athena’s web
the journal of the college of arts and sciences
Spring/Summer 2017
NON-DISCRIMINATION POLICY: Athens State University, as an equal opportunity/affirmative action institution, complies with all applicable federal and state laws regarding non-discrimination and affirmative action. Athens State University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, disability, religion, genetic information, or veteran status in employment or admissions to, or participation in educational programs or activities.
athena’s web
journal of the college of arts and sciences EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Dr. Bebe Gish Shaw
EDITOR
Brittany Aldridge ASSISTANT EDITOR
John Ramey
Athena’s Web is an academic journal dedicated to publishing outstanding student work in the arts and sciences. The journal is sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences of Athens State University. Arts and Sciences students (including secondary education majors) are encouraged to submit academic and creative work to the editors for consideration. Views and creative content are reflective only of our contributors. Athens State University and the College of Arts and Sciences bear no responsibility for the content of authors’ works. Athena's Web does not hold any rights of works published in the journal. All rights revert to the author or artist upon publication. However, Athena's Web should be listed as a previous publisher if any works are republished.
····················································································· Cover page art by 29384CF2934792384BV12 Masthead art by Tracy Szappan. Typeface is Garamond. Archives of all issues can be found on the appropriate page of the journal's website. The website also contains the submission guidelines, submission procedures, and information on all contests or events sponsored by the journal. Athena's Web is published once per semester, excluding Summer. Submission deadlines for each semester can be found on the homepage of the journal's website. While primarily an online publication, print copies of the journal can be ordered through the Editor's office. Athena's Web is a free and open publication. As such, we do not charge for copies of the journal, but a small printing fee will be charged by the Office of Printing at Athens State University which must be paid upon order.
The Editors Founders Hall Room 350 300 N. Beaty Street Athens, AL 35611 Athenas.Web@athens.edu
athena’s web
volume 5.1
Spring/Summer 2017
art Clarence Silverbells Pink Flower Rainbow Deep in Thought Still-life with Ceramic Fruit Kayak Totems Water’s Healer
Brittany Aldridge Lauren Reynolds Lauren Reynolds Rebecca Kelton Rebecca Kelton Michelle Crawford Michelle Crawford Michelle Crawford
7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
Brittany Aldridge John Ramey John Ramey John Ramey Dillon Brodt Dillon Brodt Courtney Hooper Courtney Hooper Courtney Hooper Jeffrey Johns
15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33
Hanah Sims
36
Hanah Sims
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Katie Klein
48
Kaitlin Weaver
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creative writing Pawpaw Shield Exuviae A Call to Southern Conference As I Sat Down to Work with Bytes And May Your Skies Be Bright The Accolade oceansidepiece words. My Father’s Song
academic essays
The Portrayal of Nature in Selected Poems of Robert Frost Young Adult Literature: Connecting Adolescents to the Past and Present Poets Study: Robert Browning and Rita Dove Langston Hughes
News and Announcements Now Accepting Submissions Submissions are currently open for the Fall 2017 issue and will be accepted through the Friday before finals. Submissions received after the deadline will be considered for the following semester’s issue. Athena’s Web welcomes a wide range of submissions including research and analysis papers, case studies, short stories, essays, poems, photographs and photo essays, artwork, novel excerpts, short plays, and more. Cover Contest Athena’s Web hosts a cover design contest each semester. Winners are chosen from the pool of artwork submissions received that semester. The winning artist will be credited on the Information page and will be listed as a contributor. Facebook Athena’s Web is now on Facebook. Be sure to follow our page for updates and information. www.facebook.com/athenaswebjournal Special Thanks Athena’s Web would like to thank Dr. Kevin Dupre for recommending the most academic work for publication in the Spring/Summer 2017 issue. His efforts and continued support are greatly appreciated.
Clarence Silverbells
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Spring/Summer 2017 Brittany Aldridge
Pink Flower
Lauren Reynolds
Rainbow
Lauren Reynolds
Deep in Thought
Rebecca Kelton
Still-life with Ceramic Fruit
Rebecca Kelton
Kayak
Michelle Crawford
Totems
Michelle Crawford
Water’s Healer
Michelle Crawford
Brittany Aldridge
Pawpaw You sang me Johnny Cash songs when I was a little girl, but you would color them with the bold orange pencil of your words, and they became your songs. When I was older, you would let me ride the lawn mower all around the yard —it was our little secret— orange hidden in my grey matter. And later, you let me feed you dinner when you could not feed yourself. I spilt the soup on your blanket— a blot of orange on grey cloth. And just before I left, I told you I loved you so much and you smiled —bright hues on muted shades— and said you would see me tomorrow. Then tomorrow came, and your smile went away —just grey on grey on grey— and Johnny Cash doesn’t sing the damn songs right.
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Shield
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John Ramey
Shield
As a child, I saw my mother Heat a spoon to take a spin. Her head reflects, bent in the glass of the needle filled with blood—pushed back in. There in the shield her expression turned cold, and her sheath of a vein turned to stone.
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Exuviae
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John Ramey
Exuviae
The trees are just coat hangers for the cicadas, you see. How can I melt within a candy-hard shell? And leave me skin too when it won’t come unglued. The cicadas on the tree sure do like to sing about their bodies becoming nothing. I've heard that it takes seven days to build the world and to decay.
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A Call to Southern Conference
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John Ramey
A Call to Southern Conference
How do you burn something that is wet? Is it alcohol that was swapped on our tongues as we rubbed vodka on rum? Those spirits of tomorrow lost forever on the ground—splintered off where it dripped from our mouths. No, it did not make a sound as it came righteously and my socks are soaked in the bathroom floor below us. I hear them talk about my accent in the other room. I hear your mother walking in too soon. And then? I wipe my mouth on the pillow where I slept. This is how you burn something that is wet.
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As I Sat Down to Work with Bytes
Dillon Brodt
Dillon Brodt
As I Sat Down to Work with Bytes
As I sat down to work with bytes, I found my connection was on the fritz. I knew this happened in days of yore, But this was the year 2144. As I contacted the Church of the Net, I knew I was right to sweat and fret; for my quota was down and I hadn’t been watching my advertisements, I knew without a plan I’d be sentenced to confinement. While on the phone with a man of God He told me not to poke and prod. For my computer had been rigged with explosives To protect me if I came out of my hypnosis. I knew I was at risk because the thought of escape Was creeping in my mind, so I put on the calming tape. As I sat and drooled over the pretty colors The men in black suits arrived, my only lovers. They fiddled up there and with a sigh of relief, They removed the right thing, now I no longer feel grief. As they finished their work and filled me with potions I thought how far we’ve come, to live without emotions. Yes, they’re gone and I’ll never shed a tear, But no matter what they’ll always leave fear.
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And May Your Skies Be Bright
Dillon Brodt
Dillon Brodt
And May Your Skies Be Bright
And may your skies be bright May the helium take you far Yes, the string was tied tight But now escape from the czar The lands filled with strife Our baskets are all empty The men in the tower love red So at you their guns won’t empty You’ve been told you were a ball That if you weren’t careful you’d pop Yes, the latter is true But you believed that you’d drop So the anchor was cut Who knows how who knows why Who cares what’s down there All you do now is fly
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The Accolade
Courtney Hooper
Courtney Hooper
The Accolade
i’m the queen of the piece-of-shits with unlimited potential. they line in my court, mostly bummy musicians with their shitty guitars and voices smooth as silk. some wear glasses, books tucked under their arms, Nietzche’s rambling about the death of god. others conceal lighters in their fanny packs along with keys to old subarus with kayaks on top, and a stash of grass. i knight them in parades— the gentlemen of the modern age.
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oceansidepiece
Courtney Hooper
Courtney Hooper
oceansidepiece
she turned her ocean eyes to bear into mine. i could feel the waves crash around. sure, i know the difference between her and me— Neptune to a jellyfish. still, she holds me like the god of the sea. her seasalt skin, rubbed free of impurities. her sunbleached hair and watertanned chest, they tower over me. she towers over me— her infinite stare, the turbulent crests. i know i’ll be caught in the undertow.
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v
words.
