many U.S. poets joined the efforts of anti-fascists during the Spanish Civil War, 1936-39

Thursday, October 21 - - communism vs. modernism?

• audio: Al Filreis describes the transition from the "high modernism" of the teens and twenties to the radical politics of the thirties, with examples from Isidor Schneider, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and William Carlos Williams, with readings from the poetry by Shawn Walker
• Filreis on the transition from aesthetic high modernism to political radicalism in the poetry of the 1920s and 1930s (same as above): mp3
• Edwin Rolfe, "Season of Death"
• Genevieve Taggard, "Interior"
• David Greenhood, "Bread Winners" (1935)
• Ruth Lechlitner, "Lines for an Abortionist's Office"
• overview of the Sacco & Vanzetti case
• Thomas Mann on the word and social responsibility in a time of fascism (1937)
• Max Eastman, "Modernist Poetry"
• Max Eastman's critique of Gertrude Stein, from his anti-modernist essay, "The Cult of Unintelligibility" (1935)
• Edna St. Vincent Millay, "Two Sonnets in Memory"
• William Carlos Williams, "Late for Summer Weather" (1935)
• Williams, "The Yachts" [text] [mp3 audio]
• Williams's commentaries on "The Yachts"
• poetic term: "terza rima"
• Carl Rakosi's comments his status as a communist poet
• Carl Rakosi, "Oh, Sestina" (text and recording of the poet explaining and reading the poem)
• Kenneth Fearing, "Green Light"
• George Hitchcock, "War" (1952)
• Bob Brown, one poem from his Gems (1931)
• Aaron Kramer, "The Death of President Roosevelt" (1945)
• paper option #8 Write this paper in response to the following hypothetical criticism: "Having read the leftist poets assigned for today, after several weeks of modernist experiment, I can understand why some people criticize the communist poets for being unsubtle or unsophisticated, too committed to denotation and realism, too straightforwardly narrative

  Sacco & Vanzetti

  and descriptive, and too didactic or sermonic. They don't tend to leave things open for the reader; they tend to close off meaning. They are also, generally, over-committed to traditional or pre-modern poetic forms. The substance of what they say may be radical, but they are formally conservative. They don't sufficiently draw on the significant epistemological advances made by the modernists when they--the modernists--rejected the easy sentiment of pre-modern writers." In your paper, state your position on this criticism. With which aspects do you agree or disagree? If you agree with some aspects and disagree with others, be sure nonetheless that your paper makes it clear whether you agree or disagree overall. (Don't hedge!) Note: The leftist poems meant in this question - those that either are or are not "formally conservative" - are these: Rolfe's "Season of Death," Taggard's "Interior," Lechlitner's "Lines...," Eastman's "Modernist Poetry," Millay's sonnets, Aaron Kramer's "Death of President Roosevelt," or David Greenwood's "Bread Winners." You don't need to use all of these poems in forming your response to the question; but these are the poems that best represent the aesthetic to which the question wants you to respond.