Contemporary American Poetry, Essay Example

Multiple Voices; Shared Identities: Defining Contemporary American Poetry

The exercise of describing poetry can be daunting, or in some cases even impossible. While there are rules, traditions, and precedents regarding poetry, there are as many examples of such rules being broken and precedents being ignored as there are examples of them being followed. In the neon-sculpture work entitled “No Number #6,” artists Joseph Kosuth spells out the sentence “I am only describing language, not explaining anything.” Kosuth’s piece functions both as sculpture and as poetry, with a contemporary, self-referential twist. The brief declaration serves as an explanation of Kosuth’s intentions, while at the same time asserting that the artist is not explaining anything. This sculpture provides a concise example of how powerful poetry can be, as it conveys message and meaning without confining either, and allows the viewer (or, as the case may be, the reader) to define such meanings for him- or herself. Contemporary American poetry is rooted in uniquely American traditions of casting off rigidity and rules in some cases while embracing and celebrating them in others. While it would be impossible to describe the entirety of contemporary American poetry in a brief paper –or in a document of any length- it may be possible to offer a personal account of how I read, understand, and derive meaning from such poetry.

The full scope of what constitutes contemporary American poetry is far too broad to begin to address here, but there are some aspects to American poetry in general and contemporary American poetry in particular that are commonly applicable in a great many cases. Perhaps the most fundamental characteristic of American poetry is that it has and does notably break with many of the traditions that preceded it. The traditions of European poetry, and European culture in general, were transplanted to early America as Europeans flocked here by the tens of thousands to establish and cultivate the colonies and plantations on which the country was built. As these transplanted traditions took root in America they took on new forms and shapes, and eventually gave rise to uniquely and distinctly American cultural components. It was from this transplantation of European ideas and ideals in American cultural soil that American poetry was born.

The 20^th century has long been considered a particularly fruitful and vital period for American poetry, and there is no question that many notable poets of the 20^th century created works that have not only withstood the test of time, but also influenced generations of poets and poems to come. Many of the works of these poets are characterized by the way that the traditional rigidity of earlier poetic forms was discarded for new forms. As poetry evolved in America in the 20^th century, it often abandoned the more overtly literal or specific shapes of earlier approaches for more symbolic and free-form structures. The words and structures of such poetry were often used to convey images or to create emotional resonance, allowing both form and function to work together. American poetry also allowed contemporary poets to address themes that were singularly American, and to reflect in some ways what it meant to be an American.

One of the fundamental characteristics of America is that it is a “melting pot” of different cultural and historical traditions.  The traditions of European immigrants formed the basis of many aspects of American culture, as did the traditions of the hundreds of thousands of African slaves that were brought here during the slave trade. These traditions have given rise to a catalog of American poetry that is incredibly diverse, and that reflects the voices of a wide range of different types of people. Poets whose works are rooted in European traditions have used their skills to write works that are often markedly different from the works of African American poets, for example, yet such works are all a part of the larger body of American poetry. It is this diversity of traditions and approaches to writing poetry that best defines what the term “American poetry” means. There is no one single style of American poetry, yet there is a common thread of individuality and self-possession running through the entire body of American poetry.

While no one style of poetry, nor one single poet, can be said to define American poetry, there are some works and some poets who unquestionably stand out. Among the most notable American poets is Walt Whitman, whose collection Leaves of Grass serves as a quintessentially American work of literature. Whitman wrote in the 19^th century, in a period where America was making the transition from its early developmental stages into one of the world’s most powerful nations. Whitman’s contributions to the world of poetry were also contributions to the American culture, and he helped to give a voice to the shared national identity of Americans. While Whitman certainly did not, and could not speak for every American, his voice as heard in his poems was one that could only have been born and bred in the still-young nation. Further, his contributions to poetry would go on to influence other poets of his time as well as poets of the following century and beyond. Whitman may have had little in common with a contemporary poet such as Maya Angelou, for example, but there is common ground for both poets in the shared experience of being American.

Maya Angelou serves as a prime example of how contemporary American poetry can serve as a platform for contemporary, current ideas while also reflecting historical literary and cultural traditions that are deeply rooted in America’s past. Angelou has been writing poetry for decades, and she was a notable voice in the American Civil Rights movement. Angelou’s poetry in that time reflected ideas and emotions that were directly tied to quite urgent contemporary issues; at the same time, her works called to mind the oral traditions brought to the Americas during the centuries when slavery was a major component of American social, cultural, and economic life. This demonstrates some of what makes American poetry unique, as it weaves together threads from a variety of literary traditions and addresses issues and ideas that are specific to the nation’s culture. Angelou has been incredibly prolific, and it would be impossible to identify any single work as being her best or her most important, but there are myriad examples of her work that typify the idea of contemporary American poetry.  In the lines “the caged bird sings of freedom” Angelou neatly sums up not just the plight of African Americans in American history, but the nature of oppression itself.

Robert Frost is another of America’s most notable poets, and like Whitman and Angelou, Frost uses his poetry to express ideas that are innately American. In “The Road Not Taken” Frost describes taking “the road less traveled;” this could serve as an apt metaphor for the ideals of individualism and opportunity that have long embodied the American Dream.  While Frost, Whitman, Angelou, and other members of the American pantheon of poets have made enormous contributions to the world of American poetry, there are countless other poets and poems that are equally important, if less well-known. Contemporary American poetry is not just found in textbooks and anthologies; it can also be found woven through American popular culture. The lyrics of songwriters such as Bob Dylan resonated through the lives of young people during the 1960s, giving a voice to those who protested the status quo of American politics and culture. The lyrics of rappers and hiphop artists have functioned as a form of street poetry, reflecting the lives and experiences of people who were otherwise shut out from being heard. This, then, is the critical, fundamental component of contemporary American poetry: it gives a voice to the shared identities as well as the individual struggles of the nation’s diverse population, allowing us all to better understand each other and ourselves.

Works Cited

Kosuth, Joseph. “No Number #6.” (1991). Retrieved from: http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88v/

Angelou, Maya. (1994). The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou.” Random House, New York, NY.