Courtney Hooper
Courtney Hooper
words.
sink beneath my typeface. the words were never my own, but something you thrust into me the night you took me home. maybe i found some meaning hidden underneath mountains of blue sweaters in your closet floor... but wait, the sentence escaped. you drew my hand to your lips and whispered something within, something without, something i could not pronounce. i can only speak on paper, but it is your fingertips that move.
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My Father’s Song
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Jeffrey Johns
My Father’s Song
Wanting to say things... I miss my father tonight. His voice, the slight catch, the depth from his thin chest, the tremble of emotion in something he has just said to his son, his song: “My Father’s Song” by Simon J. Ortiz “We planted corn one Spring at Acu we planted several times But this one particular time I remember the soft damp sand in my hand. My father had stopped at one point to show me an overturned furrow; the plowshare had unearthed the burrow nest of a mouse in the soft moist sand. Very gently, he scooped tiny pink animals into the palm of his hand and told me to touch them. We took them to the edge of the field and put them in the shade of a sand moist clod. I remember the very softness of cool and warm sand and tiny alive mice and my father saying things...” When I pause to think of my favorite poetry, I often think of Wordsworth’s “Daffodils,” T.S. Elliot’s “Wasteland” and most anything by Dickinson; however, one of my favorite poems is “My Father’s Song” by Simon J. Ortiz. Ortiz is an indigenous American from the Pueblo of Acoma, New Mexico. He is a professor at the University of Arizona, Tempe, a prodigious poet. He penned this ode to his father in the mid-1970’s. I first read this piece as part of an introductory literature course a few years ago. In delineating the poem’s content, I was struck by waves of emotion: nostalgia, winsome longing, and, just as the author said, I was missing my father. My father, a son of a tenet farmer, lived 59 years until leukemia claimed his life in 1986. He farmed most of his life—save a few years spent as a factory worker and two years in the Air Force. He was a hold-over from a bygone era, when farmers employed beast power to till the soil. Our immaculate vegetable gardens (two plots that
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Placeholder
My Father’s Song
totaled over an acre) were worked by horse, just as he had plowed all of his life. In my adolescent and teenage years, he owned two plow horses: first, a mare… a tall magnificently muscled, reddish-brown quarter horse—a beautiful animal who unfortunately was just too much animal for our needs. He sold her and bought a Welsh pony. The guilding was not a tall horse but he was stout and broad…barrel chested and powerful. My brother and I would catch this horse out of the pasture (often a task unto itself) and we would put the work accoutrement on him: bridle, collar, hames, belly band, trace chains and reigns. The trace chains hooked to the single tree, which hooked to the plow via the clevis. Depending on the job to be done, dad would use the harrow, the cultivator, the scratcher, middle buster, planter, or turning plow. It was the turning plow that was brought to mind by Ortiz’s poem: “We planted corn one Spring at Acu we planted several times But this one particular time I remember the soft damp sand in my hand.” Dad’s single point turning plow cut through the earth like a knife, the Welch steed snorting with great huffs like a steam bursting forth from an ancient locomotive. His head stayed down, concentrating on the commands of man behind him. His hooves dug into the grassy turf, the chains jingled in cadence, and my dad…my dad. I recall him ambling along unsteadily, a genetic neuropathy and an over two-decade old back injury causing him constant pain, but this wasn’t his first time around the field. No, far from it. He had been plowing since he was a boy. He was able to cut into an overgrown field and upturn a furrow as straight as a mason’s string. The mechanics of orchestrating animal and plow were innate in him, but being able to walk (and there was a lot of walking required) was a skill that, for him, was steadily flagging. He worked through the pain and the unsteadiness that was his jackpot, as it were, in the chromosomal lottery in which we all take part. But, almost like an aged fighter in his final bout: the legs were gone, his age was showing, but still he displayed flashes of genius in the execution of his craft. He had an uncanny ability to predict how horse and plow would behave at any particular moment. This was complemented by a conservation of movement that is the hallmark of true proficiency. His unerring determination and work ethic drove him to complete each and every task he set his mind to. The result was an absolutely beautiful and well maintained garden. This was my dad’s milieu; and, it was gratifying to watch him work.
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My Father’s Song
Just as gratifying to me was the smell of the cool, damp, freshly upturned earth, the sandy brown clods exposed to the intense sunshine. What had been lying underground since Earth’s last trip around the sun was upended, including the new root systems and earthworms, and, if we were lucky, arrowheads. The plant matter and grasses were now at the bottom and a whole new cycle was beginning. But as a kid, I was interested in the clods, the cool sticky clods of dirt…perfect for throwing. These clods of dirt, as Ortiz noted, were cool and moist; but after a time in the hot sun they became dry... brittle and crumbly. Upon considering these words, I had what could only be described as an epiphany. This dirt…this brown sandy loam, was the result of countless eons of wind, snow, rain, ice, and sun, heating and cooling, dampening and drying the stone of once great mountains. The Appalachians were, millions of years ago, a range that rivaled the modern Himalayas. Year upon year of constant and incessant wear have reduced them to a fraction of their former grandeur. It produced the brown sand that covers the Brindley Plateau where I have lived for the better portion of my life. This sand mixed with the remains of the flora and fauna of countless millennia. These plants and animals lived and died, giving rise to new generations of plants and animals…each layer of life and death mixing into the sand until it formed… the soil… the soil my dad plowed with his Welsh pony. It was then that I considered that my life, just like my father’s life, just like every human being’s life, is exactly like... that dirt. Our ancestors and the decisions they made have produced each and every one of us. The way they lived, the way they died. The way they hated, the way they loved. The way they selflessly saved others, the way they mercilessly killed their fellow beings. The way they migrated, the way they stayed put…all of these actions constitute the great confluence of the makeup of our existence, just like the sand and the decaying matter makes up the soil. And, just like this dirt, we will hold together for a time, we will provide a place of grounding and nurture for our offspring; then with the passage of time we, too, will dry up and blow away.
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The Portrayal of Nature in Selected Poems of Robert Frost
Hanah Sims
Hanah Sims
The Portrayal of Nature
New England’s timeless poet, Robert Frost, is not classified under any specific school of thought because he is not exactly wholly Romantic, Realist, Naturalist, nor Modernist based on the subject matter of his poetry, and in certain aspects, he could fall into all four categories. Quite a bit of Frost’s poetry reflects different qualities of Nature and man’s relationship and influence on Mother Earth. To read Frost without acknowledging the natural elements, which abound in several of his works would leave the reader feeling unfulfilled and even more distant from the natural world he strives to bring back into focus. Several of Frost’s poems immediately reference nature before one even reads the first lines, such as “Birches,” “After Apple-Picking,” and “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” among others. In order to embrace the entire scope of Frost’s pastoral poetry, one can develop a more well-rounded understanding by analyzing selected Frost poems using an environmentalist theory, specifically Ecocriticism.
