Lorine Niedecker is noteworthy for her participation in Objectivist Poetics, especially since she is the only female among the other core participants Louis Zukofsky, William Carlos Williams and George Oppen.[1] Her work is characterized by compact, direct language and relies on metonymy as opposed to metaphor.
Biography
Lorine Niedecker
Lorine Faith Niedecker was born in Wisconsin on May 12, 1903. During her high school years, an English teacher initiated Niedecker's lifelong interest in poetry. In 1922 she graduated high school and attended Beloit College in which she was an active member of both the poetry and debate clubs. In 1924, however, her education was stopped short after her father could no longer pay tuition. Her mother's deteriorating condition (deafness, depression brought on by husband's infidelity) brought Niedecker back to Wisconsin to care for her, where she settled down on Black Hawk Island, Wisconsin, the town she grew up in, and married in 1928. She took a library job, but The Great Depression quickly ended her employment as well as her husband's new-found road company. Niedecker and her husband separated in 1930, though they didn't officially divorce until 1942.
Niedecker's early poetry centered around the concepts of the subconscious, dreams, and abstract expressions. After reading an issue of Poetry in 1931, in which New York poet Louis Zukofsky spoke about objectivist poetics, she was so inspired and felt compelled to write him a letter. It took Neidecker six months to actually work up the courage write, but once she did it prompted a forty-year-long correspondence between them. Two years after the initial communication, Niedecker flew to New York to meet Zukofsky and they became lovers. Niedecker became pregnant at one point, and persuaded by Zukofsky, had an abortion. Their intellectual relationship endured, however, and through their following years together they gave each other inspiration and criticism.
She reflected in 1966, “I feel that without [that issue of Poetry], I’d never have developed as a poet – I literally went to school to William Carlos Williams and Louis Zukofsky and have had the good fortune to call the latter friend and mentor.”[2] Zukofsky served as a positive force, encouraging and mentoring Niedecker in her work, and oftentimes going through several revisions of a single piece with her through their correspondence.
Niedecker only published four books during her lifetime, but was published in many literary magazines and popularized for her involvement in the Objectivist Poetics movement. Niedecker died in 1970 due to a hemorrhage; posthumous publishing of her collected works and two editions of correspondence made her body of work better known and accessible.[3]
Movements
Imagism
Lorine Niedecker
In her earliest pieces Niedecker was greatly inspired by the Imagism movement, writing about clear-cut, specific images in a fashion contrasting the typical Romanticism feel (i.e., Romantics' implementation of metaphor and Imagists' of metonymy; the latter perhaps maintaining greater integrity of the subject). In 1928, two of Niedecker's poems were printed which showed her intrigue with the Imagist movement: "Transition," and "Mourning Dove." Niedecker had a natural affinity for the Imagists, "to the wordy ones and the strange rhythms."[4]
Surrealism
Niedecker's stray from conventional Romanticism, holding qualities inherently opposite of Imagism, seamlessly explains her fascination with Surrealism as well. Come Zukofsky's publication in Poetry in 1931, Niedecker opened her eyes to even more poetic possibilities. She wrote to Zukofsky with her poem "When Ecstasy is Inconvenient," who immediately referred her to Poetry's publisher for publication. This poem "reveals Niedecker's early surrealism, a style she was exploring long before 'Mr. Zukofsky referred me to the surrealists for correlation.'"[5]
Objectivism/objectivist poetics
While known as the last to jump on the bandwagon (and the only woman directly associated with the movement) with the rest of the well-known and influential objectivist poets, her personal contribution brought new depth to the movement: writing about the self. She is credited as the one to bring "writing about the personal" to the movement, an especially intriguing addition considering the idea of objectively viewing one's self.[6] See analysis of "There's a Better Shine" for more on Niedecker's use of self-image.
