1. ELIT 48C
 Class # 12
Alumnae?
crisis
criteria
Criterion

2. Just so you know
 alumna/alumnae; alumnus/alumni: literally “foster
daughter” and “foster son,” these words refer in American
usage to graduates of an educational institution. Most
universities tend to use the masculine forms only.
 crisis/crises: singular crisis (krahy-sis). Latin plural crises
(krahy-seez). You can have one crisis and several crises
 criterion/criteria: One judges the worth of a book
according to a set of criteria. One criterion might be style.
Another criterion might be accuracy.
 phenomenon/phenomena A tornado is a phenomenon
of Nature. Other phenomena are earthquakes,
thunderstorms, and floods.

3. Chair Poet?
'Writing free verse
is like playing
tennis with the net
down.'
Robert Frost

4. AGENDA
 New teams
 Lyric Poetry
o “The Snow Man” 1923
o “The Emperor of Ice Cream”
 Stream of Consciousness
o “Parturition”
 Exam Preparation

5. Lyric Poetry
 Lyric poetry has a long history. Its most basic
definition is poetry that has a rhythmic quality that
makes it able to be sung. Originally, it was
accompanied by a lyre.
 Lyric poetry is likewise identified by its expression of
intense, personal emotion. It is quite powerful
because it draws readers into personal worlds. It is
often, but not always, written in the present tense.

6. Lyric Modernists?
 Modernist poetry is generally a turning away from
inherited models of poetry.
 With the imagist movement, poets distanced
themselves from the reliance on musicality and the
richness of sound, focusing instead on the
complexities of image, the precision of words, and
the directness of language.
 T.S. Eliot says, in “Tradition and the Individual
Talent” that “poetry is not a turning loose of
emotion, but an escape from emotion.” Yet, lyric
poetry seems to be about emotion.

7. How is it Possible?
 Wallace Stevens says in “The Figure of the Youth as
Virile Poet,” that “It is the mundo of the imagination
in which the imaginative man delights and not the
gaunt world of reason. The pleasure is the pleasure
of powers that create a truth that cannot be arrived
at by the reason alone, a truth that the poet
recognizes by sensation.”
 Wallace Stevens’ lyrical poetry is modern in that it is
a continued and methodical experiment with new
ways of using language, another focus of the
moderns.

8. THE POETRY OF
WALLACE STEVENS
• PARAPHRASE
• MODERNISM
• NEW CRITICISM
• QHQS
Group Discussion
Take 10 minutes

9. The Snow Man
By Wallace Stevens
One must have a mind of winter
To regard the frost and the boughs
Of the pine-trees crusted with snow;
And have been cold a long time
To behold the junipers shagged with ice,
The spruces rough in the distant glitter
Of the January sun; and not to think
Of any misery in the sound of the wind,
In the sound of a few leaves,
Which is the sound of the land
Full of the same wind
That is blowing in the same bare place
For the listener, who listens in the snow,
And, nothing himself, beholds
Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.
Paraphrase?
https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=MM7LrsIhWqc

10. Paraphrase “The Snow Man”
 A person needs to be in a mood for winter and already feel cold in order to
look at the frost on the trees, the leaves covered in snow, the glisten of the
sun shining off the snow in order to not dread the sound of the cold wind
blowing through the small amount of leaves along it’s way over the barren
land covered in snow and ice for those that do listen can hear the stillness
in the air and the silence of winter and feel nothing.
 An individual ought to possess the mind of coldness, only to observe the
aspects of the [winter] rime and branches belonging to the pine-trees full
with winter’s power. And such a time it has been freezing, to look at the
evergreen [that is] weary with ice, the evergreen pines make an uneven
sight in the reflecting light of the new year’s morning, and never to sense of
any omens in the whisper of the [blowing] wind, found in the sound of
flying leaves. [It] is the whisper of the earth below, presented with the same
breeze that drafts in the same unconcealed location, for the one who gives
attention in the show, while, emptiness [in] himself, regards emptiness that
is not present and emptiness that is.

