peaceandwarpoetics - home

A note from the organizer 
 
This wiki began as a collaborative project by undergraduates at Western Washington University. The quarter's done and it's going live. It's still a work in progress, and open now to public editing. Informed and thoughtful contributions are most welcome. 
 
With our thanks, 
CP 
 
<h1>The Poetics of Peace and War</h1>
 <hr />
<h2><img src="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/file/view/alincoln.gif/306977098/alincoln.gif" alt="precise linkin is the cornerstone to a good Wiki" title="precise linkin is the cornerstone to a good Wiki" align="right" />Overview</h2>
 
This wiki links the concepts of peace and war within twentieth and twenty-first century poetry and visual art. It was collaboratively written by an English 311 class at Western Washington University, and covers six overarching categories: cultural contexts, schools and movements, poets, poetic techniques, critical concepts, and visual artists. It pays special attention to close reading of prominent artists and their respective interconnecting poetic techniques. 
 
For the purpose of this wiki, the terms “peace” and “war” are not rigidly defined. Instead, each encompasses a range of emotions, qualities, and aspects. For example, affection, faith, intimacy, redemption, and contentedness would all fall under the heading of “peace.” Under “war” would be such concepts as violence, anger, bitterness, grief, alienation, pain, and loss. These qualities are evoked in the works in a variety of ways, whether through content or form. 
 
Our sources are a compilation of class lectures, online resources, journal articles and printed sources. 
 
<h2>Cultural Context</h2>
 
Many cultural contexts shaped the language of poetry and the techniques of visual artists, as well as topics in literature and poetry themselves. <a name="comment-461199-open" class="range"></a>‍Cultural contexts such as <a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/technology">technology</a>, <a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/alienation">alienation</a>, <a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/secularism">secularism</a> , and <a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/materialism">materialism</a><a name="comment-461199-close" class="range"></a>‍‍‍‍‍ evolved with the progression of 20th and 21st century wars. Technology not only brought about drastic advances in warfare but also drastic changes made for technological advances in households, shaping the American way of life. Alienation became especially prominent during the World War II era with the alienation of German and Japanese cultures, causing an &quot;us versus them&quot; mentality within the American people. There was also a sense of personal alienation, or a separation of the self from the rest of the world that altered the felt experience of the modern world. Secularism and materialism sprung up around the time of World War I, secularism being when people started breaking away from the popular religion (Christianity), and materialism which was a product of the growing consumer society. 
 
Overall, the wars were central factors to the poets of the 20th and 21st centuries. 
 
<a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/World%20War%20I">World War I</a> saw the inclusion of technological warfare, thus evolving the language necessary (such as the use of the word shellshock) to describe such developments as chemical warfare, trench warfare, airplanes, explosives, and submarines. Associated movements include Futurism, Cubism, Dada, Imagism, and Vorticism. The alienation of Germany from the other participants of the war lead later to World War II and Adolf Hilter’s rise to power. 
 
<a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/World%20War%20II">World War II</a> was molded from World War I where Adolf Hilter wished to expand Germany’s power. The invasion of Poland. There was much alienation revolving around Germany and Japan in which dehumanizing war propaganda heightened an “us vs. them” mentality from the Allies. A heightened fear of death was made evident by creations such as the atom bomb. 
 
The <a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/The%20Cold%20War">Cold War</a> was the period following World War II and following the invention of the atom bomb, where growing Communism was seen as a threat to humanity, especially from the increased aggression of Russia. The United States and Russia both fought many proxy wars, but never actually fought on their own soil. 
 
The<a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/Vietnam%20War"> Vietnam War</a> was one of the conflicts of the Cold War, lasting 19 years. It was one of the most significant proxy wars fought during the Cold War. Materialism began to develop on a larger scale at this time with cultural concepts such as the American Dream and nuclear families. 
 
<h2><a name="comment-59962-open" class="range"></a>‍‍‍‍‍Schools and Movements<a name="comment-59962-close" class="range"></a>‍‍‍‍‍</h2>
 
Each school and movement evolved from one another. Many of the movements share similar ideals and poetic techniques, though they utilize them to achieve different goals. Each movement was also created to accommodate the needs of poetry as they adapted to cultural contexts. One of the most common threads between each is the need to liberate language from the confines of conventional poetic standards such as rhythm and rhyme. 
 