crucial point “that human culture is connected to the physical world, affecting it and [being] affected by it” (Glotfelty and Fromm xviii-xix). Without realizing and acknowledging the various connections between the natural world and society, a large majority, or possibly an entire genre, of poems would cease to exist or fail to remind readers to be environmentally aware. With an ecocritical outlook, readers can not only delve into a poem which includes natural imagery, aspects, and settings, but can also understand the poem from a uniquely balanced, diverse, and constantly expanding scientific, social, cultural, and literary perspective (Heise 506). In analyzing two of Frost’s more pastorally focused poems, “Birches” and “Mowing,” one can begin to recognize the answers to questions previously mentioned, specifically noting the overall portrayal of nature by the poet and the broader relationships between human beings and the environment. In “Birches,” Frost introduces an aged speaker reflecting on birch trees that no longer stand upright, but bend over towards the Earth, the victims of child’s play. The “beloved birches” are the central image throughout the poem and Frost maintains these natural images during the speaker’s reminiscence (Foster 415). The speaker reflects on his own boyhood as “…a swinger of birches” and the visual imagery of wintry, frost-bitten woods allows the various elements of nature to be revealed, such as the ice, snow, leaves, and even the changing seasons (line 59). Ecocritically, Frost portrays the forest scene, and more importantly, the birch tree “as vulnerable as it is beautiful” because the boughs are weaker and more susceptible to damage from storms and human hands than other species of trees, and they also become beautifully vulnerable when draped in an icy shroud during wintertime (Foster 415). Similarly, Frost likens the vulnerable bending nature and beautiful elegance of his birches to young women:
In dissecting poems by Frost using Ecocriticism, or terms synonymous with this theory, such as “green cultural studies” or “ecopoetics,” the questions one may seek to answer usually revolve around the incorporation, reflection, and overall dependency upon nature in a literary work or the depiction of nature by the author (Glotfelty and Fromm xx). Ecocriticism is derived from the scientific field of ecology, that is “strongly connected to a history of verbal expression,” which conveniently allowed for its eventual migration and utilization in literary analyses (Glotfelty and Fromm 71). Similar to critical race studies and feminist criticism, Ecocriticism strives to isolate one particular view or element in a work in an effort to show readers an alternative perspective that allows them to analyze, question, or reconsider previous notions (Heise 506-507). Questions typically addressed or answered in the ecocritical analysis of poetry may include, but are certainly not limited to: How does the poet portray nature? What is the relationship between the speaker and mankind to nature? And, what does this relationship portrayed reveal about the balance between our own cultures, society, the humanities, and ecology? Ecocriticism explores the ever-evolving worlds of literature, nature, and society, while always maintaining the
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…though once they are bowed So low for long, they never right theselves: You may see their trunks arching in the woods Years afterwards, trailing their leaves on
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The Portrayal of Nature
the ground Like girls on hands and knees that throw their hair Before them over their heads to dry in the sun. (lines 15-20)
landscape” (Paton 47-48). “Mowing” portrays nature as “an escape” from the loud, technologically driven society most readers are accustomed to and allows them to return to the natural world being refreshed, rejuvenated, and alert to new qualities which can be discovered within it through manual labor, simple interaction, wholehearted effort, or the like (Elder 653-655). Through an ecocritical analysis of both “Birches” and “Mowing,” readers can see nature being portrayed as beautiful and vulnerable, yet comforting, as a retreat from the overwhelming aspects of modern society; furthermore, readers can also make the connection between this portrayal of nature and the relationship between it and mankind. The speakers in both “Birches” and “Mowing” have similar relationships to Mother Nature based on their portrayed interactions as they are physically immersed in the natural world or immersed through memory. The reminiscent speaker in “Birches” reflects on his childhood saying, “…Earth’s the right place for love: / I don’t know where it’s likely to go better,” revealing the relationship between the speaker and Mother Earth as healthy and cohesive rather than distant or disjointed (lines 52-53). As evident in the previous lines from “Birches,” ecocritics argue Frost tends to emphasize the importance of “man’s rapport with the Natural, and always conceived of the relationship between them as the relationship between pupil to teacher” (Griffith 36). In “Birches,” readers can recognize how Frost alludes to this teacher-student relationship and rapport between the speaker and Nature, as the natural elements, specifically “ice-storms,” become the teacher figure, and the young boy, or pupil, learns how to reproduce those same bending techniques from the ice as a “swinger of birches,” with practice and eventual mastery (lines 5 and 41). In lines 32-35, readers can also note the boy’s careful and patient study of the birches in a way which reflects the following of a beloved teacher’s instruction,
Frost’s portrayal of a natural world that is vulnerable and easily manipulated, whether intentionally or accidentally, is also reinforced by the speaker’s account of the young boy who, “…subdued his father’s trees… / Until he took the stiffness out of them…” (lines 28 and 30). The parallels between fragile birches and young girls, both of which can be subdued by young boys, also helps Frost establish how the “tenderness” found in nature pervades other aspects of life as well, such as in the speaker’s fond and tender reflection on his youth (Foster 415). An ecocritical analysis of “Birches” enables one to recognize the vulnerability prevalent in nature and also the human involvement that increases such vulnerability. “Mowing” depicts a “solitary reaper” physically engaging with the natural environment as the speaker uses a scythe to thin grass, which ultimately leads to inner contemplation by the reaper (Paton 47). Frost begins the sonnet with, “There was never a sound beside the wood but one, / And that was my long scythe whispering to the ground,” immediately revealing to readers and ecocritics alike that the “wood” is a peaceful place with little societal distraction besides the nearly soundless “swishing” of the scythe blade (lines 1-2). The mower contemplates why the scythe whispers so, and questions whether it is due to “…the heat of the sun,” or “…the lack of sound” (lines 4-5). The scythe is personified by the whispering and this faint sound makes the natural setting of the poem almost mysterious, as though the whisper from the woods may be an indication of something more (Paton 47). Towards the end of the poem, the speaker admits that the physical labor of mowing in the quietude is worthwhile, “The fact is the sweetest dream that labor knows. / My long scythe whispered and left the hay to make” (lines 13-14). Frost introduces the “solitary reaper” to express how the combination of the whispering scythe and the dedicated reaper allow the speaker to “cherish every detail of [his] effort and [the]
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…He learned all there was To learn about not launching out too soon And so not carrying the tree away Clear to the ground…
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The relationship between the environment and the speaker in “Birches” maintains the point that mankind learns from nature; therefore, all human beings should treat it just as if it is a relationship with another person, a mentor, guide, or friend, who is a consistent part of life, even if it is rarely acknowledged.
er in “Mowing” also serves as an example of how all humans are quite capable of treating Nature with the respect it deserves versus destroying the very thing that gives us life without considering the larger consequences of such actions (Glotfelty and Fromm 50-51). Frost’s “Mowing” allows readers, ecocritics, and scholars alike to witness the actions of a lone speaker treating nature as a valid equal while dually serving as a role model and reminder to society to be environmentally aware, responsible, and protective.
In “Mowing,” the speaker’s relationship to nature is portrayed as maintaining a more “psychological stance” that is likely to be “directly and profoundly affected” by the natural environment he is immersed in (Griffith 35). The mower’s physical, psychological, and emotional relationship with nature is hinted at in the speaker’s use of the scythe and force to cut the grass, “…the earnest love that laid the swale in rows” (line 10). The reaper could have carelessly cut the grass using the scythe without acknowledging his movements, but instead, the reaper uses the scythe more carefully and lovingly as if he is trying not to damage the Earth unnecessarily. Ecocritically, the reaper’s deliberately careful actions, as portrayed by Frost, also reflect the important idea that nature in poetry does not have to be fanciful or unrealistically imaginative to address “environmental ethics” and how mankind treats and interacts with natural environments (Costello 573). Similar to the speaker in “Birches,” the reaper from “Mowing” projects a healthy and respectful attitude towards nature and treats it as mankind’s equal even though they are on different levels of the spectrum.
Similarly, in “Birches,” Frost introduces a wise speaker who explains the process of swinging from birch trees, but also relates a life lesson that extends beyond the poem, touching various cultures, people, and beliefs using aspects of nature: …life is too much like a pathless wood Where your face burns and tickles with the cobwebs Broken across it, and one eye is weeping From a twig’s having lashed across it open. (lines 44-47) The speaker’s message addressing the “pathless wood” full of obstacles can be a mirror reflecting the obstacles in life which human experience confronts at some point in time, no matter the personal, cultural, or societal background or beliefs one emerges from. The universal message portrayed in “Birches” also alludes to the fact that with ecocritical review, it acts as a globalizing factor which unites not only different cultural groups, but also different areas of study, including philosophy, politics, science, religion, and even economics (Heise 507 and 513). Nature depicted in the poems of Frost and various others enable readers to connect to the work and recognize the importance of the environment even if they are not familiar with birch trees or the physical act of scything. Ecocritical analysis eliminates the divide between once completely different fields, such as ecology and literature, to create a critical lens that allows for broader interpretations of classic poems, short stories, and other works. Through the ecocritical analysis of “Birches” and
Finally, readers understanding the portrayal of Nature and the speaker’s relationship to the environment as whole can also recognize the broader ecological and societal issues Frost addresses within his poetry following the ecocritical viewpoint. Paralleling points previously mentioned, the considerate actions of the speaker in “Mowing” reinforce the idea that humans are not independent from the natural world, but must be responsible for its care, continuance, and upkeep, rather than allow the Earth to be further defiled or damaged (Glotfelty and Fromm 50). Perhaps, Robert Frost recognized the separation between mankind and Mother Nature; thus, he portrayed various speakers in his poetry as being “at ease” within natural settings in an attempt to spawn a “return to nature” movement (Costello 577). The speak-
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The Portrayal of Nature Works Cited Costello, Bonnie. “‘What to Make of a Diminished Thing’: Modern Nature and Poetic Response.” American Literary History, vol. 10, no. 4, 1998, pp. 569-605, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/490137.