Jenny Penberthy’s essay “A little too little: Re-reading Lorine Niedecker” examines the transformation of Niedecker’s work, citing her early penchant for surrealism. Influenced by Virginia Woolf, she went on to explore “a depersonalized study of the self, of what Carl Rakosi would identify as the antithesis of Objectivism: 'the streaming consciousness'" – Penberthy goes on to compare her to Gertrude Stein. But after her work came under fire by Ezra Pound and acquaintance Zukofsky, she turned toward the more condensed forms which mark her shift toward Objectivism. Penberthy notes, as a display of Objectivism, her “use of nonsense, [and] the same subtextual jostling beneath a strong surface of syntax and rhythm.” [7]
Political/Social Activism
Between 1935-36, Niedecker grew inspired by her readings of Carl Marx and Friedrich Engles and committed herself to social reform; her focus moved from overt surrealism towards political and social themes, including "the Depression, the growth of Fascism, the Spanish Civil War, the Vichy government in France, the American involvement in World War II, the atomic bomb, and so on." Niedecker had a great interest in American history, and "much of her research would be reflected in her poems in the form of quotation, a practice familiar to her from her reading of Zukofsky, Pound, and Marianne Moore." [8]
Critical Reception and Analysis
North Central
Niedecker's collection North Central (published 1968)[9] is notable not only for the quality of the work, but for its format. Like William Carlos Williams, she refuses to fulfill the expectations of a typical collection of poems, and achieves it by her use of line, negative space, and font format. For example, it's impossible to know precisely where "Lake Superior" ends and another poem begins. All of the stanzas of "Lake Superior" are separated by a bullet point in negative space, but there is also a thematic thread linking the stanzas together. Niedecker continues this trend with the use of italics and off-set initial lines, choices usually reserved for titles. One could therefore argue that Joilet, Wild Pigeon, and My Life by Water are their own poems. One could also argue that they are a part of "Lake Superior" because the small capitols used for that title haven't been used again. These three emphasized lines can be viewed as markers to separate different sections within "Lake Superior," like movements in a concerto, tributaries to a river system or even capillaries off of veins. On these grounds, one could claim that North Central is cohesive, that all parts, regardless of their various headings or lack thereof, are simply a part of the whole, a theme which appears in the content of the work as well as in its form. These multiple interpretations are an excellent example of indeterminacy: no single one of them is "right," and none of them are "wrong," either, as each can be convincingly argued and substantiated.
North Central is full of rock imagery. The collection begins with the following section:
In every part of every living thing is stuff that once was rock
In blood the minerals of the rock
Playing off the concept of part-in-whole also exhibited by the format, one potential further analysis of North Central is that Niedecker is addressing Alienation. Once separated from the forms of community that humanity has been entrenched in for the majority of its history, she has reached out to the natural world, especially the Earth, and has made it sacred, reconciling herself as only a part of a whole system. This is drawn again, from the format of the piece as well as the content: by having part of the Earth in her blood (iron) she is a part of it as much as it is a part of her.[10] It is also worth noting that there is absolutely no recourse to metaphor or symbolism here: there literally is 'stuff that once was rock' in every living thing.
Number 31, by Jackson Pollock (1950)
Jackson Pollock'sNumber 31 (left), evokes feelings of falling and white noise or static which can be translated into action and motion. "Wintergreen Ridge" shares some of these effects. Referentially, the poem deals with destruction and decomposition in nature (on a micro scale, and therefore, metonymically, on a macro scale as well), but in regards to format, the piece behaves like Number 31. Due to the regularity in length and spacing of the lines in the poem, it gives a general impression of static. However, there are a few lines which pop out; for example, "pierced the woods red," "grind with their acid," "the bomb," "pelting of the police with flowers," "no space rocket launched here," "More news: the war which 'cannot be stopped,'" and "Great God--what men desire!--." All of these phrases, scattered throughout "Wintergreen Ridge," stand out due to their cultural significance as well as their abrasive imagery, similarly to the way larger white splotches of paint in the foreground of Pollock's piece stand out. Niedecker still gives the overall impression of oneness though, and therefore peace, through the regularity of the lines and also with the mention of both Flower Power and the Beats, both typically viewed as anti-war groups during Vietnam.
