<description>Sylvia Plath’s “Mad Girl’s Love Song” is the poem under analysis in this episode, another villanelle but one almost as far in tone and mood, emotion and understanding, as last episode’s “One Art” by Elizabeth Bishop. Bishop’s poem is referenced in juxtaposition with Plath’s as we look at erotic fascination, the illusion of self and other, and other concepts, literary and emotional.

“Mad Girl’s Love Song” may be found here – https://allpoetry.com/Mad-Girl%27s-Love-Song – at AllPoetry.com.

Video Playlist for this episode available on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsCSOhPVsdBHWpy2I_O2TUA/</description>

Sylvia Plath’s “Mad Girl’s Love Song” is the poem…

Sylvia Plath’s “Mad Girl’s Love Song” is the poem under analysis in this episode, another villanelle but one almost as far in tone and mood, emotion and understanding, as last episode’s “One Art” by Elizabeth Bishop. Bishop’s poem is referenced in juxtaposition with Plath’s as we look at erotic fascination, the illusion of self and other, and other concepts, literary and emotional.

“Mad Girl’s Love Song” may be found here – https://allpoetry.com/Mad-Girl%27s-Love-Song – at AllPoetry.com.

Video Playlist for this episode available on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsCSOhPVsdBHWpy2I_O2TUA/

Poetry Up Close

Ep. 3 - Plath's "Song"

<description>Today’s poem is Elizabeth Bishop’s villanelle “One Art” from her The Complete Poems 1927-1979. In this episode, I discuss the form of the villanelle, give a basic lesson on meter and the iambic foot, and then line-read key areas of the poem in the style of the New Criticism.

“One Art” may be found here — https://poets.org/poem/one-art — on the website of the Academy of American Poets.

For a visual breakdown of the villanelle form, take a look at this from The Yellin Center: http://blog.yellincenter.com/2013/04/national-poetry-month-villanelle.html

Video Playlist for this episode available on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsCSOhPVsdBHWpy2I_O2TUA/</description>

Today’s poem is Elizabeth Bishop’s villanelle “On…

Today’s poem is Elizabeth Bishop’s villanelle “One Art” from her The Complete Poems 1927-1979. In this episode, I discuss the form of the villanelle, give a basic lesson on meter and the iambic foot, and then line-read key areas of the poem in the style of the New Criticism.

“One Art” may be found here — https://poets.org/poem/one-art — on the website of the Academy of American Poets.

For a visual breakdown of the villanelle form, take a look at this from The Yellin Center: http://blog.yellincenter.com/2013/04/national-poetry-month-villanelle.html

Video Playlist for this episode available on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsCSOhPVsdBHWpy2I_O2TUA/

Ep. 2 - Bishop's "Art"

<description>In this introductory episode, I discuss the purpose and direction of POETRY UP CLOSE — simply put, to “close read” modern poetry in the New Critical style to help listeners gain a more meaningful purchase on a given poem. Also, I provide a brief background on what ‘New Criticism’ is, as well as some thoughts concerning the AP English Literature &amp; Composition exam and its relation to this style of criticism.


Show Notes available on our website: https://poetryupclose.wordpress.com


Suggested Reading on the New Criticism:

Brooks, Cleanth. The Well Wrought Urn. Norfolk: New Directions, 1941.

Brooks, Cleanth, and Robert Penn Warren. Understanding Poetry. New York: Holt, 1938.

Empson, William. Seven Types of Ambiguity. 2nd ed. London: Chatto and Windus, 1947.

Graff, Gerald, Professing Literature, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1987.

Ransom, John Crowe. The New Criticism. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1947.

Richards, I. A. Practical Criticism. 1929. Reprint, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1964.

Wellek, René. A History of Modern Criticism, 1750–1950. Volume 6: American Criticism, 1900–1950. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988.

Wimsatt, W. K., Jr., and Monroe C. Beardsley. "The Intentional Fallacy." In The Verbal Icon. Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1954.</description>

In this introductory episode, I discuss the purpo…

In this introductory episode, I discuss the purpose and direction of POETRY UP CLOSE — simply put, to “close read” modern poetry in the New Critical style to help listeners gain a more meaningful purchase on a given poem. Also, I provide a brief background on what ‘New Criticism’ is, as well as some thoughts concerning the AP English Literature & Composition exam and its relation to this style of criticism.


Show Notes available on our website: https://poetryupclose.wordpress.com


Suggested Reading on the New Criticism:

Brooks, Cleanth. The Well Wrought Urn. Norfolk: New Directions, 1941.

Brooks, Cleanth, and Robert Penn Warren. Understanding Poetry. New York: Holt, 1938.

Empson, William. Seven Types of Ambiguity. 2nd ed. London: Chatto and Windus, 1947.

Graff, Gerald, Professing Literature, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1987.

Ransom, John Crowe. The New Criticism. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1947.

Richards, I. A. Practical Criticism. 1929. Reprint, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1964.

Wellek, René. A History of Modern Criticism, 1750–1950. Volume 6: American Criticism, 1900–1950. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988.

Wimsatt, W. K., Jr., and Monroe C. Beardsley. "The Intentional Fallacy." In The Verbal Icon. Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1954.

Poetry Up Close

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