“Mowing” by Robert Frost, readers can diverge from the typical formalist perspective to discover and understand how Nature is and can be portrayed in writing and what that portrayal reveals concerning individual as well as broader relationships. The portrayal of the environment and its elements in poetry through imagery, flashback, and action allows readers to connect to it despite their levels of understanding, physical locations, or backgrounds. To be ecocritics as everyday citizens and to truly understand Frost’s reliance and emphasis on nature, “we too need to venture out under the sky, into rain and sun,” and be immersed in the very places depicted in these pastoral poems (Elder 658). Frost’s speakers in both “Birches” and “Mowing” represent only two of the numerous fictitious advocates who promote ecological equality and awareness while embracing Nature as a sanctuary from the overwhelming and demanding characteristics of the modern world. In reading the pastoral poetry of Robert Frost, one should not purposefully ignore Nature’s presence in it or its presence in one’s own life.
Elder, John. “The Poetry of Experience.” New Literary History, vol. 30, no. 3, 1999, pp. 649-659, JSTOR, www. jstor.org/stable/20057559. Foster, Richard. “Leaves Compared with Flowers: A Reading in Robert Frost’s Poems.” The New England Quarterly, vol. 46, no. 3, 1973, pp. 403-423, JSTOR, www. jstor.org/stable/364200. Glotfelty, Cheryll & Fromm, Harold. “The Ecocriticism Reader.” course.sdu.edu.cn/G2S/eWebEditor/uploadfile/20140304190631008.pdf Web. 8 Apr. 2017. Griffith, Clark. “Frost and the American View of Nature.” American Quarterly, vol. 20, no. 1, 1968, pp. 21-37, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2710988.
Heise, Ursula. “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Ecocriticism.” PMLA, vol. 121, no. 2, 2006, pp. 506-516, JSTOR, www. jstor.org/stable/25486328.
Paton, Priscilla. “Robert Frost: ‘“The Fact is the Sweetest Dream that Labor Knows.”’ American Literature, vol. 53, no. 1, 1981, pp. 43-55, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2926193.
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Young Adult Literature: Connecting Adolescents to the Past and Present
Hanah Sims
Hanah Sims
Young Adult Literature
In a traditional division of literary works deemed the most appropriate for study in high schools, community colleges, and four-year universities today, literature is typically categorized into three broad sections: American, British, and World; while this separation appears to allow individual teachers to focus on a more specific area of literature, it does not hardly take into account an entirely new category which stands on its own, that is just as or even more diverse and popular than the classics, and which many young readers prefer. Young Adult Literature (YAL) has emerged as a “game-changer” in the field of English because, not only does it pique the interests of reluctant teenagers, but it also provides teachers with a segue into more complex works which may not be as relevant to young adults. YAL is written with an intended audience in mind, specifically adolescents and maturing teens, and captures the attention of this age group because many of these novels portray characters, typically teenagers, who are also riding the emotional roller coaster that arrives with puberty, maturity, and growing up in general (Herz and Gallo 8-9). The content and purpose behind young adult novels provide reference points for teens who are struggling with a variety of personal issues, such as depression, abuse, sexual identity, peer pressure, or gang violence. In order for teachers to encourage reading inside and outside of the classroom, young adult works have become more prominently used for required readings because students are more likely to delve into a story which resembles their own lives versus a work of classic historical fiction that seems irrelevant to the current time period. Young adult literature is a means by which secondary English Language Arts teachers can attempt to connect struggling adolescents with literature that is relevant and relatable in addition to the classics, while also encouraging students’ willingness to read independently of the classroom setting. A major question hesitant educators and parents often ask concerning teen readers and young adult literature is, “Why is it important for young adults to read these works instead of “adult novels,” or the classics?” The previous question is slightly misleading because it implies that English Language Arts teachers are forced to choose between teaching one or the other rather than
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both, and how “the perceived lack of literary of merit in YAL selections is often linked to teachers’ perspectives on whether to teach either classics or YAL” (Kaplan and Hayn 43). Often times teachers only give attention to works which have earned their place in the literary canon based on their overall quality and literary significance, but this is an unfair determinant in the reading selection process as young adult literature only emerged as a category of its own “[separate] from children’s literature in 1957, [and] it has not yet had time to establish its literary merit,” alongside the works of Shakespeare, Dickens, Twain, and others (Liang qtd. in Rybakova and Roccanti 32). While some instructors refer to the classics as “real” literature, or “real reads,” advocates of YAL explain how, contrary to popular belief, this category of literature does not ignore the characteristics of classics, but instead argue for how it “can be a vehicle that allows teachers to present the same literary elements found in the classics while engaging adolescent students in stimulating classroom discussions and assignments,” which will be discussed in-depth shortly (Santoli and Wagner 66). At any rate, in many cases when teachers attempt to share the classics they are passionate about with their students, more often than not, they are disappointed when “students often react negatively to teacher-assigned books” (66). Literary scholar and educator, Donald Gallo explains how “teaching the classics often creates a dislike for reading [and] that most teenagers are not ready for classic literature because they do not address adolescent concerns, [rather], they are about adult issues and are written for well-educated adults” (qtd. in Santoli and Wagner 67). While some “adult” novels may include young characters who participate in the action of the novel, this does not guarantee that their roles and actions will evoke a reaction from young adults if those characters’ perspectives and experiences are not a central focus. Works written with young adults in mind, however, “provide an opportunity for the reader to “find oneself ” through literature and to begin thinking critically about it,” while dually examining “the social issues confronting young adults as they consider where they will fit in the larger circle of society” (Knickerbocker and Rycik 199). The main aspects that young readers are forced to grapple
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with concerning the classics involve the unfamiliar historical time periods, complex stories, structures, and unrelatable characters which many incorporate; in contrast, young adult literature employs lingo teenagers use on a regular basis, realistic situations and storylines, and most importantly, “they focus on a young protagonist with issues and concerns that engage and resonate with adolescents” (Santoli and Wagner 71). As tweens and teens enjoy witnessing and reading things that share similarities with their own lives, it is plausible that works written with the intended young adult audience and their developmental issues in mind would be preferable to the classics, which overwhelm assigned reading lists; however, one question that is raised is by educators is, “How can instructors continue to teach the required classics while also incorporating works of young adult literature that encourage student reading, response, and reflection?” (Kaplan and Hayn 20).
the reading of a classic (Herz and Gallo 26 and 64). While there are numerous examples from each category that can be paired to promote student reading and their overall understanding of essential literary elements, the following paragraphs will only be discussing a few titles which are extremely flexible and interchangeable depending upon individual class interest, choice, or need. The popular young adult novel, Looking for Alaska by John Green, contains events, themes, actions, and characters which parallel many that are also found in classic works of drama and fiction. As Looking for Alaska portrays the death of a prominent character by suicide, the book could be taught before or alongside Arthur Miller’s play, Death of a Salesman, or Kate Chopin’s novel, The Awakening, as these classics also depict the inner struggles of characters who conclude that death is the only escape from “the burden of societal expectations” (Rybakova and Roccanti 40). Similarly, as Looking for Alaska is a “coming-of-age” story from the perspective of a teenage boy, Miles Halter, whose actions are often in an effort to impress or interact with the leading female, Alaska Young, it could also be connected to Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, as the relationship between Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan is just as complicated as the one between Miles and Alaska (40-41). By introducing a young adult novel which is humorous, yet startling, that is also written in the language adolescents primarily rely on, a teacher can address serious topics, such as depression and suicide, in a more modern context prior to introducing the same events in a less familiar one. While Looking for Alaska does include some controversial episodes, overall, the work is a popular read among teens that can also allow teachers to address required readings in not only classic American fiction, but also in classic American drama.