Other Analyses
There's a better shine on the pendulum than is on my hair and many times * * * * I've seen it there. (Test of Poetry 41)
Amidst his discussion of displacement and the Avant-Garde, Peter Middleton writes of “There’s a Better Shine”[11] : “The diacritical stars are an integral part of the poem at several levels, indicating a pause for breath and a break in thought, representing a measure of elapsed time, and forming an iconic image of the beats of a pendulum." The poem's alternating of stressed and unstressed syllables further marries the work's form to its content--viewing the poem's mentioned objects (pendulum, shiny hair) as well as viewing the poem itself as an object, a characteristic seen frequently in Objectivist Poetics. Middleton continues: "This poem's elegant concision, musical control, innovative use of punctuation, and apparent simplicity of theme, typify much of Niedecker's later work;” perhaps an example of “condensery,” a term Niedecker coined herself and one which Rachel Blau DuPlessis applies to her other works.[12]
This poem is also a noteworthy example of Niedecker writing about herself through the use of Objectivist Poetics. Her work focuses on the relationship between her own self-image (the shine in her hair) and the universal concept of time passing (the pendulum). This represents the inevitable perpetuation of meditation between subject and object in her style of poetry.
Images are used in accordance with fair use practices. If you hold copyright to an image, and do not agree that its use accords with fair use practices, please contact the wiki's creator and organizer. Drafting (Phase I)
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X Edit all prose for clarity, concision, and correctness X Make sure transitions within sections are smooth (anywhere you’ve added, cut, or moved material may need a new transition) X Decide where to put visual and audio materials and whether/how to wrap text around them (try to make the page pleasant to look at) X Make sure image and audio files are internal (have been uploaded to the wiki) X Make sure section headings are clear, concise, and accurate (all pages should have, as their last two sections, “External Resources” and “References”—the opening summary has no heading) X Look for missed opportunities to link to wiki pages and external resources (make the link) X Make sure links to external pages open in a new window X Make sure images have appropriate captions (photographs—name of person, place, or thing; artworks—title of work and (in parentheses) date completed) X Make sure summary is brief but substantive (capture the two or three most important points) X Make sure links in External Resources section are accurate, brief, and descriptive X Make sure References section begins with “fair use” disclaimer X Make sure references are in correct format
Formatting and Polishing (Phase III)
X Proofread for correctness, clarity, and concision (everyone in group should proofread the page) X Begin Summary with name of person, movement, concept, or condition, in boldface X Standardize heading format (main headings: Heading 1 and a horizontal rule; then Heading 2, Heading 3, and so on) X Standardize fonts (Arial at 100% text size) X Standardize “fair use” disclaimer (same format as used on “Cubism” page) 33 REFERENCE GLITCHES - seems irreparable. Look for spots where wikispace glitches have caused format problems (see “Guy at Front of Room” for instructions on how to resolve glitches)
Biography
Lorine Faith Niedecker was born in Wisconsin on May 12, 1903. During her high school years, an English teacher initiated Niedecker's lifelong interest in poetry. In 1922 she graduated high school and attended Beloit College in which she was an active member of both the poetry and debate clubs. In 1924, however, her education was stopped short after her father could no longer pay tuition. Her mother's deteriorating condition (deafness, depression brought on by husband's infidelity) brought Niedecker back to Wisconsin to care for her, where she settled down on Black Hawk Island, Wisconsin, the town she grew up in, and married in 1928. She took a library job, but The Great Depression quickly ended her employment as well as her husband's new-found road company. Niedecker and her husband separated in 1930, though they didn't officially divorce until 1942.