11. QHQ: “The Snow Man”
1. Q: What is he trying to say here?
1. “For the listener, who listens in the snow,
And, nothing himself, beholds
Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.”
2. What is the significance of the title?
3. Q: Is “The Snow Man” about the way to appreciate
reality, or about the existence of reality in minds of
people?
4. Q: Is “The Snow Man” an existentialist poem?

12. The Emperor Of Ice-Cream
By Wallace Stevens
Call the roller of big cigars,
The muscular one, and bid him whip
In kitchen cups concupiscent curds.
Let the wenches dawdle in such dress
As they are used to wear, and let the boys
Bring flowers in last month's newspapers.
Let be be finale of seem.
The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream.
Take from the dresser of deal.
Lacking the three glass knobs, that sheet
On which she embroidered fantails once
And spread it so as to cover her face.
If her horny feet protrude, they come
To show how cold she is, and dumb.
Let the lamp affix its beam.
The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream.
Paraphrase?
https://www.yout
ube.com/watch?v
=TrsspndTRXo

13. Paraphrase “The Emperor of Ice-Cream”, lines 1-
8
 [In late afternoon, a brothel opens it’s doors to visitors who
slink in the shadows.] Here comes the large and muscular man,
who’s skills lie in rolling big cigars. He has come to show off his
big cigar to whip-up lustful activities, as if a chef in a kitchen
whipping curds. The prostitutes, inviting in their sultry dresses
that they’ve worn one too many times, stand and watch
aimlessly to waste time. Young boys [shyly walk in with their
hats in one hand] and flowers for the ladies. They wrap the
flowers in last month’s newspaper, [too young to know the
proper way of bearing floras to a lady]. [The boys are much too
young to know romance, but they wish to lose themselves in
naive, innocent love with women who promise sweet nothings].
However, [in separate instance], someone has died. The only
power in this world, [separate from the basic human desire], is
ice-cream, [and it’s cold, sensual consumption.]

14. Paraphrase “The Emperor”
 “Call the person who sells cigars. He has a lot of muscles. Ask
him to make sweet, succulent treats and put them in kitchen
cups [for us]. Allow all the girls [whores?] to dress in their
casual, every-day wear and the boys to wrap up flowers in old
newspapers. Let everything be settled as it is [cause no more
illusions]. The only one with power here is the one who holds
ice cream [ice cream could represent innocence, cold, sweet].
There is a dresser with three glass knobs missing: take from it
a sheet on which she once embroidered birds. We will use that
to cover her up. If it is not long enough to cover her feet, then
her feet will remind us of her cold, [dead], unspeaking body.
We will shine this lamp [sun?] light on her now. [maybe the
light refers to the truth]. The only one with power here is the
one who holds the ice cream. [again, ice cream could
represent innocence, cold, sweetness]

15. New Critical Reading?
This poem is obscure and the title is deceiving to suggest total happiness. However,
there is celebration going on in the first stanza, so it’s not completely wrong. We can
see cigars, which are typically used for celebration or conference, a muscular man,
suggesting a good looking, strong man, sexy curds, and wenches, who are indicative of
alcohol being served by attractive women. It’s important to break down the nouns in
the first stanza to understand that there’s a sensual—the word “concupiscent” means
strong desire, especially sexual—celebration. Since the second stanza describes a dead
woman, it seems as if they are at a wake or funeral celebrating the life of their friend
who passed. The second stanza details the poor woman—cheap dresser missing
handles and hand embroidered sheets—wrapped in a shroud of her making who died.
It’s important to not the past tense used in “embroidered” because it seems to be the
only word supporting the death shroud she’s currently covered with to show death.
Due to the vague wording, there isn’t much to immediately go on that the woman is
dead. Even though this woman was monetarily poor in her life, she was clearly rich in
her social life because she has many people celebrating her life. For the main idea,
“The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream” is trying to tell us that life can be
pleasurable, like eating ice-cream. It’s one of the pleasures in life that most people—
sorry lactose intolerant people, you’re missing out on this one—thoroughly enjoy.
Therefore, we should take in that pleasure and relish it while we can because life is
what it is—“Let be be finale of seem”.