One technique which enables educators to combine the often rejected classics with more captivating YA works involves using a scaffolding method, commonly called “pairing,” to teach canonical literature alongside modern young adult literature that dually supports students in reading works which appeal to them, while also expanding their critical thinking skills that are essential to understanding future readings in high school as well as in the workplace and college (Rybakova and Roccanti 34). Pairing, bridging, or connecting literary works allow teachers to pace student reading gradually, beginning with lesser demanding works, such as those written in “teen-speak,” then moving towards the complex language of the classics through the course of the school year while also meeting the curriculum standards (34). A teacher can compose rationales that explain why and how young adult novels and short stories connect to the classics if these new required reads are met with opposition from parents, colleagues, or other school officials (42-43). The pairing of classics, including novels, plays, short stories, and poetry, with their young adult counterparts can be easily achieved by identifying works which portray similar archetypal situations, conflicts, and characters as well as themes which students can initially recognize in a YA work, then further understand through
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Another favored young adult novel that can be paired with several classics is The Giver by Lois Lowry. As the majority of young adult novels are “coming-of-age” stories, it is not hardly a surprise that the protagonist, Jonas, is also struggling to discover his own beliefs and identity outside of the “perfect” community in which he lives. Although The Giver is set in an alternate universe
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and time period with technology and concepts that are foreign to our own, this novel still allows young adults to understand the struggles of being an isolated teenager who recognizes the true reality of his situation when others are clueless. The genre of The Giver allows it to be easily paired with other classic works of fantasy as well as dystopian and science fiction, such as Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury or 1984 by George Orwell (Herz and Gallo 64). Similarly, if a teacher was required to teach The Great Gatsby but preferred to read YAL instead, one could link Jonas from The Giver to Fitzgerald’s narrator, Nick Carraway, who could then be linked to the protagonist, Louie Banks, from Chris Crutcher’s young adult novel, Running Loose, and his short story “In The Time I Get,” as all of these characters come to terms with societal expectations, the cruelty of others, and share many of the same character traits, such as “honesty, loyalty, and trust” (39-41). By choosing a classic or young adult novel as a foundation, a teacher can then gather other works from different literary genres or formats, such as short stories, which have similar themes or topics to create a balance of eye-opening and engaging literature.
from the same context to allow students to see a variety of parallel themes, topics, and characteristics in an effort to have a more wholesome understanding. While “a student does not need to read all the offerings in a thematic unit to experience the connections,” these readings and experiences are major contributors to the ultimate goal of most English Language Arts instructors, encouraging students’ choice and willingness to read separate from assigned selections (Knickerbocker and Rycik 202 and 206). By implementing young adult literature or pairing these popular selections with required classics, teachers “will help create more satisfying literary experiences for adolescents, contributing to the likelihood that they will become lifelong readers” (207). Even educators at the turn of the twentieth century, nearly forty years before young adult literature became its own category, recognized how “if [students] do not learn to like books in their teens, they never will” (Barbe 367). As literature has evolved since then and continues to evolve, educators must adapt to the changing needs in the classroom while attempting to foster an appreciation and interest in reading in as many students as possible. Since “Literature and young life are too much alike, too essentially of the same stuff...[their] separation is not natural,” and teachers must work to bring literature back into focus, which can be achieved with the help of young adult selections (364). If an English Language Arts instructor can begin implementing YAL as required readings, this may even jumpstart an epidemic which may encourage its use in other disciplines, such as social studies, art, business, or even music (Kaplan and Hayn 225-227 and 232-235). If teaching and discussing classic novels limits students’ reading and critical thinking in the classroom, educators should strive to introduce a variety of works from all genres, even beyond young adult literature, to encourage independent reading even if it only includes glossy magazines or online articles.
Other ways to connect canonical literature without directly pairing it to a specific work as mentioned above could also include utilizing thematic units addressing the same era or topic, or using a novel adaptation of a play to aid students in gaining a deeper understanding of an essential work. In reading and discussing Shakespeare’s Hamlet, an instructor could also incorporate books that focus on a feminine perspective through the character of Ophelia who— in contrast to the original play—now “engages critically and creatively with her context” in contemporary young adult novels, such as Fiedler’s Dating Hamlet or Ray’s Falling for Hamlet (Hateley 435). Falling for Hamlet places the Shakespearean classic into a teen novel that includes love, popularity, and juicy high school drama. Another option for teaching Hamlet “as a cautionary tale for young men,” which places more focus on the interaction between Horatio and Hamlet, can also be found in YA works like Gratz’s Something Rotten or Bergantino’s Hamlet II: Ophelia’s Revenge (439). Similarly, if a teacher is focusing on a certain time, literary, or historical period, one could also structure other works
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Through young adult literature, English Language Arts teachers, ranging from grades 6-12, can use selections that not only appeal to the literary palates of adolescents, but they can also use these works to bridgee
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Young Adult Literature Works Cited Barbe, Waitman. “Literature, the Teacher, and the Teens.” The English Journal, vol. 6, no. 6, 1917, pp. 361–371. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/801607.
the gaps between contemporary issues found in popular novels that initially emerged in works of decades past. Young adult literature addresses many of the central issues and concerns maturing teens are facing and can enable a teacher to introduce sensitive, yet important topics that extend beyond the classroom into society, politics, ethics, and life in general. By incorporating YAL into the required curriculum, a teacher is not dismissing the classic novels which continue to prevail in classrooms across the country; rather, one is creating a balanced literary diet for students as they increase their analytical and comprehension skills as they encounter more complex themes and qualities of classic works of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and drama. Scaffolding instructional techniques, such as pairing, aid teachers in justifying the use of young adult works alongside classics and create numerous opportunities for comparison assignments that gauge students’ content retention and overall understanding. As English instructors often enter the field due to their own love of reading, young adult literature is an igniting force which they can use to start and continue to fuel the blaze of students’ interests in reading and desires to read independently long after they have graduated high school.
Hateley, Erica. “Sink Or Swim?: Revising Ophelia in Contemporary Young Adult Fiction.” Children’s Literature Association Quarterly, vol. 38, no. 4, 2013, pp. 435-48. ProQuest. Web. 23 June 2017. Herz, Sarah K. and Donald R. Gallo. From Hinton to Hamlet: Building Bridges between Young Adult Literature and the Classics. Greenwood Publishing Group, 1996. Ebook. Kaplan, Jeffrey S. and Judith Hayn. Teaching Young Adult Literature Today: Insights, Considerations, and Perspectives for the Classroom Teacher. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2012. E-Book. Knickerbocker, Joan L., and James Rycik. “Growing into Literature: Adolescents’ Literary Interpretation and Appreciation.” Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, vol. 46, no. 3, 2002, pp. 196-208. ProQuest. Web. 21 June 2017. Rybakova, Katie, PhD., and Rikki Roccanti. “Connecting the Canon to Current Young Adult Literature.” American Secondary Education, vol. 44, no. 2, 2016, pp. 31-45. ProQuest. Web. 21 June 2017. Santoli, Susan P., and Mary Elaine Wagner. “Promoting Young Adult Literature: The Other “Real” Literature.” American Secondary Education, vol. 33, no. 1, 2004, pp. 6575. ProQuest. Web. 21 June 2017.
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Poets Study: Robert Browning and Rita Dove
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Poetry is as unique and diverse as the individuals who write it. Though style, rhythm, and technique may have changed in the hundreds of years in which poetry has been written, any poem can be read and interpreted by anyone who is willing to put his or her mind to the task. This essay will look at and discuss the works of two wellknown poets: Robert Browning and Rita Dove. These two poets are on opposite ends of the spectrum in life experience and what has influenced their written works, but both deserve to have their voices heard.
focusing on the strength and the eternal connection of mothers and daughters (Booth 129). The settings are diverse yet remain part of the whole. Starting in Greece, Dove takes the reader to unexpected destinations like Arizona and Mexico in her re-telling of the ancient myth. Dove explores the never-ending cycle of “each mother a daughter, each daughter a potential mother… the dilemma of letting go” (Booth 129). The theme of Museum, one of Rita Dove’s first works published in 1983, was the idea of “bearing witness to people and deeds forgotten by history” (Dungy 1033). It connected lives throughout time and across the world – from black Americans to medieval Europeans (Righelato 668).