Niedecker's early poetry centered around the concepts of the subconscious, dreams, and abstract expressions. After reading an issue of Poetry in 1931, in which New York poet Louis Zukofsky spoke about objectivist poetics, she was so inspired and felt compelled to write him a letter. It took Neidecker six months to actually work up the courage write, but once she did it prompted a forty-year-long correspondence between them. Two years after the initial communication, Niedecker flew to New York to meet Zukofsky and they became lovers. Niedecker became pregnant at one point, and persuaded by Zukofsky, had an abortion. Their intellectual relationship endured, however, and through their following years together they gave each other inspiration and criticism.
She reflected in 1966, “I feel that without [that issue of Poetry], I’d never have developed as a poet – I literally went to school to William Carlos Williams and Louis Zukofsky and have had the good fortune to call the latter friend and mentor.”[2] Zukofsky served as a positive force, encouraging and mentoring Niedecker in her work, and oftentimes going through several revisions of a single piece with her through their correspondence.
Niedecker only published four books during her lifetime, but was published in many literary magazines and popularized for her involvement in the Objectivist Poetics movement. Niedecker died in 1970 due to a hemorrhage; posthumous publishing of her collected works and two editions of correspondence made her body of work better known and accessible.[3]
Movements
Imagism
Surrealism
Niedecker's stray from conventional Romanticism, holding qualities inherently opposite of Imagism, seamlessly explains her fascination with Surrealism as well. Come Zukofsky's publication in Poetry in 1931, Niedecker opened her eyes to even more poetic possibilities. She wrote to Zukofsky with her poem "When Ecstasy is Inconvenient," who immediately referred her to Poetry's publisher for publication. This poem "reveals Niedecker's early surrealism, a style she was exploring long before 'Mr. Zukofsky referred me to the surrealists for correlation.'"[5]Objectivism/objectivist poetics
While known as the last to jump on the bandwagon (and the only woman directly associated with the movement) with the rest of the well-known and influential objectivist poets, her personal contribution brought new depth to the movement: writing about the self. She is credited as the one to bring "writing about the personal" to the movement, an especially intriguing addition considering the idea of objectively viewing one's self.[6] See analysis of "There's a Better Shine" for more on Niedecker's use of self-image.Jenny Penberthy’s essay “A little too little: Re-reading Lorine Niedecker” examines the transformation of Niedecker’s work, citing her early penchant for surrealism. Influenced by Virginia Woolf, she went on to explore “a depersonalized study of the self, of what Carl Rakosi would identify as the antithesis of Objectivism: 'the streaming consciousness'" – Penberthy goes on to compare her to Gertrude Stein. But after her work came under fire by Ezra Pound and acquaintance Zukofsky, she turned toward the more condensed forms which mark her shift toward Objectivism. Penberthy notes, as a display of Objectivism, her “use of nonsense, [and] the same subtextual jostling beneath a strong surface of syntax and rhythm.” [7]
Political/Social Activism
Between 1935-36, Niedecker grew inspired by her readings of Carl Marx and Friedrich Engles and committed herself to social reform; her focus moved from overt surrealism towards political and social themes, including "the Depression, the growth of Fascism, the Spanish Civil War, the Vichy government in France, the American involvement in World War II, the atomic bomb, and so on." Niedecker had a great interest in American history, and "much of her research would be reflected in her poems in the form of quotation, a practice familiar to her from her reading of Zukofsky, Pound, and Marianne Moore." [8]Critical Reception and Analysis
North Central
Niedecker's collection North Central (published 1968)[9] is notable not only for the quality of the work, but for its format. Like William Carlos Williams, she refuses to fulfill the expectations of a typical collection of poems, and achieves it by her use of line, negative space, and font format. For example, it's impossible to know precisely where "Lake Superior" ends and another poem begins. All of the stanzas of "Lake Superior" are separated by a bullet point in negative space, but there is also a thematic thread linking the stanzas together. Niedecker continues this trend with the use of italics and off-set initial lines, choices usually reserved for titles. One could therefore argue that Joilet, Wild Pigeon, and My Life by