Rita Dove Poetry

Out of four authors, T.S. Elliot, Robert penn Warren, Rita Dove, and Allen Ginsberg, the voices of the poets are very distinct and different from each other. I feel that all of their influences in life influences their art. Naturally, everyone's life view affects everything they do. It's interesting to see how life's events and people's interests influences what they write. T.S. Eillot, for example, seems to want people to think about their raison detre. The feeling I get when I read T.S. Elliot's poetry is that the wants people to use their brains and think about things, to learn constantly. When I read " The Hollow Men," a part of me wanted to prove him wrong, that I am not going to end my life with a whimper, but a bang. Perhaps this was the effect he was looking for.
Rita Dove's poem, "Parsley," had political influences and was inspired by the massacre in the Dominican Republic that occurred because some people could not pronounce the letter "1" in the Spanish word for parsley.
I feel that poetry has often been a vehicle for political statements, and could be an important way for society to examine and express social injustices. It shows that poetry can not only be art one can appreciate and relate with, but it can also inform, make people curious about a time in history that you might not have known before reading the poem. I get the same sense when I read Robert Penn Warren's works. His poetry sets you back in time and helps you feel what it's like to live down south. I especially appreciated the southern influence in "American portrait: Old Style." However, I found "Bearded Oaks" to be a different reading experience, which shows the artist's versatility. One moment, he's telling us about childhood and alluding to the Civil War, and the next he's dwelling upon death and human being's interconnectedness. I can see why the poet won so many
awards. Allen Ginsberg's voice is a far throw from the traditional. While each of the poets have made their mark in poetry and did something different than what was being done in their time, Allen Ginsberg breaks all the molds and applies a stream of consciousness type of style to his writing. I found it interesting that because he spoke about gay sex, he was brought up on obscenity charges. One can plainly see the influences of the problems he was witnessing in his life (drug addiction and mental illness), and it affected the tone, pace, and style of his poetry. Robert Lowell actually did suffer from a mental illness - manic depression - and this influenced the content of his works. He wrote about his marital problems, and his worries about his illness. His poetry has a confessional style to it, which is part of his poetry's appeal. It's like we're getting an inside view to his thoughts, which is what i really enjoy about Robert Lowell's works. I happen to enjoy T.S. Elliot's work, because his poetry keeps you on your toes. I think he really captures the imagination and makes you think with his style. I appreciate how he takes a feeling, like fear of death and dying, and you can feel this throughout the poem, but also you can picture it with some of the absurdity he throws in, like running circles around the prickly pear. He does not state the word gasp, but you know from the way the poem is worded that the person is gasping for his last breath. I really enjoy this aspect of T.S. Elliot's talent.