Source #3 - Postmodernist Poetry
- Big Nerd
- Apr 3, 2020
- 3 min read
Updated: May 6
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As you Read/View each iconic work of Postmodernism lyrical poetry, consider these points:
1. Intertextuality/Pastiche - Look at how the work draws from established literary traditions and tropes, "samples" them - mocks them in both a literal and figurative sense.
2. Metafiction/Poioumena - Find the different ways the artist/author turns the camera back onto hirself, becoming part of the narrative zhe tells. At what point does zhe blur the lines between artist and audience, between creator and consumer?
3. Fabulism/Magical Realism - Recognize where the artist/author creates an ecosystem that is uncomfortably uncanny, magical, yet utterly photo-realistic.
4. Minimalism v. Maximalism - Find examples of the stripped down aesthetic of Postmodernist art and literature, then compare it to the sometimes baroque overindulgence of late-stage capitalism.
5. Other Components of Postmodernism from our KF - It's your choice!
AJ Vickers - "Texas Heat" (6 pts possible)
Naomi Shihab Nye, "Making a Fist" (6 pts possible)
Sun Yung Shin, "Abecedarian" (7 pts possible)
Miroslav Holub "Polonius" (8 pts possible)
e.e. cummings - "[i carry your heart with me(i carry it in]" (9 pts possible)
RHannon, "I Cannot be Bothered" (9 pts possible)
Robert Hayden "Witch Doctor" (10 pts possible)
1. Use your digital alias to post in the comments below.
2. Identify which poem you intend write about. Comment on one or more of the Postmodernist elements above. Identify yourself by your alias, identify the text or detail you intend to discuss, then offer your comment.
3. Add your reaction to the work, including applications of the messages to your own experience (do not be too specific if it is a personal anecdote - again, privacy) other works that this reminds you of (use hyperlinks here), and how they compare/contrast.
4. Include in your reactions:
embedded videos
headings & subheadings
GIFs/images
You'll get to use your responses to these works and other Nerdy comments in the forum for your Final Exam.
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Check out this model comment from Ima Nerd about a Postmodernist poem.
(This poem is not one of your selections. It's for modeling purposes only.)
IMANERD7
COMMENT #3 - POSTMODERNIST POETRY
**MODEL RESPONSE**
Randall Jarrell, "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner"
Summary
When I first read the poem, "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner," by Randall Jarrell, I had a lot of questions. I asked, "What's a ball turret?" "What's flak, exactly?" "Fur?" and proceeded to look up background information. Here's some of what I found.
This is a ball turret, with a gunner inside:
(Photo: SilverWings)
Maximalism
It's like a barnacle or a pregnant belly underneath a fighter plane. They were used a bunch in WWII, and these gunners had really high mortality rates.
One of the reasons for the high mortality rate was because the ball turrets were tempting targets for the enemy - easy pickin's, the gunner hanging right there separated only by a little plexi-glass. Wikipedia describes the ball turret gunner as "forced to assume a fetal position within the turret with his back and head against the rear wall, his hips at the bottom...legs held in mid-air by footrests" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball_turret).
OK, that sounds like a cross between a fetus and a mother giving birth on a hospital bed.
Another reason being a gunner was so deadly is because when planes had to ditch without landing gear (often) the gunner attached to the belly had nowhere to go. The gunner was ground to death as the plane slid to a stop. (Wikipedia). Gruesome.
Intertextuality
So, when I reread Jarrell's poem where the gunner describes himself as "in his mother's sleep" like in a womb, awakening to "black flak and the nightmare fighters" only to be "washed...out of the turret with a hose," it sounds like the poem is describing an abortion.
Is that what Jarrell is getting at here? An old-fashioned way of saying this is that these soldiers, practically babies at 18 years old, were "cannon fodder." Materiel to be used, aborted, and discarded by the state. Is it commentary on countries who sacrifice the poor, oppressed, and vulnerable on the altar of war? It reminded me of two *more* recent works on this topic; yes, the bands were back in the day. The first one is System of a Down's song, "B.Y.O.B." [Content Note: Use of Expletives]
The second is A Perfect Circle's song, "Pet" or "Counting Bodies Like Sheep." [Content Note: Use of Expletives; Political Imagery]
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