16. QHQ: “The Emperor of Ice Cream”
1. Q: Why did Stevens title this poem The Emperor of
Ice-Cream?
2. Q: Steven Wallace uses a peculiar choice of words
within his poem “The Emperor of Ice Cream.” Why
use the word “horny” to describe feet?
3. Is Stevens making fun of society at the time by
making the poem sound ridiculous with the title of
“The Emperor of Ice Cream” or negatively
critiquing it?
4. Q: Who is the speaker of this poem? Is it assumed
to be an omniscient being?

17. A MODERNIST INNOVATION
Stream of Consciousness

18. In literature, stream of consciousness is a method of narration
that describes in words the flow of thoughts in the minds of the
characters.
The term was coined was initially coined by a psychologist
William James in his research “The Principles of Psychology”.
He writes:
“… it is nothing joined; it flows. A ‘river’ or a ‘stream’ is the
metaphors by which it is most naturally described. In talking of
it hereafter, let’s call it the stream of thought, consciousness, or
subjective life.”

19. "The irresponsibility of the male
Leaves woman her superior Inferiority
He is running up-stairs
I am climbing a distorted mountain of agony
Incidentally with the exhaustion of control
I reach the summit" - Mina Loy "Parturition"
In this section of her poem "Parturition," Mina Loy reveals the struggles
behind childbirth, comparing the process of contractions to scaling a
mountain. She also uses this to show the strength of women compared to that
of men. Views at the time held women at an inferior status, but Loy claims
that women are superior because of strictly feminine things (childbirth),
because they create life within themselves. Men, she claims, are irresponsible
to the challenge. Their obliviousness to a woman's suffering makes them
intellectually inferior despite their physical superiority to a pregnant woman.
Example of Modern Stream of Consciousness

20. "The irresponsibility of the male
Leaves woman her superior Inferiority
He is running up-stairs
I am climbing a distorted mountain of agony
Incidentally with the exhaustion of control
I reach the summit”
But notice, too, the lack of punctuation and the way the lines
are broken. This is a terrific example of a Modernist author
experimenting with a new forms: the lack of grammatical. The
breaking up of lines gives the poem a more realistic feel,
almost as if these were the exact, thoughts of a women in
childbirth recorded as they happened. This stream of
consciousness is clear and important characteristic of
modernist poetry.

21. A Discussion
“Parturition”
1. QHQ on the “Parturition”
2. Discuss “Parturition” in conjunction with Loy’s Manifesto.
3. Discuss “Parturition” in conjunction with one critical theory

22. QHQ: “Parturition”
1. Q: What does the title “parturition” add to the story and why was it chosen?
2. Q: What does Mina Loy mean by women acting as “superior Inferiority”?
3. Q: Explain the significance of the “fashionable portrait-painter” in “Parturition.”
What does he represent and suggest, and how does this tie in with the overall
“concept” of the poem?
4. Q: Is Mina Loy describing the struggles of female inequality, injustice, and
inferiority in her line “climbing a distorted mountain of agony”?
5. Q: What does the cat mean in 10th and 11th stanza?
6. Q: What is the significance of the line “The irresponsibility of the male?”
7. Q: In the final part of the poem, does the line “I once heard in church God made
them.” refer to the halos themselves or the women who wear the halos?
8. What is the significant of ending the poem with, “-Man and woman God made
them-/ Thank God”?

23. QHQs “Parturition”
1. What effect does the poem’s form have on its
message?
2. Why does Loy include unexpected gaps in the
middle of some of her lines throughout the
beginning of her poem?
3. Q: How can one interpret the repetition of the
image of a circle?
4. Q1: How does Loy reveal her feelings on patriarchy,
how does her mentality share similarities with
eastern religion?
5. Q: How do I feel after reading Parturition?