<a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/Futurism">Futurism</a> was an early 20th century movement created by <a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/F.%20T.%20Marinetti">F. T. Marinetti</a>, which valued the change brought about by the industrialized world. There was no regard for the past, instead having a focus on speed and the machine. It also glorified the act of war, and the movement's creator heavily supported Italy's participation in World War I. From Futurism sprung <a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/Dada">Dada</a>, an Avant Garde movement that emphasized the absurdity of life. It was created to shock, baffle, and disorient its audience. It was created in response to the chaos of WWI and was short-lived because of its undefinable nature. <a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/Surrealism">Surrealism</a> was a movement that focuses on the irrationality of visual and literary mediums. It grew out of the Dada movement in the early 20th century, and brought to light what was hidden by realism, such as undisclosed truths of human nature. The <a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/Psychoanalytic%20developments">Psychoanalytic developments</a> connected with Sigmund Freud's theories, emerging at the beginning of the century, played a significant role in the inspiration and public understanding of various poets, artists, movements, and techniques. 
 
<a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/Imagism">Imagism</a> was a rebuttal to the romantic style of poetry focused on hardness of outline, clarity of image, brevity, suggestiveness, and freedom from metric laws. When the primary leader of Imagism, Ezra Pound, felt it had become a stagnant movement, he moved on to create <a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/Vorticism">Vorticism</a>. Vorticism was a brief movement that could be described as a form of visual energy by creating layers and connections through time and space as if by a vortex. These two movements also share similarities between Futurism (the liberation of language, a focus on movement). Imagism also influenced <a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/Objectivism">Objectivism</a> was a movement that emphasized the value of the object of attention, the poetry as an object, and <a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/metonymy">metonymy</a> as a poetic device. <a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/Black%20Mountain">Black Mountain</a>, as influenced by Objectivism, emphasized the experimental creative process that went into making poetry, as opposed to the poem itself. The school lasted for only 24 years before the participating poets disbanded. Lastly, <a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/Language%20Poetry">Language Poetry</a> was an Avant Garde movement created to find the foundation of language, and it’s real meaning and composition. It is often <a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/Indeterminacy">indeterminate</a>, as it relies the reader’s point of view and own understanding for any meaning to be made. 
 
<h2><a name="comment-839576-open" class="range"></a>‍‍‍‍‍Poets<a name="comment-839576-close" class="range"></a>‍‍‍‍‍</h2>
 
<img src="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/file/view/poetry2.jpg/306979458/297x222/poetry2.jpg" alt="" title="" style="height: 222px; width: 297px;" align="right" /> 
During the 20th and 21st centuries, poets began to shift away from traditional poetry and adopted new techniques that aided them in expressing both their personal and collective beliefs and views about the effect that war has on society. This new way of poetic expression resulted in a distancing from poetic constraints of the past and a focus on experimental techniques that allowed poetry to explore the human depth of expression through language. 
 
Beginning in the early 1900’s, with Futurists such as <a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/F.%20T.%20Marinetti">F.T. Marinetti</a>, Dadaists such as <a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/Hugo%20Ball">Hugo Ball</a> and Tristan Tzara, and Imagists such as <a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/Ezra%20Pound">Ezra Pound</a> and <a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/William%20Carlos%20Williams">William Carlos Williams</a>, poetics and language were propelled away from rigidity of form and content and into a new era. The Objectivism movement was <a name="comment-736846-open" class="range"></a>‍‍‍‍‍a natural evolution involving poets such as <a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/Lorine%20Niedecker">Lorine Niedecker</a>, and <a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/George%20Oppen">George Oppen</a><a name="comment-736846-close" class="range"></a>‍‍‍‍‍. Black Mountain College created a style that focuses on the process of creating the poem rather than the product. Poets associated with the college include <a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/Robert%20Creeley">Robert Creeley</a>,<a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/Denise%20Levertov"> Denise Levertov</a>, <a name="comment-719677-open" class="range"></a>‍‍‍‍‍George Oppen, and William Carlos Williams. <a name="comment-719677-close" class="range"></a>‍‍‍‍‍The evolution of poetics continued with Language poetry instigated by such poets as <a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/Gertrude%20Stein">Gertrude Stein</a>, <a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/Robert%20Grenier">Robert Grenier</a>, <a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/Rae%20Armantrout">Rae Armantrout</a>, and <a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/Myung%20Mi%20Kim">Myung Mi Kim</a>. 
 
