Exploration of Twentieth Century Poetry

by Don Rey

     Ezra Pound wrote several poems and essays encouraging poets and writers to "make it new." He was referring to the way in which poetry is written, especially in respect to certain aspects. Symbolism and imagery are high among those aspects. Tone, however, is not among them. The way in which poets use different tones in their work has not changed, but rather is unique with every different poem. Because of the changes of form and content in poetry due to Ezra Pound’s writings and views, twentieth century poetry differs very noticeably from nineteenth century poetry. While poetic tone of the nineteen hundreds remains quite similar to that of the eighteen hundreds, Ezra Pound encouraged "newness" in the way imagery and symbolism are used in twentieth century poetry and succeeded in changing the way poetry is written and understood.

     Langston Hughes’ "I, Too" is written in free verse, which is typical of Ezra Pound’s ideas of "newness," as well as contains nineteenth century style imagery and symbolism. There is no rhyme scheme and no regular rhythm or syntactical pattern. The voice of the poem speaks of the freedom and rights of African Americans. The voice is African American, as can be implied from the word "darker." The content of the poem can be broken into two halves. In the first, the voice displays the segregation he endures. The imagery in the use of the word "brother" suggests he is not treated in a terribly harsh manner. He does, however face daily injustices simply because of his color. This idea is symbolized rather freely by the third line, "They send me to eat in the kitchen," (Baym 2226) which is undoubtedly a mistreatment. The word "brother" and the image of the kitchen also serve to establish a sense of family. The voice is a part of this family. He, however, is not welcome when company arrives. The family, America, is ashamed to have his color in their presence. The voice is not discouraged, however, but remains cool-tempered. He will "eat well," or take advantage of that which he is provided, and use it to the enhance his character, or "grow strong." In the second half, the voice protests this segregation. With the reputation he has earned while growing strong, he will sit at the table when company comes, and refuse to "eat in the kitchen." The voice of the poem also declares that they (the family; America) will "see how beautiful" he is, and will recognize his reputation as a human, rather than as a black man. Because of this, they will be ashamed of their treatment towards him. The poem ends by the declaration "I, too, am American" (Baym 2226). America must accept and welcome African Americans as part of their family.

     Theodore Roethke’s short poem "Wish for a Young Wife" is also written in free verse and is an example of Ezra Pound’s idea of "newness" in symbolism and imagery, but not so much in tone. The last three lines rhyme, as do lines five and eight which seem to be somewhat random. The symbols and images seem to be random to a degree as well. The voice refers to his young wife as a "lizard," and a "lively writher." He first warns her of the cold, harsh, material world, using symbolism and imagery together in the words "ice," "mean," and "green" respectively. He wishes that she will avoid or overcome these hardships with confidence and her "hair ever blaze." This line is also an image of her beauty. Even when the voice lacks in reputation or notoriety, he hopes the best for her, as even when he is no one, the sun shines her beauty. The last three lines rhyme and taper off in length to signify the end of his wish, as a part of this poet’s free verse (Baym 2604).

     Another short poem written in free verse is Gwendolyn Brooks’ "The Last Quatrain of the Ballad of Emmett Till" displays Ezra Pound’s "newness" in symbolism and imagery, but not in tone. The poem consists of two beginning lines, separate from the "quatrain" of four sentences, which are split up in an oddly separated fashion, forming eight lines. The end of each sentence rhymes somewhat questionably. The separation of these sentences into a greater number of lines symbolizes the separation the Emmett’s mother feels because of his death. Historically, Emmett Till was "a fourteen-year-old African American boy lynched in Mississippi in 1955 for allegedly ‘leering’ at a white woman" (Baym 2664). This poem uses Ezra Pound’s "newness" when it comes to symbolism and imagery. The odd, separated shape as a symbol is very new to the twentieth century. Brooks uses simple colors for imagery. This simplicity is what Ezra Pound pushed for in imagery. The red room she sits in symbolizes her pain and open, wounded heart. The black coffee she drinks is a symbol of the harsh evil present in their society, which has now entered her life and poisoned her family. The voice assures that she loved and still loves her son in that she kisses him, but she is sorry for his actions and society’s response to them. She is both sorry to society and sorry to the boy. These two feelings create a chaos where there is no black or white, but merely grays. The prairie symbolizes her calmed acceptance of his death, but the color red shoes her never-ending pain (Baym 2664).

