For Thursday's class, read the poems in Part I of American Journal, pages 9-28. You can read these selectively, meaning that if one doesn't grab you, move onto the next one. But try to at least read 3 or 4 of them more than once, in some detail. Then answer any TWO of the questions below, using a different poem for each response:
Q1: How does the language call attention to itself as language? What makes it literary language? In other words, why is it more than a sentence with one specific meaning or instruction? What makes it unusual, delightful, strange, ambiguous, or exciting? Be as specific as possible.
Q2: What make us relate to or believe in the reality of this work? In other words, why do we feel reading this poem is "worth it," even though it's just a string of words that might not immediately make sense to us? What makes us, individually, invest in this poem?
Q3: What makes this poem ambiguous and larger than one specific reading or meaning? How do we know this is "art for art's sake," and isn't meant to say, for example, "be sure to look both ways before crossing the street"? What makes this poem a rich, densely-layered experience that needs to be read and discussed?
Q4: How is this poem intertextual, meaning that is relates to other ideas and poems, and invokes them in the poem? How do these references/allusions enrich the poem and the experience of reading it? Is it always clear how and why it's invoking them?
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