Rita Dove is one of the most critically acclaimed poets of our time. She is the only poet with both the National Humanities Medal and the National Medal of Arts (Rita Dove - Academy). She was also awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, and held the honored position of Poet Laureate of the United States from 1993-1995 (Rita Dove - Academy). Dove’s poems and works of literature are honest, unapologetic, and universally unique. The very nature of her works shows she will not be tied down to one genre. She expressed her feelings in an interview published in Conversations with Rita Dove: “Just as it’s tragic to pigeonhole individuals according to stereotypes, there’s no reason to subscribe authors to particular genre, either. I’m a writer, and I write in the form that most suits what I want to say.”
Thomas and Beulah, published in 1986, is a collection – a double-sequence – of poems inspired by and based on the lives of her grandparents (Rita Dove - Academy). The first half focused on Thomas, and the second on Beulah. “Straw Hat,” a poem from Thomas and Beulah, describes a man sleeping during a third shift. “The mattress ticking he shares in the work barracks/is brown and smells/from the sweat of two other men. One of them chews snuff: he’s never met either” (“Straw Hat” lines 14-18) There were not enough beds for the men, so they both worked and slept in shifts. Another poem in Thomas and Beulah is “Meditation at Fifty Yards,” which is a poem in four parts: “Safety First,” talks about handling a gun safely; “Open Air,” the plethora of emotions felt when firing; “Gender Politics” showing differences in men and women; and “The Bullet,” a uniquely satisfying close from the bullet’s perspective (Dove, “Meditation”). Pat Righelato explains the title of Dove’s 2004 volume, American Smooth, as “a form of ballroom dancing that permits individual improvisation and virtuosity” (668). The overall sense of the entire book is the idea of taking what you’re given in whatever context and making it your own (Dungy 1033). Righelato goes on to say that Dove succeeds in doing just as the title suggests, executing her artistry in such a way as to be “fluent and accomplished” (668). Her praise does not stop there; she states that Dove is “a major writer in the canon of American poetry” (668). So much more can be said of Rita Dove, who has already achieved so
Dove strives to emphasize a “shared humanity” with all the characters and speakers of her written work. Her attention to the “(h)istory,” or lower case history, is to the everyday people and their lives instead of the big events of uppercase “(H)istory” (“Interview with Rita” 1029-1030). “I consciously work at exploring it,” Dove says, “because I find those junctures – where History with a capital H intersects with lower-case history – fascinating. I believe each of us experience history on all these levels.” (1029-1030). Rita Dove is a well-known and beloved poet due to the diversity of her subject matter. Her 1995 book Mother Love draws from the mother/daughter relationship in the Greek myth of Demeter and Persephone. The sequences and chains of poems are at times chilling and sorrowful, mourning the loss of innocence, but mainly
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Poets Study his poems, such as “Fra Lippo Lippi,” which tells of the “lascivious nighttime adventures of an Italian painter” (Odden 166), and “Pippa Passes,” where a girl walks through the town of Asolo on the outskirts of Venice (Odden 166).
much in the literary world. Her unique style and her understanding of the breadth of human emotion enriches each poem and story she writes. Some are said to remember Robert Browning only as the husband of Elizabeth Barrett, and simply one half of the two immensely talented poets who fell in love. Elizabeth’s works are generally easier to understand and follow than the more complex – and often abstract – writings of Robert. The letters of Robert and Elizabeth are among the most well-known writings of any renowned poets. Four years before she even met Robert, Elizabeth wrote a letter to Miss Mitford, which was more of a commentary on Robert’s “Pippa Passes” and “Paracelsus”: I like ‘Pippa’ too. There are fine things in it—and the presence of genius, never to be denied! At the same time it is hard … to understand —isn’t it? Too hard? I think so… After all, Browning is a true poet—and there are not many such poets—and if any critics have, as your critical friend wrote to you, ‘flattered him into a wilderness and left him’ they left him alone with his genius— and where those two are, despair cannot be. The wilderness will blossom soon, with a brighter rose than ‘Pippa’ (Radley 76).
“My Last Duchess,” published in 1842, is one of the most well-known poems by Browning (Browning, “My Last Duchess 297). In the poem, he is describing a painting of his last duchess, painted while she was still alive. The Duke loves the Duchess of the painting, but he was a jealous husband: “’twas not / Her husband’s presence only, called that spot / Of joy into the Duchess’ cheek” (Browning, “My Last Duchess 297); the Duke believed “her looks went everywhere” (Browning, “My Last Duchess 297) when they should have been directed at him alone. The Duke is a very dominating character who wants to have control over all things. The last lines of the poem tell of the Duke showing off a statue of Neptune “taming” a seahorse, which reiterates his entire character. (Browning, “My Last Duchess” 298). Critics have shared both raving and scathing opinions of Browning’s works. After his publication of Men and Women in 1855, Robert Browning received a harsh review from John Ruskin, who said, “You are worse than the worst Alpine Glacier I ever crossed. Bright and deep enough truly, but so full of clefts that half the journey has to be done with ladder and hatchet” (Hearn 17). In 1869, Browning completed The Ring and the Book, which has been lauded as his crowning literary achievement. It describes the trial of Count Guido Franceschini of Italy for the murder of his wife Pompilia (Odden 166). The nature of the “ring” of witnesses and the fact that none of their testimonials seem to match raises the question “What is truth?” (Odden 169).
Robert Browning was only 20 years old when his first poem, “Pauline,” was published. The subject matter of Browning’s work had much to do with the relationship between man and woman and love and art. Browning had an “intense admiration” of author Percy Shelley (Hearn 19). In “Pauline,” he refers to Shelley as the “Sun-treader,” who was forever gone as “other bards arise, / But none like thee” (lines 151, 154-155). Other poets, such as John Keats and Lord Byron were great influences as well (Odden 164).
After Robert Browning’s death in 1890, Oscar Wilde compared Browning to Shakespeare and found his sense of dramatic situation unparalleled: “If Shakespeare could sing with myriad lips, Browning could stammer through a thousand mouths. Even now, as I am speaking…there glides through the room the pageant of his persons. There creeps Fra Lippo Lippi with his cheeks
In 1841, Browning began publishing his poems and plays in a series of pamphlets under the title “Bells and Pomegranates” (Hearn 20). “Pippa Passes” was the first of what would be eight such pamphlets (Hearn 31). Browning had a love for Italy, and it appears in many of
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Poets Study Works Cited Booth, Alison. “Abduction and Other Severe Pleasures: Rita Dove’s ‘Mother Love.” Callaloo, vol. 19, no. 1, 1996, pp. 125–130. Jstor. www.jstor.org/stable/3299332. Accessed 28 Jan. 2017.
still burning from some girl’s hot kiss. There, stands dread Saul with the lordly male-sapphires gleaming in his turban. Mildred Tresham is there, and the Spanish monk, yellow with hatred…The spawn of Setebos gibbers in the corner, and Sebald, hearing Pippa pass by…” (Wilde 127).
Browning, Robert and Elizabeth B. Browning. “My Last Duchess.” The Brownings: Letters and Poetry, compiled by Christopher Ricks. Doubleday & Co., Inc. 1970, pp. 297298.
Many may think that a white Englishman living in the 19th century and a black American woman living in the 21st century could have nothing in common. It is true that each lived in an entirely different world and culture from one another, but Rita Dove and Robert Browning both have a poet’s soul. Such souls are rare and travel through time, bridging barriers in ways others are not able. Each is great in his and her own right and their works will influence many more souls for years to come.
