Review:
Figurative language is the primary mode of poetry, language compressed and concentrated and made expressive and evocative through association. Figuration or tropes take different forms, as metaphor, personification, simile, symbol, synecdoche, metonymy, irony, hyperbole, pun. We find literal and figurative language is used to make imagery, the patterns of represented objects, feelings, and ideas we find in poems. We speak of literal and figurative language; the former expresses the ordinary sense or actual denotation of the word or words, and the latter expresses an unusual sense or use for expressive purposes, beauty, vividness, ect. So to call a woman a rose is a figurative use of the word rose (and to give her roses . . .), the two become identified by close association.
In the photograph above, which I found on the Internet, and I don't remember where, it appears someone has literally carved the "dream" of love and home into this woman's back. What does the image suggest figuratively? A tentative response: anguish, we bleed for these, for love, true connection, a happy and safe home. Inwardly and outwardly our thoughts and efforts, whoever we are, resonate with people the world over, however they identify–black, white, brown, yellow, gay, transgender, aged and ill, heterosexual, young, vibrantly healthy–what have you.
The image reminds of Allan Ginsberg and all the outcasts and rejects of society, including those who struggle for self-acceptance and inclusion and love and respect–or benign tolerance, at the least. Identity politics. The face and body we present, the voice we use, our sexuality, work, lifestyle– we make of ourselves what we can in the pure endeavor to fulfill what calls to us. Often our "differences" put us in conflict with others, and we suffer. Sometimes, too, a collective fight ensues and the culture must change to accommodate the "differences" inherent in people the world over, natural variations of race, color, creed, gender, sexuality, and age.
Today we start with Howl, and afterward, a little of one of its sources, Walt Whitman's long poem "Song of Myself." (http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/174745)
Having you watch the film Howl (starring James Franco in the role of the poet Allen Ginsberg, author of the poem “Howl”) I am interested in your response to the content of the poem and the film, the poet’s explanations of his work and why he wrote it, and the critical responses expressed during the trial scenes. If you owe a short response, or want to focus on Howl as a final project: In your own words, relate what the poem is about, what you thought of Ginsberg’s discussion of the work, and the opinions aired in court on the matter of its obscenity or no, its artistic merit, the advisability of censoring its publication, etcetera (350 words, short response).
Several links posted here may be useful:
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