24. “Parturition” in conjunction with feminism
This poem is a great example and encouragement for contemporary feminism. Unlike
the political standings that the feminists of the 19th century fought so hard for, the
contemporary feminists fight for equal rights to men, and the right for women to be
who they want to be without judgment. Feminism practices that it’s fine for a woman
to still want to be a mother. Being a mother is part of a woman’s biological
heritage/nature, so it’s only natural for a woman to want children. Wanting to be a
mother has nothing to do with following the archaic ideas of woman taking care of
children and the home while the man brings home the bacon. For instance, lines 35
through 40 are cursing the male for being an outsider with minimal action on his part
in the pregnancy. This isn’t saying that men are evil, it’s merely relaying the message
that men are only a small part of motherhood, and that they aren’t a vital part of that
life with the exception of their baby maker juice. During the entire poem, Loy only
mentions a man once. This denotes that woman are capable of the whole process of
childbearing without the assistance of a man. In the end of the poem, she rejoices at
becoming a mother, being a giver of life, which again doesn’t involve the feelings of the
man. During the last stanza, the halo that Loy refers to being ludicrous is women
continuing to wear the ridiculous idea that they are supposed to stay at home and listen
to their husbands while they shoot kids out like bullets without even considering the
fact that they could live life being an equal as well as deciding whether they even want
to be a gun—“Of which she is sublimely unaware” (299, line 130).

25. Critical Theory
 Q: Is Loy trying to say women will never be able to escape
from patriarchal society?
 Q: How does Loy compare the experience of childbirth to
the everyday life of just being a woman?
 Q: What is Mina Loy implying about women and gender
roles?
 Q: Can the Madonna-Whore complex be used in
analyzing the ending of “Parturition”?

26. Feminist theory
During the first half of the poem Loy
writes about the frustration she feels as
a woman is a mainly patriarchal
powered society. She mentions the
psychological suffering and irritation,
describing as an identical extensity
across her whole self. The problem
seems to be defined with the
misogynistic of the man starting from
line 35, in which they she retaliates
mentally, not verbally because the
oppressed feeling she prevents her from
doing so. In this way the views society
has on her and her struggle with them
feels like a never ending mountain she
has climb with little hope to get over it.
Putting aside the title of the
poem, I thought I was reading
about an orgasm.
“On infinitely prolonged nerve-
vibrations
Or in contraction
To the pinpoint nucleus of
being
Locate an irritation without
It is within
Within
It is without.
The sensitized area”

27. Discuss “Parturition” in conjunction with Loy’s
Manifesto
1. Q: Since Loy’s manifesto passionately depicts how women should be
strong and independent, why does Loy choose to portray herself as weak
and helpless? Basically, why does Loy victimize herself in regards to
how men treat women, when she has advocated against being seen in
such a way?
2. In conjunction with the manifesto, Mina Loy’s “Parturition”, is the
epitome of what she wrote about in the manifesto. The idea that the
name of the poem in its definition childbirth, which is brings up an
amusing point of how it is about the birth of feminist criticism.
3. The Loy’s manifesto and Parturition have a strong correlation to her
stance on Feminism. In her Manifesto, Loy calls out women’s
submissiveness toward male superiority in society. Parturition further
validates this point that she made in her manifesto except in a way that
glorifies that superior physiological power of women.

28. Exam #1:Introduction

29. Exam Review
1. Rules of writing based on introduction slides
 I will lie/lay down soon.
2. Passage identification by work
 “But Mrs. Hale, the law is the law.”
3. Character identification
 The Black Hawk moneylender.
4. Who said it? Name the Speaker
 “It is better to present one Image in a lifetime than to produce
voluminous works.”

30. Exam Review
5. Author identification
 In 1912, on a visit to her family in Red Cloud, she stood
on the edge of a wheat field and watched her first
harvest in years.
6. Terms: Fill in the blank
 __________________________ is the phenomena of
the awareness of the “two-ness” of being both American and
African American.

31. Exam Review
7. Identify the Theory
 This theory maintains that a literary work contains
certain intrinsic features, and the theory “defines and
addresses the specifically literary qualities in the
text."
8. Short essay/Long answer
 Name and explain one important symbol from Trifles
 Discuss gender and gender identity as it appears in My
Ántonia. You may consider the homoerotic.

32. HOMEWORK
 Review for Exam (at our
next meeting)
 Vocabulary, Theory, All
Reading
a. Rules of Writing: Multiple
Choice
b. Fill in the blank
c. Theory Identification
d. Passage Identification
e. Character Identification
f. Who said it?