<h2><a name="comment-203592-open" class="range"></a>‍‍‍‍‍Poetic Techniques<a name="comment-203592-close" class="range"></a>‍‍‍‍‍</h2>
 
<a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/Mimesis">Mimesis</a> is the literary device which focuses on mimicking the natural world. It is the mime language of artists. C.f. Mr. Mime.<img src="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/file/view/mr_mime.gif/306975696/247x270/mr_mime.gif" alt="" title="" style="height: 270px; width: 247px;" align="right" /> 
 
<a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/Onomatopoeia">Onomatopoeia</a> is a subset of mimesis in which the language mimics the sound that it attempts to represent. 
 
<a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/Fragmentation">Fragmentation</a> occurs when the artist breaks apart the image that they try to represent. This works hand in hand with collage where the collage is usually formed by fragments. 
 
<a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/Collage">Collage</a> is the re-composition of an image. Therefore it often functions as the re-composition of fragmentation's decomposition. 
 
<a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/Words-in-Freedom">Words-in-Freedom</a> is a literary technique that was developed by <a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/F.%20T.%20Marinetti">F.T. Marinetti </a>during his time in the <a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/Futurism">Futurist</a> movement. it is characterized by the destruction of conventional language through syntactical and typographical freedom. Another component of this technique is the <a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/Lighthouse%20adjective">Lighthouse adjective</a>, which fragments a composition both physically and semantically to influence the surrounding text. 
 
<h2>Relevant Critical Concepts</h2>
 
‍‍‍These concepts were pretty critical in understanding the language and meaning of literature and poetry in the avant-garde. The most overarching and somewhat confusing ones are listed here. With <a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/Compositional%20Meaning">compositional meaning</a>, the reader is given referential cues to aid in understanding the poetic work. In <a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/indeterminacy">indeterminacy</a>, confusion is exacerbated due to the allowance of multiple possibilities of meaning. Often times, the reason the author chose these techniques can provide more data to mete out than the work itself. In <a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/Orientalism">Orientalism</a>, the dominant force that is Western culture exerts more influence than simply militaristic and artistic aesthetics. It exerts superiority over the &quot;inferior&quot; Other to maintain the Other's submissive position. In this way, they can subsume disparate cultures and exploit them for political and economic reasons. <a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/Metonymy">Metonymy</a> provided the first break from the world of metaphor, and the those writers who utilized <a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/Objectivist%20Poetics">objectivist poetics</a> (notably those stemmed from the <a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/Objectivism">Objectivist</a> camp) ran with this new methodology. <a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/Imagination">Imagination</a> itself was an attempt to free artists from the confines of science and religion, and due to its freedom from constraints, could be adapted to any of the preceding concepts. 
 
<a name="comment-485005-open" class="range"></a>‍‍‍‍‍<a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/Compositional%20Meaning">compositional meaning</a><a name="comment-485005-close" class="range"></a>‍‍‍‍‍ - While referential linguistics relies on the reader to create an associate to the words and fill-in the blanks his/herself, compositional linguistics creates references within itself. Words used in a compositional text associate themselves with other words, thus creating new logic chains and gaining new meanings and definitions which the reader may not have a connection to and must use acoustic, semantic and syntactic and various other linguistic dissection tools to uncover the compositional text's inner logic and meaning. 
 
