Assignment #7 Regionalism, Naturalism and Imagism

!Local color or regional literature is fiction and poetry that focuses on the characters, dialect, cus-toms, topography, and other features particular to a specific region.

This style of writing became dominant in American Liter-ature between the Civil War and the end of the nineteenth century and was primarily influenced by Southwestern and ‘DownEast’ humor. !!According to the Oxford Companion to American Literature, !“In local-color literature one finds the dual influence of romanticism and realism, since the author frequently looks away from ordinary life to distant lands, strange customs, or exotic scenes, but retains through minute detail a sense of fidelity and accuracy of description”. !!

Characteristics of Regionalism !Setting: The emphasis is frequently on nature and the limitations it imposes while story settings are often remote and inaccessible. The setting is integral to the story and may sometimes become a character in itself. !Characters: Local color stories tend to be concerned with the character of the district or region rather than with the individual: characters may become character types, sometimes quaint or stereotypical. The characters are marked by their adherence to the old ways, by dialect, and by particular personality traits central to the region. In women's local color fiction, the heroines are often unmarried women or young girls. !Narrator: The narrator is typically an educated observer from the world beyond who learns something from the characters while preserving a sometimes sympathetic, sometimes ironic dis-tance from them. The narrator serves as mediator between the rural folk of the tale and the urban audience to whom the tale is directed. !Plots: It has been said that "nothing happens" in local color stories by women authors, and often very little does happen. Stories may include lots of storytelling and revolve around the communi-ty and its rituals. !Themes: Many local color stories share an antipathy to change and a certain degree of nostalgia for an always-past golden age. A celebration of community and acceptance in the face of adversi-ty characterizes women's local color fiction. Thematic tension or conflict between urban ways and old-fashioned rural values is often symbolized by the intrusion of an outsider or interloper who seeks something from the community.’ !Techniques: Use of dialect to establish credibility and authenticity of regional characters and utilization of detailed description, especially of small, seemingly insignificant details central to an understanding of the region. !Most notable authors of Regionalism include: Willa Cather Kate Chopin William Faulkner Bret Harte Sarah Orne Jewett Howard P. Lovecraft Flannery O’Conner Annie Proulx John Steinbeck Harriet Beecher Stowe Mark Twain Eudora Welty Edith Wharton

!Naturalism (1890 - 1915): By the end of the nineteenth century, Realism had given way to a literary form called Naturalism. !http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americannovel/timeline/naturalism.html ‘Considered to be a logical extension of Realism, the term was invented by Emile Zola partially because he was seeking for a striking platform from which to con-vince the reading public that it was getting something new and modern in his fic-

tion. The roots of Naturalism are more scientific in ba-sis— where Natural selection and survival of the fittest depict the struggle against nature as a hopeless fight.’ Like scientists, Naturalists observe before they write, applying scientific principles of objectivity and de-tachment to their characters. While Realism focuses on literary technique, naturalism implies a philosophi-cal position—tending to address the darker side of nature. Characteristics of Naturalism: • Objective • Darwinistic--survival of the fittest • Detached method of narration • Formal in language • Human beings unable to stand up against enormous weight of circumstances.

• Deterministic--natural and socioeconomic forces stronger than man. • Heredity determines character • Violence--force against force • Taboo topics • Animal imagery • Attention to setting to the point of saturation • Characters are of lower socioeconomic class with no free will • Static characters • Although characters are conditioned or controlled by environment, heredity,

instinct or chance they have a compensating humanistic value that affirms the significance of the individual

!Themes: "The conflict in naturalistic novels is often 'man against nature' or 'man against himself' as characters struggle to retain a 'veneer of civilization' despite external pressures that threaten to release the 'brute within.'” !A Few of the More Notable Naturalists !Jack London Frank Norris Stephen Crane Theodore Dreiser Edith Waitron Ellen Glasgow John Steinbeck Richard Wright Emile Zola !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Imagism (1912-1917) was a movement in early 20th-century Anglo-American poetry that favored precision of imagery and clear, sharp language. As a poetic style it gave Modernism its start in the early 20th century,and is considered to be the first organized Modernist literary movement in the English language. The imagists wrote succinct clear verse, creating an ‘image’ of a poetic statement. The birth of Imagist poetry is often associated with England, specifically the London area, and is largely attributed to the meeting of poet Hilda Doolittle and writer and editor Ezra Pound. Pound read a poem by Doolittle, provided some critique, and then passed it along for publication with the poet’s name changed to “H.D. Imagiste,” from which the movement takes its name. !!!Although the Imagist poetry movement was short-lived, poets have continued to be in-fluenced by the works of the Imagists. This includes the works of Doolit-tle, as well as poets Amy Lowell and William Carlos Williams. Poets who followed the Imagist poetry movement, such as T.S. Eliot, e.e. Cummings, and Allen Ginsberg.’ !!!!!!!!!