Dove, Rita. “Interview with Rita Dove.” Interviewed by Camille T. Dungy. Callaloo, vol. 28, no. 4, 2005, pp. 1027– 1040. Jstor. www.jstor.org/stable/3805576. Accessed 27 Jan. 2017. Hearn, Julie. “Robert Browning.” British Writers: Retrospective Supplement 2, 2002, pp. 17-32. Scribner Writers on GVRL, go.galegroup.com/ps/i. do?p=GLS&sw=w&u=naal_athens&v=2.1&it=r&id= GALE%7CCX1383100012&asid=35480771e3fc35ae46 4710475fea25fa. Accessed 29 Jan. 2017. “Meditation at 50 Yards” from American Smooth. W. W. Norton & Co., Inc. 2004. Odden, Karen. “Robert Browning.” World Poets, vol. 1, 2000, pp. 163-173. Scribner Writers on GVRL,go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=GLS&sw=w&u=naal_athens&v =2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CCX1386400024&asid=117e df7d74ec4a0b28cca8f2b1d2f331. Accessed 30 Jan. 2017. “Pauline.” The Brownings: Letters and Poetry, compiled by Christopher Ricks. Doubleday & Co., Inc. 1970, pp. 289. Poetry Foundation, 2017. www.poetryfoundation.org/ poems-and-poets/poems/detail/43352. Accessed 30 Jan. 2017. Radley, Virginia L. “The Prose: The Artist in Letters.” Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Twanyne Publishers, 1972, pp. 72-89. Twayne’s English Authors Series 136. Twayne’s Authors on GVRL, go.galegroup.com/ps/i. do?p=GLS&sw=w&u=naal_athens&v=2.1&it=r&id= GALE%7CCX1373700014&asid=74f11d5dcc40b9a36
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81b2ab60357f6bb. Accessed 30 Jan. 2017. “Riding That Current as Far as It’ll Take You.” Conversations with Rita Dove. University Press of Mississippi, 2003. Righelato, Pat. “Understanding Rita Dove.” Callaloo, Vol. 31, No. 3 (Summer, 2008), p. 668. The Johns Hopkins University Press. Jstor. www.jstor.org/stable/27654860. Accessed 28 Jan. 2017. “Rita Dove – Academy of Achievement.” Academy of Achievement. Last modified 5 Jan. 2017. Web. www. achievement.org/achiever/rita-dove/. Accessed 28 Jan. 2017. “Rita Dove: Conversations with Rita Dove.” Interviewed by Adele Newson-Horst. University of Oklahoma, The Free Library, 01 Jan. 2005. www.thefreelibrary.com/ Rita%20Dove.%20Conversations%20with%20Rita%20 Dove.-a0128252864. Accessed 30 Jan. 2017. “Straw Hat” from Thomas and Beulah. Carnegie-Mellon University Press, 1986. Poetry Archive, 2016. http:// www.poetryarchive.org/poem/straw-hat-dusting. Accessed 28 Jan. 2017. Wilde, Oscar. “The True Function and Value of Criticism.” Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism, edited by Janet Mullane and Robert Thomas Wilson, vol. 19, Gale, 1988, pp. 123-147. Literature Resource Center, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=GLS&sw=w&u=naal_at hens&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CH1420011577&as id=e11cfdfd3acf82f4bd4b0f50bcd1ab02. Accessed 30 Jan. 2017.
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Langston Hughes
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Langston Hughes By the time that Hughes entered the second grade, he was living with his grandmother, Mary Langston, in Lawrence. He remained in her care until she died when Hughes was twelve. Berry writes, “This matriarchal influence would later manifest itself in some of his fiction – most notably in his autobiographical first novel, Not Without Laughter” (6). He and his grandmother lived in a small house near the University of Kansas; she was then in her seventies. In order for his grandmother to meet her mortgage payments, “she rented out rooms [in her home] to families or to university students” (7). She was too stubborn to asked friends for financial help, but she and young Hughes would sometimes move in with friends for weeks at a time in order for her to rent out extra rooms to make ends meet. In reminiscing the memories of his grandmother in later years, Hughes remembered her as “Indian and proud… Her grandmother had been a Cherokee, and she herself looked Indian. Copper-colored with high cheekbones, and long black hair that grayed as she grew older” (7). Hughes recalls how “in Lawrence she would often sit on the porch in a rocker with her grandson on her lap and tell him stories about the days of slavery. Hughes developed a sense of his racial heritage from her, though she had never been a slave and she had traveled about at will with free papers in her native North Carolina. Her stories were about heroic people and events she remembered, and Hughes later recreated his impressions of her storytelling in a long poem called ‘Aunt Sue’s Stories’” (7-8). His grandmother died when Hughes was thirteen and he went to live with a family friend referred to as Uncle and Auntie Reed. During his stay there, he “had for the first time a sense of what it meant to live with and belong to a family” (8).
Langston Hughes is possibly the “most prominent African American poet of the twentieth century” (Butler para. 2). Hughes’ rise to fame was not an easy road to walk. He had a tough childhood, bouncing from place to place and town to town with his parents and grandmother. As he got older and began writing, Hughes used many of his life experiences and descriptions of his nature in his poetry. Butler describes Hughes’ personality as “one who had a Whitmanian tendency to celebrate the ‘people’ but who in his own life was essentially a loner” (para. 3). Throughout his life, “Hughes cultivated a public persona as a warmly democratic poet who would bring together the rich assortment of people in America” (para 3). Hughes was born in Joplin, Missouri, on February 1, 1902. He was the second son of Nathaniel Hughes and Carrie Mercer Langston Hughes. His father was born in Charlestown, Indiana, in September 1871 and lost his father at the age of sixteen during the Civil War. Hughes’ mother, Carrie, was born to “one of the most politically prominent and well-educated Afro-American families of the nineteenth century” (Berry 1). She was twentysix when she eloped with James Nathaniel Hughes, who was an aspiring lawyer. However, Nathaniel Hughes was denied entry to law school by an all white committee and he and Carrie moved to Joplin in hopes of finding better results, but ultimately finding the same fate. Carrie began working as a grammar school teacher, which is where she initially met her husband. A short time after Langston Hughes was born his father decided to move to Mexico, and when Carrie would not go with him, he left her. After his father left, Hughes and his mother moved to several different towns. At age six, Hughes “began school in Topeka, where his mother was working as a stenographer. He had difficulty entering a white school there. Part of his memory of this experience was that ‘my mother, who was always ready to do battle for the rights of a free people, went directly to the school board, and got me into the Harrison Street School” (4). She also took him to a local library where Hughes discovered his true love for books.
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Hughes was not an average kid. While other kids were out playing baseball, he was going to the theatre all alone. When he entered the seventh grade, “he got his first regular after school job… He cleaned the lobby and public bathrooms of a hotel for fifty cents a week. With the money he earned, he went to the movies until the local theatre put up a sign No Colored Admitted. When theatrical shows would come to town, he attended performances at the Opera house, usually sitting in the gal-
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Langston Hughes
lery because that is the only place colored people were allowed to sit” (11). Hughes was elected class poet at his grammar school graduation in 1916 and “the Cleveland high school he attended for the entire four years of his secondary schooling was Central High School…Langston was popular with his classmates and his teachers. He was a good student with a place on the honor roll and an acknowledged leader in every activity he entered” (14). He served in many positions in his school: student council representative, secretary of French Club, treasurer of the Home Garden Club, and president of the American Civics Association. He also took part in art programs at a neighborhood community center. It was his sophomore year of high school that “marked the beginning of his serious interest in poetry and in writing” (16).
etry, he says, “Generally the first two or three lines come to me from something I am thinking about or looking at or doing, and the rest of the poem flows from those first few lines, usually right away” (43). Upon describing another of Hughes’ well known poems, “Christ in Alabama,” it is referred to as having “cryptic simplicity… profound insight is carelessly draped in the most facile diction and form, the most commonplace images… no decoration or pendantry… so stark it could almost have been written by a child” (59). It “exhibits Hughes at his best” (59). It gives the impression that it could not have been done another way. In this poem, “Hughes is a master at clothing the complex and profound in simple garb; and perhaps it is this more than any other quality that marks him as a great poet” (59). To honor his greatness as a poet, Renee Watson is fighting to obtain the property and Hughes’ house which he lived in and wants to “run a community-based events from the house, including summer intensive writing workshops for young people” (Watson para 10). She feels that doing this and the support that has been received toward it is “a testament of his impact on not just black writers and people, but it has definitely crossed over with people who you would not think would know him or his poetry” (para 13).
After he graduated high school, Hughes attended Columbia University. He did not return after his freshman year. However, “needing the legitimacy a bachelor’s degree would provide, Hughes enrolled in Lincoln University’ (Bloom 12). When he published his first volume of poetry, The Weary Blues, is “enabled him to attend Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, from which he graduated in 1929” (“Langston Hughes” para 1). Hughes settled in Harlem, yet he still traveled and his works were published widely. He was able to support himself with his writing. In all, “Hughes published sixteen books of poetry, two novels, seven collections of short fiction, two autobiographies, four books of nonfiction, ten books for children, and more than twenty-five plays” (Bloom 13). The “spontaneity in his best poetry came from the depths of his own experiences as a black man in America, though these personal experiences often were disguised as archetypical ones” (43). His early poems proclaim his words that African Americans were “my people” and “combines various elements: the common speech of of ordinary people, jazz and blues music, and the traditional forms of poetry adapted to the African American and American subjects” (65). His work “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain” was “an artistic manifesto in which Hughes voiced the independent integrity of the black artist” (35).
