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Thursday, September 19, 2019

The World as a Wasteland: A Comparison of Two American Modern Poets, Ro

â€Å"[F]uture commentators on American poetry and political issues will not be able to ignore the †¦ authentic voice of the region,† argues Barry Ahearn, author of the article Poetry: 1900 to the 1940s, which discusses the importance of the author writing about his or her region of choice in their poetry and how it affects their writing (Ahearn 373). Ahearn discusses writers such as Sterling A. Brown, Langston Hughes, H.D. (Hilda Doolittle), Robert Frost, Robinson Jeffers, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Lorine Niedecker, George Oppen, John Crowe Ransom, Charles Rezikoff, Muriel Rukeyser, Gertrude Stine, Wallace Stevens, Sara Teasdale, William Carlos Williams, and Louis Zukofksy. The purpose of mentioning so many, claims Ahearn, is to gather a survey of works between 1900 and the 1940s. The discussion of these writers creates a wide range of Modernist authors that influenced each other and the people who read their works; the author claims that the authenticity of the writer is what creates a more accurate work of literature and the life experiences of these authors is the material that adds to their writing as a whole. For example, Robert Frost and Langston Hughes are regional writers that focus on specific places but have similar qualities in their poems that transcend the locale. Two poems exemplify these qualities -- â€Å"Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening† with â€Å"Birches† by Robert Frost and â€Å"Theme for English B† with â€Å"Visitors to the Black Belt† by Langston Hughes. Both authors express their world as a wasteland; their environments are portrayed in poor or discouraging light due to human intrusion, or lack thereof, within their communities. Modernist Poetry involves a movement away from the self and the emotions of the individual. Typical... ...5. EDS Foundation Index. Web. 18 Apr. 2012. Frost, Robert. â€Å"Birches.† The Norton Anthology Of American Literature. 7th. Vol. D. Ed. Leffelholz, Mary. New York: Norton & Company, 2007. 1400-1402. Print. Frost, Robert. â€Å"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.† The Norton Anthology Of American Literature. 7th. Vol. D. Ed. Leffelholz, Mary. New York: Norton & Company, 2007. 1403. Print. Hughes, Langston. â€Å"Theme for English B.† The Norton Anthology Of American Literature. 7th. Vol. D. Ed. Leffelholz, Mary. New York: Norton & Company, 2007. 2036. Print. Hughes, Langston. â€Å"Visitors to the Black Belt.† The Norton Anthology Of American Literature. 7th.Vol. D. Ed. Leffelholz, Mary. New York: Norton & Company, 2007. 2032. Print. Leffelholz, Mary. The Norton Anthology Of American Literature. 7th. D. New York: Norton & Company, 2007. 1177-1191. Print.

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