Activities for Assignment #7 !1. a. Read any short story by H.P. Lovecraft at !http://www.dagonbytes.com/thelibrary/lovecraft/ !b. Listen to audio selections here if you choose: http://www.openculture.com/2014/10/h-p-lovecrafts-classic-horror-sto-ries-free-online.html !c. Read this article about Lovecraft http://airshipdaily.com/blog/10202014-m-r-james !!2. a. Read ‘A Worn Path’ by Eudora Welty. !http://xroads.virginia.edu/~drbr/ew_path.html !b. Read more about Eudora Welty !http://eudorawelty.org/ !!3. Read Stephen Crane’s ‘The Open Boat’ !http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/45524 !!4. a. Listen to Steinbeck reading 2 of his short stories. !http://www.openculture.com/2013/03/listen_to_john_steinbeck_read_t-wo_short_stories_the_snake_and_johnny_bear.html !b. Read a little about Steinbeck’s Life http://www.biography.com/people/john-steinbeck-9493358#early-career

!!5. After reading Ezra’s Pounds List of a few ‘Don’ts’ http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/article/335, and the examples of imagistic poetic selections below, write a poem of your own in the style of Imagism. !!Guidelines for Writing your Imagism piece of Poetry: !Write a poem in which you focus on creating a single vivid and emotive image. Imagine that you are writing your poem for someone who has never seen what you are describing. Look around until you find an im-age that has symbolic meaning. It may be a flower, the heat, the eyeball of the person sitting across from you, a squirrel…whatever grabs your attention as an evocative image. !Develop the symbolism by creating a list of sensory details about the image you choose: !sight __________________________________________________________ !sound __________________________________________________________ !taste __________________________________________________________ !touch __________________________________________________________ !smell __________________________________________________________ !

Draw inspiration from your list (above) and add any other details that come to mind as create a poem that presents an ‘instant of time’. Remember, the purpose of this type of poetry is to challenge con-formity and fixed beliefs. !*Also include an original illustration or design that helps to convey the meaning of your poem.

Poetry Selections !In a Station of the Metro Ezra Pound, 1885 - 1972 !The apparition of these faces in the crowd; Petals on a wet, black bough.

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anyone lived in a pretty how town e. e. Cummings !anyone lived in a pretty how town (with up so floating many bells down) spring summer autumn winter he sang his didn't he danced his did !Women and men(both little and small) cared for anyone not at all they sowed their isn't they reaped their same sun moon stars rain !children guessed(but only a few and down they forgot as up they grew autumn winter spring summer) that noone loved him more by more !when by now and tree by leaf she laughed his joy she cried his grief bird by snow and stir by still anyone's any was all to her !someones married their everyones laughed their cryings and did their dance ( sleep wake hope and then)they said their nevers they slept their dream !stars rain sun moon (and only the snow can begin to explain how children are apt to forget to remember with up so floating many bells down) !one day anyone died i guess (and noone stooped to kiss his face) busy folk buried them side by side little by little and was by was !all by all and deep by deep and more by more they dream their sleep noone and anyone earth by april wish by spirit and if by yes. !Women and men(both dong and ding) summer autumn winter spring reaped their sowing and went their came sun moon stars rain !!!!

![i carry your heart with me(i carry it in] e. e. cummings !i carry your heart with me(i carry it in my heart)i am never without it(anywhere i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done by only me is your doing,my darling) i fear no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true) and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant and whatever a sun will always sing is you !here is the deepest secret nobody knows (here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows higher than soul can hope or mind can hide) and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart !i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart) !!!!

!Fog Carl Sandburg !The fog comes on little cat feet. !It sits looking over harbor and city on silent haunches and then moves on. !!!!

The Red Wheelbarrow William Carlos Williams !so much depends upon a red wheelbarrow glazed with rain water beside the white chickens. !!!!

This Is Just To Say William Carlos Williams !I have eaten the plums that were in the icebox and which you were probably saving for breakfast Forgive methey were delicious so sweetand so cold !!!!

Pear Tree H. D. !Silver dust lifted from the earth, higher than my arms reach, you have mounted. O silver, higher than my arms reach you front us with great mass; no flower ever opened so staunch a white leaf, no flower ever parted silver from such rare silver; O white pear, your flower-tufts, thick on the branch, bring summer and ripe fruits in their purple hearts. !!!!

Heat H. D. !O wind, rend open the heat, cut apart the heat, rend it to tatters. Fruit cannot drop through this thick air-- fruit cannot fall into heat that presses up and blunts the points of pears and rounds the grapes. Cut the heat-- plough through it, turning it on either side of your path. !!!

Hysteria T. S. Eliot !As she laughed I was aware of be-coming involved in her laughter and being part of it, until her teeth were only accidental stars with a talent for squad-drill. I was drawn in by short gasps, inhaled at each momentary recovery, lost finally in the dark caverns of her throat, bruised by the ripple of unseen muscles. An elderly waiter with trembling hands was hurriedly spreading a pink and white checked cloth over the rusty green iron table, saying: "If the lady and gentleman wish to take their tea in the garden, if the lady and gentleman wish to take their tea in the garden ..." I decided that if the shaking of her breasts could be stopped, some of the fragments of the afternoon might be collected, and I concentrated my attention with careful subtlety to this end. !!!

A Fixed Idea Amy Lowell !What torture lurks within a single thought When grown too constant, and however kind, However welcome still, the weary mind Aches with its presence. Dull remembrance taught Remembers on unceasingly; unsought The old delight is with us but to find That all recurring joy is pain refined, Become a habit, and we struggle, caught. You lie upon my heart as on a nest, Folded in peace, for you can never know How crushed I am with having you at rest Heavy upon my life. I love you so You bind my freedom from its rightful quest. In mercy lift your drooping wings and go. !