Weeks 10-12
Modernism:
What does 'The Wasteland' mean?
1) how has it been interpreted? (cite examples)
2)what are some of the key features
3) In what way has it been influential
Post-Modernism
1) What common qualities do 'the beats' share? Why 'beats'?
2) How is beat poetry linked to rap?
3) How was Bob Dylan's 'Masters of War' involved in controversy during the Bush administration?
4) On what grounds was 'Howl' accused of being obscene - grounds for the defense?
5) What kind of protest song/rap other media have come out in the last decade? Is there a spirit of protest anymore?
What does 'The Wasteland' mean?
1) how has it been interpreted? (cite examples)
2)what are some of the key features
3) In what way has it been influential
Post-Modernism
1) What common qualities do 'the beats' share? Why 'beats'?
2) How is beat poetry linked to rap?
3) How was Bob Dylan's 'Masters of War' involved in controversy during the Bush administration?
4) On what grounds was 'Howl' accused of being obscene - grounds for the defense?
5) What kind of protest song/rap other media have come out in the last decade? Is there a spirit of protest anymore?
How was Bob Dylan’s song Masters of War involved in controversy during the Bush administration?
ReplyDeleteAs I am doing my research assignment Masters of War by Bob Dylan it only seemed natural to pick this question. Masters of War is a song that although it was written in 1963 it seems to be timeless. Its relevance and ability to be relatable to large crowds regardless of the times has seen it appear many times throughout the decades since its release.
President George Bush announced that America would invade Iraq during his State of Union address on 29 January 2002. Later that year on November 11th Bob Dylan caused controversy as he performed his iconic protest song at Madison Square Garden. Of course this was a direct retaliation to Bush’s decision to send troops to Iraq. The invasion went ahead on 19th March.
Also nothing to do with the Bush administration however this is an interesting read about how not everyone involved in conflict respects and appreciates Bob Dylan's work
ReplyDeletehttp://www.haaretz.com/news/israel/.premium-1.653185
Q. What does ‘The Wasteland’ mean?
ReplyDeleteA. The meaning of ‘The Wasteland’ can be interpreted differently by each individual who reads the poem, as it is a very complex poem, it can seem to hold different meanings behind it when you read it without thought, and when you read it in-depth. As for me I thought that each of the five sections all had a different message that they wanted to get across to the audience, but as I went on to read the poem, I have found that most of them all came to the same topic – death, loss, and grief. ‘The Wasteland’, I have found, was a very gloomy, heavy poem that bears the weight of the aftermath of a War. The first section of the poem, the burial of the dead, starts off with the reminiscence of the beautiful old days before the war took it away. Only reading the first section, one can only guess that something big has happened that caused a lot of deaths and caused a lot of people to lose their homes – A crowd of people are supposedly “flowing over the London bridge” and the storyteller goes on to claim that she had not thought death had undone so many (Eliot, T.S., 1922). It is only by the last section that the audience starts to gain understanding of what really happened that caused the death of many. In the second paragraph of the fifth section, Eliot, T.S. (1922) uses the expression “dry sterile thunder without rain” to describe the sound of gunshot and bombs. The poet goes on to describe the war which gives hints as to what is actually happening in ‘The Wasteland’, without having actual war-related words used.
Q. What are some of the Key Features?
A. What I found interesting about ‘The Wasteland’ was the different voices that were used for each different section, each of them with a story-teller, telling their own story. Finding this interesting, I also found it difficult at the same time, as nothing in the poem suggested that each of the section was a different voice. Some of the sections had obvious hints as to the change in the story-teller, as their tone of voice and how they spoke were clearly different. What also makes ‘The Wasteland’ unique was the way it was divided into five different sections, but nothing about them connected. It was as if each section was reading a different new poem, instead of different sections of the same poem. Another really noticeable feature in this poem was the juxtaposition of the past and the present, such as in the first section, after her reminiscence of the past, the next paragraph goes straight into the present, after the war has struck. The warm, happy feeling of the past instantly contrasts with the gloomy, dull feeling of the present.
Reference:
DeleteEliot, T.S. (1922). The Wasteland. London: Faber & Faber.