Test:

Negro Spirituals
● songs created by the Africans who were captured and brought to the United States to be sold into
slavery.
● They reflected the slaves’ need to express their new faith, Christianity, the religion of their masters.
● stories from Genesis to Revelation, with God's faithful as protagonists.
● They are a translation of the biblical stories memorized by the slaves, since they could not read the
bible.
● they were created extemporaneously and passed orally from person to person
● used to communicate with one another without the knowledge of their masters.
● There is record of approximately 6,000 spirituals or sorrow songs
● Slave Songs of the United States was the first book ever published of African-american
spirituals
● They served as a wake-up call to those protesting against laws and policies that prevented
African Americans from enjoying equal rights.
● Examples: Oh freedom!
Abraham Lincon
● He was the United States' 16th President during the civil war in 1865
The Gettysburg Address is a famous speech given by President Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil
War. The speech was given at a cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
● It was one of the most famous speeches in United States history at the dedication of the Gettysburg
National Cemetery in1863. It is recognized as one of the most powerful statements in the English
language and, in fact, one of the most important expressions of freedom and liberty in any language.
● It speaks about the Declaration of Independence and the notion that all men are created equal.
Moreover, he tied both to the abolition of slavery—a new birth of freedom.
● The Gettysburg Address gave meaning to the sacrifice of over fifty thousand men who laid down their lives
in the Battle of Gettysburg.
Walt Whitman
● Walt Whitman (1819 New York) American poet, journalist, and essayist
● He founded a weekly newspaper, The LongIslander.
● He is considered the father of free-verse poetry
● Whitman spent his declining years in his house working on additions and revisions to his work: Leaves
of Grass (book with 300 poems) (seven editions of the book)
● "Leaves of Grass'' celebrated life, sexuality, individuality, and democracy. It was so controversial by that
time since It celebrated the human body and carried sexual descriptions that many readers criticized when it
was first published.
● Whitman wrote about the war, about what he believed in, and also about love
● Plays: "One's-Self I Sing" is a tribute both to the individual self and to humanity as a collective whole. Its
speaker affirms the "worth[iness]" of the human body, the equal dignity of men and women, and the
"passion" and "power" of life in a democratic society. In the process, the speaker suggests that the
recognition of individual worth is fundamental to democracy itself. (themes Individuality, Democracy, and
Equality)
● "When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer" was published in Drum-Taps. In the poem, Whitman conveys his
belief in the limits of using science to understand nature. Rather, Whitman suggests, one needs to
experience nature for true understanding, instead of measuring it. (themes: Knowledge, Nature, and
Experience)
Emily Dickinson
● Author of 1,789 poems, this writer is considered one of the pillars of modern American literature and
one of the best poets in world literature.
● Her work denotes an extraordinary ability to observe the world around her, from the subtle buzzing of a
bee to the unappealable character of death.
● She composed all her poems in pencil on small pieces of paper that her sister Lavinia found and
published after her death.
 ● During her lifetime, Emily published only six poems.
● Towards the end of her life, Emily barely left her room.
● Her writing style is most certainly unique.
● She used extensive dashes, dots, and unconventional capitalization, in addition to vivid imagery and
idiosyncratic vocabulary.
● Used slant-rhyme, conceits.
● 'Because I could not stop for Death'; Death is presented in a realistic manner in it.
● 'Hope is the Thing with Feathers' Hope is compared to a small bird that sings a tune even in the most
powerful storm. Hope is a feeling that we get, not always a rational one, that helps us to overcome
difficulties.
● Her poems addressed emotional and psychological states such as loneliness, pain, happiness, and
ecstasy; death, often personified; religion and morality; as well as love and love lost.

