The question is this: Who do I think is doing the best job with techniques first seen in the Modernism sampler? Or, who do I think is making use of what parts of Modernism in the most effective ways?
Okay, so, I went through the postwar sampler and have
settled for the moment on Elizabeth Bishop and Frank O’Hara. Both of them had
really clear, easy-to-understand diction and syntax. O’Hara, I felt, managed
the sound of the average person’s speech really well. He mastered the technique
of treating all subjects equally, writing about seemingly simple things and
experiences that really speak to the everyday person. Bishop—wait, let me back
up a bit. We talked in class about how Modernism, since it fell during and
after WWI, was concerned with how to react to or make sense of the stupidity of
war. It seems to me like that could be extended to how to react to
senselessness in general (like, we mentioned that “things fall apart” was the
theme of Modernism). Bishop, I think, totally has that vibe down. All of the
poems we read by her reminded me of reacting to the senselessness of war—and
other things as well. Also, her use of form felt totally modern to me, in that
it was very traditional but she still used it to experiment and write about
modern issues.
I really liked both of them, actually. I might write more
about them later.