Water are their own poems. One could also argue that they are a part of "Lake Superior" because the small capitols used for that title haven't been used again. These three emphasized lines can be viewed as markers to separate different sections within "Lake Superior," like movements in a concerto, tributaries to a river system or even capillaries off of veins. On these grounds, one could claim that North Central is cohesive, that all parts, regardless of their various headings or lack thereof, are simply a part of the whole, a theme which appears in the content of the work as well as in its form. These multiple interpretations are an excellent example of indeterminacy: no single one of them is "right," and none of them are "wrong," either, as each can be convincingly argued and substantiated.North Central is full of rock imagery. The collection begins with the following section:
In every part of every living thing
is stuff that once was rock
In blood the minerals
of the rock
Playing off the concept of part-in-whole also exhibited by the format, one potential further analysis of North Central is that Niedecker is addressing Alienation. Once separated from the forms of community that humanity has been entrenched in for the majority of its history, she has reached out to the natural world, especially the Earth, and has made it sacred, reconciling herself as only a part of a whole system. This is drawn again, from the format of the piece as well as the content: by having part of the Earth in her blood (iron) she is a part of it as much as it is a part of her.[10] It is also worth noting that there is absolutely no recourse to metaphor or symbolism here: there literally is 'stuff that once was rock' in every living thing.
Jackson Pollock's Number 31 (left), evokes feelings of falling and white noise or static which can be translated into action and motion. "Wintergreen Ridge" shares some of these effects. Referentially, the poem deals with destruction and decomposition in nature (on a micro scale, and therefore, metonymically, on a macro scale as well), but in regards to format, the piece behaves like Number 31. Due to the regularity in length and spacing of the lines in the poem, it gives a general impression of static. However, there are a few lines which pop out; for example, "pierced the woods red," "grind with their acid," "the bomb," "pelting of the police with flowers," "no space rocket launched here," "More news: the war which 'cannot be stopped,'" and "Great God--what men desire!--." All of these phrases, scattered throughout "Wintergreen Ridge," stand out due to their cultural significance as well as their abrasive imagery, similarly to the way larger white splotches of paint in the foreground of Pollock's piece stand out. Niedecker still gives the overall impression of oneness though, and therefore peace, through the regularity of the lines and also with the mention of both Flower Power and the Beats, both typically viewed as anti-war groups during Vietnam.
Other Analyses
There's a better shineon the pendulum
than is on my hair
and many times
* * * *
I've seen it there. (Test of Poetry 41)
Amidst his discussion of displacement and the Avant-Garde, Peter Middleton writes of “There’s a Better Shine”[11] : “The diacritical stars are an integral part of the poem at several levels, indicating a pause for breath and a break in thought, representing a measure of elapsed time, and forming an iconic image of the beats of a pendulum." The poem's alternating of stressed and unstressed syllables further marries the work's form to its content--viewing the poem's mentioned objects (pendulum, shiny hair) as well as viewing the poem itself as an object, a characteristic seen frequently in Objectivist Poetics. Middleton continues: "This poem's elegant concision, musical control, innovative use of punctuation, and apparent simplicity of theme, typify much of Niedecker's later work;” perhaps an example of “condensery,” a term Niedecker coined herself and one which Rachel Blau DuPlessis applies to her other works.[12]
This poem is also a noteworthy example of Niedecker writing about herself through the use of Objectivist Poetics. Her work focuses on the relationship between her own self-image (the shine in her hair) and the universal concept of time passing (the pendulum). This represents the inevitable perpetuation of meditation between subject and object in her style of poetry.
External Resources
A collection of Niedecker-related links including her poetry, essays, and an audio clip
Jenny Penberthy's Biography and Introduction to Niedecker's Collected Works
Links to various Analyses of Neidecker's work
Lorine Niedecker, The Anonymous: Gender, Class, and Genre Resistances by Rachel Blau DuPlessis
References
Images are used in accordance with fair use practices.