     A final free verse poem, "The Fish," by Elizabeth Bishop, is a narrative poem about a person fishing from a boat, and is also a good example of "newness" in symbolism and imagery. And again, the tone is nothing new to the time period. There is no rhyme scheme, and no set pattern or rhythm except that in all 76 lines, the longest line contains 9 syllables while the rest are eight or fewer. The fisher, the voice of the poem, catches a great fish of many years. As she (the fisher will be referred to as female because the author is female) pulls the fish in and removes the hook, she examines the fish. She finds a rough, weathered, barnacle-covered skin at first. She also looks into his eyes, which she notes are larger than her own, a symbol that the fish has had a longer life, and more experience than the fisher. She then finds four old pieces of fishing line and a wire leader each attached to a big hook still in the fish’s mouth. The fish wore these "like medals." The voice of the poem calls it "a five-haired beard of wisdom / trailing from his aching jaw." She realizes that she is about to rob this respectable and once powerful fish of its ancient life, and therefor lets the fish go. Throughout the poem, Elizabeth Bishop uses strong imagery; some of which does and some of which does not follow Ezra Pound’s "newness" in American poetry. For example, "He was speckled with barnacles, / fine rosettes of lime" is an example of imagery unchanged from the nineteenth century with such ornate diction. There is nothing new about this detailed imagery. However, "He hung a grunting weight" is more likely to be condoned by Ezra Pound because of its simplicity and lack of distraction (Baym 2613).

     While Ezra Pound was widely successful in making new many of the nineteenth century-traditional aspects of poetry, the tone was not an aspect that changed a great deal. Tone refers to the "attitudes toward the subject and toward the audience implied in a literary work" and may be "formal, informal, intimate, solemn, sombre, playful, serious, ironic, condescending, or many another possible attitude" (Holman 477). While free verse became a more popular form of poetry and more liberties were taken in writing poetry, tone had always been the relatively free choice of the poet. For example, Edgar Allen Poe’s poem, "Sonnet: To Silence" (Poe 281) has a very similar tone to that of "I, Too." The tone of both poems is in sincere but nonviolent protest. The "newness" Ezra Pound looked for was in freedom of poetry. Tone, however, has always been one of the most free aspects of poetry.

     There is, however, a difference in symbolism of nineteenth century poetry and symbolism of twentieth century poetry in respect to Ezra Pound’s "newness" and freedom. Symbolism is the use of one object or concept to represent another. In the mid-eighteen hundreds, a movement of romantic symbolism took place. Writers and poets began using symbols to represent ideas, which were not as easily grasped. This was often the practice of transcendentalists (Harmon 467). These symbols used in nineteenth century poems were often placed side-by-side with the idea or concept they represented. It was often a comparison as well as a representation. In Poe’s "Sonnet: To Silence," he represents the idea of "body and soul" with "sea and shore." The two ideas fall on adjacent lines in the poem. In Poe’s "The Raven," the raven symbolizes approaching death, and is alluded to throughout the poem (Poe 185). It is a much more formal and explained symbol than those of the twentieth century are. In these more recent works, symbols are often much more plentiful and more difficult to find and decipher. This freedom of symbolism often hides many ideas and even purposes of a poem. It is, however, what Ezra Pound rallied for in his book of essays, "Make It New." In "The Fish," the voice tells that the eyes of the fish were far larger than hers, but that they were shallower. In this symbolism, she acknowledges that the fish does not have as deep a look at the world as she does, but it has more experience in its longer, more troubled life than she. This type of somewhat hidden symbolism is used much more often in twentieth century poetry than it was in nineteenth century poetry.

     Imagery is possibly Ezra Pound’s strongest focus when it comes to his idea of "newness." Imagery is literally "a collection of images in a literal work" (Holman 240). More descriptively, it is a set of words use in a way in which the original meaning of the words changes. Pound termed a new kind of poetry "imagism" and called himself and poets who wrote in this way imagists. In respect to this method, he encouraged poets and writers to stay away from ornate diction would distract the reader from the genuine effect of imagery. He believed in plain, simple, but powerful imagery. This is seen very much in twentieth century poetry. In eighteenth century poetry, however, images were created with complex, detailed descriptions, which is what Pound attempts to escape. In "The Fish," the voice describes about the fish, "his brown skin hung in strips like ancient wallpaper" (Baym 2613) This is a very simple image without extensive diction to confuse the imagery. In "The Last Quatrain of the Ballad of Emmett Till," Brooks writes, "Chaos in windy grays / through a red prairie" (Baym 2664) This is also a simple image, easy for almost any reader to visualize. This was the goal of Ezra Pound.

     Ezra Pound had a noticeable affect on twentieth century poetry. He coined a new movement, as well as changed the expectations of poetry. Pound changed the way symbolism and imagery are used and read in poetry, and made poetry a more free expression of the poet’s thought. This change did not affect tone, but it did change the way poetry is written and understood.

Works Cited:

Baym, Nina, et al. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 5^th ed. 1999
       "I, Too" -Langston Hughes
       "Wish For a Young Wife" -Theodore Roethke
       "The Last Quatrain of the Ballad of Emmett Till" -Gwendolyn Brooks
       "The Fish" -Elizabeth Bishop

Harmon, William and C. Hugh Holman. A Handbook to Literature. 6^th ed. Macmillan Publishing Co., NY 1992.

Poe, Edgar Allen. Selected Stories and Poems. NY: F. Watts, 1969