Langston Hughes is a poet that will be remembered for years to come for his multiple achievements and writing style. He became “the first black American to support himself soley by his writing; and from the time of the Harlem ‘Renaissance’ in the 1920s to his death in 1967, his critical reputation was secure as one of the leading black literary artists of the twentieth century” (Rampersad para 1). Those who regularly study Hughes’ work conclude that they can not imagine his works being written by anyone other than Hughes himself. Bloom includes that “Mr. Hughes is a remarkable poet of the colorful; through all his verse the rainbow riots and dazzles, yet never wearies the eye, although at times it intrigues the brain into astonishment and exaggerated admirations when reading” (20). Hughes’ use of sounds, “particularly the musical quality of words, pulled him into the cultural repository of African American music where he used the blues for lyric poetry. In doing so, he expanded the American prosodic expression by incorporating the
When referring to how he comes about writing his po-
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Kaitlin Weaver
Langston Hughes Work Cited Berry, Faith. Before and Beyond Harlem: A Biography of Langston Hughes. New York: Random House, 1992. Print.
expressive folk form into the distinctive collection of poetry. But for more fundamental to Hughes’ artwork was that language was a creative source for drawing with exquisite clarity and compassion the lives, manners, and customs of black folk” (36). In all of his adventures across the world, one adventure that Hughes never made was the adventure of marriage. He neither formed attachments to others, male or female, whether in friendship or in courtship. He lived a life of loneliness even in the times when he lived with his mother and grandmother. And, in loneliness he died. Hughes passed away quietly, and alone, in a hospital room in Harlem in 1967.
Bloom, Harold. Langston Hughes. Pennsylvania: Chelsea House Publishing, 1999. Print. Butler, Robert. “Langston Hughes: A Biography.” African American Review, vol. 40, no. 2, 2006, p. 386-387. Ebscohost.com. Accessed 4 April 2017. “Langston Hughes: Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th Edition.” Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th Edition, April 2016, p.1. Ebscohost, ebschost.com. Rampersad, Arnold. “Langston Hughes, Vol. 1, 19021941: I, Too, Sing America.” January 1990. Watson, Eric. “Langston Hughes’ Harlem Home Gets New Lease on Life.” Diverse Issues in Higher Education, vol. 33, no. 17, 2016, p. 8-9. Ebscohost.com. Accessed 4 April 2017.
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The Alumni Association provided: Over $43,000 in scholarship funding to students in 2013-2014. Sponsorship of the Athenian Ambassadors and Young Alumni Advisory Council (YAAC). 30 Alumni sponsored events for 20132014. Over $80,000 donated to the University since 2009. Presence/table/promotional items for 23 non-alumni sponsored events. Discounts and incentives to local and national businesses.
athens.edu/alumni Alumni membership has its benefits!
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The Write Club
is for any & all students interested in writing! We’re a team looking to create safe spaces for writing, sharing resources, and obtaining feedback on our work. We’ve got great plans for the future, so check us out on Facebook via the QR code provided, or email @ athenswriteclub@gmail.com & find out more!
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Contributor Notes Brittany Aldridge is an English/Language Arts major with an affinity for creative writing
and brainstorming. A transfer from Wallace State Community College, she plans to graduate from Athens State in the fall of 2017 with a Bachelor’s in English/Language Arts and a minor in Secondary Education. Currently, she is the president of Sigma Tau Delta and editor for Athena’s Web Journal. She enjoys word puns, reading, and watching movies with directors’ commentaries.
Dillon Brodt is an English major at Athens State University. In his spare time, he enjoys writ-
ing and playing guitar. He currently works part time at Homegoods in Huntsville helping people find the furniture of their dreams. He is excited to start his fall semester at Athens State, as it is a pretty rad school. If you want to know more, you will probably find him in Founders Hall 2 diving into classic literature.
Michelle Crawford is a Studio Art Major with a minor in Art history and Biology at Athens
State. Her work supports her enduring idea of the spirituality of nature, which explores the energetic connection between all life on Earth. Her work inspires appreciation for Nature and serves as a reminder of the essence of pure energy that connects us all.
Courtney Hooper is a senior at Athens State where she majors in English. She is interested
in all forms of literature, but poetry is her favorite. In her free time, she reads, writes, or stares at the lake for hours. Her goal is to become a college professor.
Jeffrey Johns is a student at Athens State University. Katie Klein is in her senior year studying English at Athens State. Katie has a passion for writ-
ing, reading, and all things geeky. Although her appreciation and love for poetry is recent, it has grown rapidly. She has had a variety of interesting jobs, including creating graphics and writing descriptions in catalogs, preparing tax returns, and making tortillas. Katie lives in her hometown of Athens, Alabama.
John Ramey is an English literature major and a senior at Athens State University. Other than becoming President of Sigma Tau Delta in the fall of 2017, he maintains being Vice President while working towards becoming a college professor.
Lauren Reynolds is a student at Athens State University. Rebecca Kelton plans to graduate in December 2017 with her Bachelor of Science in Art
Education. She has loved art since childhood and is so excited to help children learn and grow as
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artists as an art teacher. When she is not studying or making art, she spends time with her family. She has a wonderful husband of 5 years, and 2 1/2 year old son who inspires her daily.
Hanah Sims is a junior at Athens State majoring in English/Language Arts. She is well-known in her circle of peers for her love of literary references and passion for the written word. When she is not inside the classroom, she works part-time as an auction clerk for Holland Realty & Auctions and as a consultant in the Athens State Writing Center and enjoys interacting with a variety of people from all walks of life.
Kaitlin Weaver graduated from Pisgah High School and I am pursuing a Bachelors Degree in
English/Language Arts with a minor in Education. She loves sports and all things outdoors. She also sings in a group from her church. She looks forward to being a teacher and inspiring her students for many years to come.
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Cover Contest Winner
Deep in Thought By Rebecca Kelton
Submission Guidelines We accept both academic and creative work produced by College of Arts and Sciences students. As such, we welcome a wide range of submissions including research and analysis papers, case studies, short stories, essays, poems, photographs and photo essays, artwork, novel excerpts, short plays, and others. Submissions close the Friday before finals of each semester. Submissions received after the Friday before finals will be considered for the following semester’s issue. For Academic Work In order to be considered for publication, academic work must be submitted to the editors along with a faculty recommendation. Recommendation can be informal. When submitting academic work, note in the body of the email that you have discussed submitting the work with a faculty member. Include contact information for the faculty member. Submitted work can be a maximum of 15 double-spaced pages and must be formatted using the citation style appropriate to the content. Submit the work and the faculty recommendation to the editors by email. For Artwork We encourage contributors to submit multiple pieces in this category. A faculty recommendation is not necessary. Please submit artwork in image files only. We will not accept artwork submitted in a pdf. To insure that the integrity of the art remains intact, please submit high-resolution images only. Artwork should be submitted by email. For Poetry We encourage contributors to submit multiple pieces in this category. A faculty recommendation is not necessary. Please submit poetry in a Word document only. Submit poetry by email. For Fiction & Creative Non-fiction We ask that contributors submit a maximum of two fiction or creative non-fiction pieces per semester. A faculty recommendation is not necessary. Please submit your work in a Word document with the text double-spaced with a maximum of 30 pages. Submit fiction and creative non-fiction by email. Contact Information Email: athenas.web@athens.edu www.athens.edu/athenas-web-journal
Print Copies Print copies of this journal have been provided through an endowment of the Athens State University Alumni Association. Athena’s Web thanks the Alumni Association for their continued support of our goal of spotlighting outstanding work and research of Athens State students and alumni in the field of the liberal arts.
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Spring/Summer 2017 Brittany Aldridge
Dillon Brodt
Michelle Crawford
Courtney Hooper
Jeffrey Johns
Rebecca Kelton
Katie Klein
John Ramey
Lauren Reynolds
Hanah Sims
Kaitlin Weaver