If you hold copyright to an image, and do not agree that its use accords with fair use practices,
please contact the wiki's creator and organizer.
Drafting (Phase I)
X Locate relevant written sources (online and/or print) (keep track of source info)
X Locate relevant images, videos, audio files (keep track of source info)
X Develop your own discussion of the topic, using source materials to get started (use a mixture of paraphrase and quotation—avoid over-long quotations)
X Structure page: (1) opening summary, (2) factual material, (3) interpretive material, (4) other items of interest, (5) external resources, (6) references (nos. 2-4 may vary depending on material)
X Position images and videos around where they should go
X Create internal links (no new window) to other pages on wiki, external links (new window) to relevant web materials
X Insert and format references (paraphrases and quotations should be cited—in reference, name of page or site is hyperlinked—don’t simply append web address at end of, or instead of, reference)
Revising (Phase II)
X Check credibility of sources and external links (avoid Wikipedia and sources that look biased or amateur)
X Assess your global structure (is this the best order for your materials?) and revise accordingly
X Assess the structure of each section (paragraph development? order of paragraphs?) and revise accordingly
X Look for material that isn’t relevant to the topic and cut it
X Look for sections that go long and explore whether you should (a) trim them down, and/or (b) break them into paragraphs and/or subsections
X Look for sections that are short and explore whether you should flesh them out (remember that anything from class discussion, journal writing, essay work, and mini-lectures—no need to cite me—can be used as raw material)
X Make sure your discussion is in a consistent and objective tone
X Look for redundancies with other pages (connect with that workgroup and decide how to resolve)
Editing (Phase III)
X Edit all prose for clarity, concision, and correctness
X Make sure transitions within sections are smooth (anywhere you’ve added, cut, or moved material may need a new transition)
X Decide where to put visual and audio materials and whether/how to wrap text around them (try to make the page pleasant to look at)
X Make sure image and audio files are internal (have been uploaded to the wiki)
X Make sure section headings are clear, concise, and accurate (all pages should have, as their last two sections, “External Resources” and “References”—the opening summary has no heading)
X Look for missed opportunities to link to wiki pages and external resources (make the link)
X Make sure links to external pages open in a new window
X Make sure images have appropriate captions (photographs—name of person, place, or thing; artworks—title of work and (in parentheses) date completed)
X Make sure summary is brief but substantive (capture the two or three most important points)
X Make sure links in External Resources section are accurate, brief, and descriptive
X Make sure References section begins with “fair use” disclaimer
X Make sure references are in correct format
Formatting and Polishing (Phase III)
X Proofread for correctness, clarity, and concision (everyone in group should proofread the page)
X Begin Summary with name of person, movement, concept, or condition, in boldface
X Standardize heading format (main headings: Heading 1 and a horizontal rule; then Heading 2, Heading 3, and so on)
X Standardize fonts (Arial at 100% text size)
X Standardize “fair use” disclaimer (same format as used on “Cubism” page)
33 REFERENCE GLITCHES - seems irreparable. Look for spots where wikispace glitches have caused format problems (see “Guy at Front of Room” for instructions on how to resolve glitches)
Penberthy
Penberthy, Jenny. "Introduction to Lorine Niedecker: Collected Works". Jacket2. Jacket, 2002. Web. 15 Feb. 2012.
"Lorine Niedecker". Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation, 2011. Web. 12 Feb. 2012
Patton, Christopher. "Objectivism." Poetics of Peace and War. Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA. 14 Feb. 2012. Class Lecture.
Middleton, Peter. "Lorine Niedecker's "Folk Base" and Her Challenge to the American Avant-Garde". Electronic Poetry Center (EPC). n.p., n.d. Web. 15 Feb. 2012.