|
LITR 4328: American Renaissance  |
Final Exam Essays 2015 Sample answers
for
|
 |
Rachel Morris
Lyricality in Poe, Whitman, and Dickinson
Lyric
poetry is what most people think of as poetry; it has a musical sound to the
words that alludes to its origin from when poetry was sung, not written, and
evokes emotional appeals with strong imagery, and draws the senses, primarily
sight and sound, to add meaning. Lyrical poetry captures an intimate moment of
the author, which we as the reader get the opportunity to eavesdrop on. This
form of poetry also uses rhythm and rhyme, adding to its musicality. Lyric
poetry can best be explained through the use of song lyrics, such as the lyrics
for Carrie Underwood’s hit song, “Before He Cheats.” This song not only has a
rhyme scheme, a-a-b-c-d-d, but also captures a specific moment in time, the
moment when she takes her revenge for his cheating on her out on his car. The
lyrics draw on the senses, describing how she dug her key into his leather
seats, and smashed his headlights in with a bat. These descriptions not only
paint a picture in the mind of the listener, but also create sounds and emphasis
with the rhythm and meter. However, where these lyrics fail to achieve the lyric
poetry status is in their intensity. Lyric poetry has a sense of intensity, a
briefness that requires the poet to be creative with words in order to make
meaning in such a brief set of lines, leading to a sense of mystery or
evocativeness that is lacking in the Carrie Underwood lyrics.
Poets
such as Edgar Allan Poe, Walt Whitman, and Emily Dickinson used the lyric form
when writing. Of these three, Poe is the most lyrical, using traditional fixed
verse and sonnet forms. His poems, like his stories, focus on gothic subjects.
His poem “The City in the Sea” is a perfect example of this. This poem has a
definite rhyme scheme, mimicking that of the sonnet form. While there is some
variance within the rhyme scheme, it is remains very formal and structured. This
poem also draws on creating sounds using alliteration in phrases such as “holy
heaven” [2.1], and “The viol, the violet, and the vine” [2.12]. Poe also uses
anaphora to create the musicality in the lyric poem in lines 2.6 – 2.10,
repeating the starting phrase “Up.” This poem also embodies Poe’s style in that
the subject, death, is paired with imagery of a city in ruins.
Walt
Whitman may also be considered a lyric poet. Whitman’s style varies greatly from
Poe’s, in that Whitman’s poetry is free verse; he does not use any structured
form, meter, or rhyme scheme to shape his poetry. Instead, he focuses on the
everyday, but does so in a way that implies a deeper meaning. His poem, “When I
Heard the Learn’d Astronomer” may be considered a lyric poem. The poem does not
follow any structured form, rhyme, or meter. It focuses on a moment experienced
by the poet, and, as lyric poetry tends to be, is brief in its account. Due to
the brevity of the memory, Whitman keeps his language precise. Due to this, the
poem meets another facet of lyric poetry; its selective language concentrates
expression to the point of opacity, leaving the reader with a layer of meaning
that is unclear and must be extrapolated. While not particular to the lyric
form, Whitman’s style shines through in “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer” in
that he uses a catalog in lines 2 – 3, “When the proofs, the figures, were
ranged in columns before me; / When I was shown the charts and the diagrams, to
add, divide, and measure them.” This is typical of Whitman’s poetry to use lists
to convey meaning.
Lyric
form is also present in the poetry of Emily Dickinson. Her poem, “I heard a fly
buzz when I died,” is an example of this. While this poem does not have
structured rhyme or meter, it does fit the lyric category. As Emily Dickinson’s
poems usually do, this one captures a moment in time, and therefore focuses on
brevity. Therefore, it creates an intenseness within its precise wording.
However, this poem stays true to Dickinson’s unique style, including her
unconventional use of improvised punctuation in use of dashes, and free verse.
While
all three of these poets use the lyric form, they each maintain their own unique
style while doing so. Poe keeps his focus on the gothic themes of his writings,
musicality, and formal structure. Whitman keeps his focus on the importance of
the everyday topics, such as walking out of an astronomy lecture to look at the
stars themselves, free verse, and the use of catalog. Dickinson keeps her
informality, improvised punctuation, and half rhymes.
While
lyrical poetry has specific forms that it consists of, each poet can use it
while maintaining their own style of writing. Today, nearly any pop song may be
boiled down to a lyrical poem through its lyrics. Poetic forms such as anaphora,
alliteration, sensory appeals, intensity, rhymes, and rhythm permeate modern
lyrics making them as musical as poetry even without the music. While lyric
poems may have been at their best with such great authors, the genre is far from
finished.
1865 flag of the USA