american political poetry in the 21st century - STIBA Malang
american political poetry in the 21st century - STIBA Malang
american political poetry in the 21st century - STIBA Malang
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
14 AMERICAN POLITICAL POETRY<br />
<strong>the</strong>se identity positions may reveal someth<strong>in</strong>g about <strong>the</strong>ir <strong>in</strong>terests,<br />
concerns, and language, <strong>the</strong>y also limit <strong>the</strong> critic’s frame and bias <strong>the</strong>ir<br />
read<strong>in</strong>gs. They also prevent potentially reveal<strong>in</strong>g juxtapositions<br />
between diverse writers who share, if not identity positions and<br />
<strong>the</strong>matic concerns, <strong>the</strong>n similar poetics.<br />
Second, though I also agree with Bernste<strong>in</strong> that disparate practices<br />
and rhetorical strategies are grounded <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> materials of language, I do<br />
not agree that <strong>the</strong>se practices beg<strong>in</strong> and end with English. It is also<br />
important to consider <strong>the</strong> <strong>in</strong>fluences and materiality of Spanish for not<br />
only <strong>the</strong> Lat<strong>in</strong>a/o poets who utilize both English and Spanish, some of<br />
whom I discuss <strong>in</strong> chapter 3, but also for many wholly English-language<br />
poems that may be <strong>in</strong>fluenced by Spanish-speak<strong>in</strong>g cultures. For <strong>in</strong>stance,<br />
many twentieth-<strong>century</strong> U.S. poets have been greatly <strong>in</strong>fluenced by<br />
Neruda, Vallejo, Julio Cortázar, Jorge Luis Borges, and o<strong>the</strong>r Lat<strong>in</strong><br />
American writers (many of whom <strong>the</strong>mselves were greatly <strong>in</strong>fluenced by<br />
Whitman), and yet o<strong>the</strong>rs have been <strong>in</strong>fluenced by <strong>the</strong> techniques and<br />
sensibilities of magic realism. I argue that <strong>the</strong> scope of <strong>political</strong> <strong>poetry</strong><br />
<strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> United States must be broadened to <strong>in</strong>clude poetic strategies<br />
that foreground language choice and language <strong>in</strong>terchange. Social<br />
positions and geographic locations, <strong>the</strong>n, can be viewed with<strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
materiality of languages and <strong>the</strong>ir criss-cross<strong>in</strong>gs. “America” and<br />
“American <strong>poetry</strong>,” like <strong>the</strong> boundaries between English and Spanish,<br />
and like <strong>the</strong> shape-shift<strong>in</strong>g signifier and its signified “<strong>political</strong> <strong>poetry</strong>,”<br />
are contested spaces. Many readers may also contest that hip-hop is<br />
“<strong>poetry</strong>,” a claim that I hope is refuted <strong>in</strong> chapter 4.<br />
Political Poetry and<br />
Interiority<br />
A primary obstacle for <strong>political</strong> <strong>poetry</strong> is <strong>the</strong> widely held notion that<br />
<strong>poetry</strong> is foremost a private expression. This belief can be attributed to<br />
a variety of factors: a hangover from <strong>the</strong> Romantic era (although<br />
Jerome McGann’s The Romantic Ideology suggests o<strong>the</strong>rwise); 9 <strong>the</strong><br />
false assumption that poets are antisocial outcasts, partially <strong>in</strong>herited<br />
from <strong>the</strong> reception for <strong>the</strong> Beats <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> 1950s; <strong>the</strong> aes<strong>the</strong>tic prom<strong>in</strong>ence<br />
of <strong>the</strong> lyric <strong>in</strong> contemporary <strong>poetry</strong>, which is often viewed as a<br />
form appropriate primarily for <strong>in</strong>trospection; <strong>the</strong> legacy <strong>in</strong>herited<br />
from high modernism that <strong>poetry</strong> should be both difficult and a monument<br />
to <strong>the</strong> <strong>in</strong>dividual; and <strong>the</strong> defensible notion that “<strong>poetry</strong> is<br />
often seen as a ‘natural’ medium for <strong>the</strong> recount<strong>in</strong>g and exam<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g of<br />
personal experience” (Roberts and Allison 1). Jenny Goodman writes<br />
that “ma<strong>in</strong>stream th<strong>in</strong>k<strong>in</strong>g” views <strong>poetry</strong> as “culturally apart” and