Modernist Poetry this week...

Last week we considered Imagism, the ghetto, and how Lola Ridge navigated her way through the new "forest of symbols" of the modern world (to use Baudelaire's phrase).

We saw that she introduced 

1) modern settings & content to poetry

2) merged poetry with a narrative arc (characters, portraits)

3) had a highly imagistic streak--exploring the metaphorical, connotative power of language, drawing imagery from industrial, natural, historical contexts.

This week we'll be considering two poets who followed her: 

William Carlos Williams and E.E. Cummings.

Reading them in light of her will teach us to look for differences and continuities.

Questions to have in mind: 

how did these "modernists" respond to the "forest of symbols"?

what happened to the metaphor and the image?

what happened to the social world so present in Ridge?

For Tues: please read WCW's poems below.  

For Thurs: read EEC's.

I'd like everyone to blog once this week (by tues or thurs) in response to one poem by wcw or eec.

Use the questions above as a guide.