns' famous poem, To a Haggis: Fair fa’ your honest, sonsie face, Great Chieftan o’ the Puddin-race! Aboon them a’ ye tak your place, Painch, tripe, or thairm: Weel are ye wordy of a  grace As lang’s my arm. Burns' poetry is especial...

Shel Silverstein, although being a nationally known poet and a popular children's book writer, has been somewhat betrayed by his target audience. The kids that grow up on his books, like I did, forget about him when it comes time to delve into poetry on a deeper level later in life. Perhaps Silverstein is not the most underrated poet of all time, but I do think that we deserve another reminder about Silverstein's poetry and its impact.  Silverstein's first poetry collection, Where the Sidewalk Ends, was a book that was read to me when I was a child learning to read. Its irreverent and darkly funny poetry shaped how I think about poetry today. For instance, here's The Edge of the World by Shel Silverstein:  The Edge of the World is a great example of Silverstein's poetry. It appeals to kids beyond just the form of the poem, although the rhyme scheme seems to be a modified limerick in both form and topic matter and is very appealing to say out loud, as lots of...

I've always had a soft spot for limericks and the type of poetry that they might represent. Edward Lear, being the irreverent poet he is, seems like a good place to start in the investigation of limericks and their meanings. Here are some limericks from Lear's The Book of Nonsense: 1. There was an Old Man with a beard, Who said, "It is just as I feared!-- Two Owls and a Hen, Four Larks and a Wren, Have all built their nests in my beard!" 10. There was an Old Man in a tree, Who was horribly bored by a Bee; When they said, "Does it buzz?" He replied, "Yes, it does! "It's a regular brute of a Bee!" 12. There was a Young Lady whose chin, Resembled the point of a pin: So she had it made sharp, And purchased a harp, And played several tunes with her chin. The Book of Nonsense by Edward Lear is Lear's derisive characterization of different people and personalities, but on quite a surface level assessment of said people. He see...

Dorothy Parker is a poet known for her wit and the facetious words that mark her many works of literature. She is exactly what I look for in poetry, and literature in general, and is a remarkable product of her time. Parker’s work, while delving into more serious subject matter later into her life, is best known for its satirical nature. Parker’s poetry exhibits a candid look into the female perspective of the early and mid 20th century. Her poetry, while retaining a sense of sincerity in the way it speaks on pertinent issues of gender, unrequited love, and mental health, still brings humor and wit to the forefront of her work.  The first poems of Parker’s that I was ever introduced to, poems like “ Incurable ” and “ Symptom Recital ”, had a twist at the end that really intrigued me. To truly get anything out of Parker’s wittiest poetry, one needs less to immediately begin parsing out the true meaning of the author’s metaphorical words, but instead, merely has to go into the p...