What is Poetry?

Eliot, in "Tradition and Individual Talent", argued that a poet must embody "the whole literature of Europe from Homer" to the present. His work fused past literary with his own.

The humorist Garrison Keillor once stated that Prufrock "killed off the pleasure of poetry for millions of people who got dragged through it in high school."

Here are some links for Prufrock:

http://www.usak.ca/english/prufrock/prustart.htm

This site has a hypertext for the allusions in the poem. You should review these allusions and see if understanding them increases your understanding of the poem for as Shelby points out in her blog Eliot believed in referencing other writers - "The best poets steal".

http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/a_f/eliot/prufrock.htm

Some critical views of the poem. These are interesting for both what they say and how they say it.

Today's assignments:

In class:

We will discuss your blog assignment.
We will read "What is Poetry" from your textbooks: Structure, Sound, and Sense (pages 717 - 736).
Notes on Imagery.

Homework:

Imagery - 771-774. Look at the poem "After Apple-Picking". Answer the questions 1-6 at the end of the poem, and then in your blog briefly discuss what you believe the poem is about and use images from the poem to back up your ideas.