E.E Cumming
● He ignored conventional punctuation and syntax in favor of a dynamic use of language, even inventing
his own words by combining common words to create new meanings.
● Cummings’ verses frequently manage topics of adoration and nature
● His sonnets are likewise regularly overflowing with satire.
● his themes were more traditional: love, childhood, nature.
● While other modernists explored similar themes, E.E. Cummings expressed those themes in new
ways. (Modernis poets did not usually used free verse, but he did)
● 'Buffalo Bill's/defunct,'-is a famous poem about mortality, and it is laid out on the page in an unusual
and meaningful way. Something that is defunct is dead. This poem, then, is about Buffalo Bill being
dead.
● '9.' is about love and how natural it is. In that poem, cummings uses onomatopoeia to help get his point
across.
Orden Nash
● 'Adventures of Isabel' is a funny poem that tells what happens when a girl named Isabel meets a
ravenous bear with a cavernous mouth, a witch, a giant, and a doctor, who all want to harm her.
Instead of worrying or panicking, Isabel thinks fast and calmly beats them all. The poem is written in
forty lines and follows the same pattern on each of Isabel's adventure with a group of five couplets.
● One of the most widely appreciated and imitated writers of light verse (poetry on trivial or playful
themes that is written primarily to amuse and entertain and that often involves the use of nonsense and
wordplay.)
● brilliant use of rhyme which is often taken to absurd lengths and utilises invented or misspelled
words

Sylvia Plath (1932-1963)

- She had a difficult life, thus she suffered from depression. In the end, she killed herself.
- She wrote everything that was real in her life (she wrote confessional poetry)
- Her poems are brutally honest about her suffering.
- Her poems are known for their dark tone and disturbing imagery.
- She has written more or less 400 hundred poems.
Characteristics of confessional poetry:
- In summary, confessional poetry emerged in the 1950s and 60s, introducing formerly taboo topics, like
suicide, depression, and divorce.
- Confessional poetry consists of personal thoughts and experiences
- It introduces taboo topics.
- Feelings about death, trauma, depression, and relationships are addressed in this type of poetry.

Works by her:
Daddy
- Sylvia Plath uses her poem, “Daddy”, to express intense emotions towards her father's life and death
(She feels betrayed by her father because he died)
 - Childish vocabulary and imagery are used.
Edge
- It tells the haunting story of a woman’s depression; she murders her children and then takes her own
life.
- It was written only days before Sylvia Plath committed suicide.
- It is a twenty-line poem, separated into sets of two lines known as couplets. These couplets do not
follow a specific rhyme scheme or metrical pattern.
- It uses metaphors and similes.
- It is filled with pain, sadness, and longing, emotions one must speculate were part of Plath’s last days
as well.

Robert Frost
- He is a modernist, he is not following past nor future writers, he is between.
- He was an American poet who was much admired for his deceptions of the rural life of New England.
- Although he is a modernist,
Characteristics of modernist poetry:
- Simplified language is used (natural language).
- Non-traditional rhyme is used.
- Pessimistic
Works by Robert Frost:
The Road Not Taken
- It includes modernist elements.
- Traditional rhyme patterns A BAAB
- Although he is a modernist, in here, he doesn’t use an imagery style.
- The end is left with a vague open final.
The Road Not Taken Summary is a poem that describes the dilemma of a person standing at a road with
diversion. This diversion symbolizes real-life situations. Sometimes, in life too there come times when we have
to take tough decisions. We could not decide what is right or wrong for us.
What makes their poems modern?
- Basi language -Unclear
- Not uplifting (it is not about joy but pessimism)
Stopping by woods on a snowy evening
- It contains themes such as life, death, and nature
- He was describing everyday experiences
- He uses simple language.
- It is open to interpretation.
- It represents ideas with nature.
The poem is told from the perspective of a traveler who stops to watch the snowfall in the forest, and in doing
so reflects on both nature and society.
Fire and Ice
- It contains themes such as obsessions and destruction.
- Simple language is used.
- It is open to interpretation.
- The poem uses the metaphor of the end of the world to characterize this destruction
The poem suggests that the forces of desire and hate (represented by fire and ice, respectively) lead to
destruction, and equally so.
Robert Frost's 'Fire and Ice' is about destruction, the central theme of the poem.
- The first part of the poem reflects on destruction by fire which is caused by obsession.
- The second part of the poem indicates destruction by ice, which is caused by a complete absence of
love or an all-consuming hatred for someone or something.
Elizabeth Bishop
- She was an American poet known for her polished, witty(intelligent), descriptive verse.
- She taught writing at Harvard University.
- She uses refrain.
Characteristics of a refrain:
- It appears at the end of a stanza.
- It is a group of lines that are repeated at specific intervals in a poem.
- A refrain can include rhymes, but it is not necessary. It can also be repeated exactly, or the phrasing
can vary slightly.
- Some poetic forms require a refrain, like a villanelle or a sestina
Works by Elizabeth:
Example of a refrain = One art:
In this work. Elizabeth tries to express losing, she says how to master losing, that is how to make it easy to
face.
- It is an example of a villanelle, as its name suggests, it is a French verse form
- It asserts that, over time we can recover from the loss of a loved one. ( The art of losing isn’t
hard to master).
- It is a complex of nineteen lines, divided into five tercets (3 lines stanza)
- The rhythm pattern is iambic pentameter.
Maya Angelou (1928-2014, St. Louis Missouri)
- Maya Angelou was an American author, actress, screenwriter, dancer, poet, and civil rights activist.
- She was an african american who experienced racial prejudices and discrimination.
- Raped by the mother’s boyfriend
- She wrote 36 books (and children’s books)and recited a poem at Clinton’s inauguration
- I know why the caged bird sings (first nonfiction bestseller by an african american woman)

