Poetic and Technical Concerns of American Poets

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses how each of the great current American poets has developed a distinct style that is reflected in their technical and poetic form. The paper briefly looks at and discusses the poetic and technical concerns of the following poets: Billy Collins, Donald Hall, Mary Oliver, Sharon Olds and Gary Soto. Included in the paper are quote examples from each of the poets' works to illustrate the differences in their style.

From the Paper:

"Billy Collins, an American Poet Laureate, has a form that uses a distinctly sarcastic and humorous tone. This form is evident in his poem "The Art of Drowning", where he states about life flashing before one's eyes as they drown, "But if something does flash before your eyes as you go under, it will probably be a fish, a quick blur of curved silver darting away, having nothing to do with your life or your death" (Qtd. in Khoury). Mazin Khoury states, "Collins uses simplistic stanzas to try to create images that pull the reader away from real life and draw them into his poetic creation" (Khoury). This use of imagery and sarcasm distinguishes Collins' style."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Hall, Donald. "Affirmation". Poets.org. March 29, 2007. <http: //www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/16269.
• Khoury, Mazin. "The Billy Collins Home Page". March 29, 2007. <http://project1.caryacademy.org/echoes/0304/Billy_Collins/Defaultcollins.htm.
• Lohmann, Jeanne. "Mary Oliver, EarthSaint". Earthlight.com. March 29, 2007. <http://www.earthlight.org/earthsaint28.html>.
• Poets.com. "Mary Oliver". March 29, 2007. <http://www.poets. org/poet.php/prmPID/265>.
• Santucci, Victoria. "Gary Soto: A Teacher Resource File." March 29, 2007. <http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/soto.htm>

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