Caged Bird: poem

- Style free verse is separated into
stanzas that range in length.
- Themes: racial oppression,
freedom/captivity, and happiness and
sorrow.
- A metaphor for the black community in
America and worldwide. She is alluding
to the lived experience of millions of
men, women, and children, since the
beginning of time and the variety of
oppressive tactics (physical, mental, or
economic employed by those in power.
-

I know why the caged bird sings an autobiography. It is one of

the most banned in EEUU, it has sexual content and accounts
of abuse (Angelou details rape, child molestation, and teen
pregnancy), racism, and explicit language.
- Themes: Racism, segregation, freedom/captivity,
happiness/ sorrow (self-acceptance, belonging).

Anne Sexton (1928, Massachusetts)

- The style is called confessional poetry. The confessional poem
is a poem that speaks directly to the author’s personal
experience.
 - her Best work was ‘Live or Die: free-verse and Rhythm
- She had a troubled childhood and suffered from psychological issues throughout her life. One reason
for her mental illness was believed to be sexual abuse by her parents during her childhood, she had
fear and trauma from an early age.
- her therapist told her to start writing about her thoughts and feelings. She joined to various groups in
which she met Sylvia Plath.
- She killed herself (locking herself in her garage and starting the engine of the car, and she died of
carbon monoxide poising.
- Her work SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS

- It is a 164-line free verse, narrative.

- It criticizes the cultural expectations of female
beauty and sexuality and condemns the cycle of
harm these expectations perpetuate.
- Beginning of the poem: sexton sets up the
fragile, virginal ideal of female beauty and
behavior.
- then, she adds modern details or comments to
connect the fairy tale to her modern reality.
- it doesn’t have a happy ending, but the “mirror”
that influenced snow white’s stepmother will still
influence Snow White herself and other women.
- She also wrote: The truth the dead know.

Bob Dylan (1941, Minnesota)

- He is an American folksinger who moved from
folk to rock music.
- He was pop songwriting that went from confessional singer/songwriter to consciousness narratives.
- Considered the Shakespeare of his generation. Sold millions of albums, wrote more than 500 songs
- Nobel prize in literature for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song
tradition.
- Like a Rolling Stone protest reference.
- His songs are anthems for the civil rights movement, the anti-war movement, and the baby boomer
generation.
- His family was Jewish so they suffer persecution
Songs
- Blowing in the Wind: It poses a series of rhetorical questions that touch upon important social and
political issues, including war, peace, freedom, equality, and justice. Many of these questions seem to
have no easy answers or no concrete answers at all, each of them brings to mind lessons and realities
that may lead to realizations about the nature of life and the interconnectedness of people.
- Love minus zero: This song is in part about love. The lyrics reflect the Zen-like detachment of the
singer's lover through a series of opposites, for example, that she "speaks like silence" and is both "like
ice" and "like fire"
- Mr. Tambourline man: It has been interpreted as a call to the singer’s spirit or muse, or as a search
for transcendence. Mr. Tambourine Man has sometimes been interpreted as a symbol for Jesus. It may
also reference gospel music themes, with Mr. Tambourine Man being the bringer of religious salvation.