<a name="comment-989929-open" class="range"></a>‍‍‍‍‍<a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/Indeterminacy">indeterminacy</a><a name="comment-989929-close" class="range"></a>‍‍‍‍‍ - Indeterminacy is a move characteristic of many avant-garde artists. The work of poets like <a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/Gertrude%20Stein">Gertrude Stein</a>, <a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/William%20Carlos%20Williams">William Carlos Williams</a>, and <a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/Ezra%20Pound">Ezra Pound</a> relate due to their indeterminacy. Indeterminacy may be recognized as the condition that precipitates undecidability. Essentially, indeterminacy works by having several meanings evoked all at once yet all held in potential: they never ripen but instead hint at a ripening (and often negate the ripening of other potential meanings). Therefore, even to decide on a particular reading, for instance if the poem has multiple meanings, would be fruitless because no one meaning reaches full development. This dynamic between the contents of the poem and the possibilities of the poem characterize indeterminacy. 
 
<a name="comment-91409-open" class="range"></a>‍‍‍‍‍<a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/Orientalism">Orientalism</a><a name="comment-91409-close" class="range"></a>‍‍‍‍‍ - Orientalism is a style of writing that focuses on the perspectives and ideas of Eastern culture from a Western viewpoint. Most closely associated with Edward Said's seminal work <a class="wiki_link_ext" href="http://www.amazon.com/Orientalism-Edward-W-Said/dp/039474067X" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Orientalism</a>, in which he addresses the stereotypes that plague attempts at defining non-Western cultures. 
 
<a name="comment-158328-open" class="range"></a>‍‍‍‍‍<a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/Metonymy">metonymy</a><a name="comment-158328-close" class="range"></a>‍‍‍‍‍ - A literary device in which the association between concepts via prior knowledge is exploited. These already-established references provide means of exposition outside the metaphoric, symbolist approach; focus is primarily upon the object, rather than the viewer's relationship to the object. 
 
<a name="comment-467696-open" class="range"></a>‍‍‍‍‍<a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/Imagination">imagination</a><a name="comment-467696-close" class="range"></a>‍‍‍‍‍ - Imagination is a mode of perception in which we are intimate with our own experiences and a mode of action which offers that intimacy with others in the form of a rejuvenated art. It's a way of putting the world together outside the confines of reality. 
 
<a name="comment-553269-open" class="range"></a>‍‍‍‍‍<a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/Objectivist%20Poetics">objectivist poetics</a><a name="comment-553269-close" class="range"></a>‍‍‍‍‍ - Objectivist Poetics is a mode of poetry construction and composition that is often associated with <a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/objectivism">Objectivism</a>, though there is a difference from objectivist poetics. Objectivist poetics favors <a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/metonomy" target="_blank">metonomy</a> over metaphor, as metaphor (they believed) puts false association between the object and the other compared thing, ultimately doing injustice to the objects being compared when metonomy could have been to explain the objects just as they are. This term was coined by Charles Altieri who created it to differentiate between symbolist poetics (metaphor) and objectivist poetics (metonymy). 
 
<h2><a name="comment-675431-open" class="range"></a>‍‍‍‍‍Connections to Visual Arts<a name="comment-675431-close" class="range"></a>‍‍‍‍‍</h2>
 
The visual and literary arts have always been intricately linked, with the creative concepts and historical movements of one affecting the other. In addition, artists and authors frequently socialize with each other, which leads to collaborative projects, occasionally spawning new movements. The visual artists listed below have been in some way influential or influenced by the poetry and poetic movements listed on this page 
 
 
<a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/Carlo%20Carr%C3%A0">Carlo Carrà</a><img src="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/file/view/Carlo_Carr%C3%A0_Funeral_of_the_Anarchist_Galli.jpg/301505166/200x156/Carlo_Carr%C3%A0_Funeral_of_the_Anarchist_Galli.jpg" alt="" title="" style="height: 156px; width: 200px;" align="left" /> 
 
(1881 – 1966) 
 
Carlo Carrà was an Italian painter and writer... 
 
 
 
 
<img src="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/file/view/Demuth-Figure5InGold.jpg/300808332/175x208/Demuth-Figure5InGold.jpg" alt="" title="" style="height: 208px; width: 175px;" align="left" /> 
 
<a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/Charles%20Demuth">Charles Demuth</a> 
(1883 – 1935) 
Demuth was an American artist... 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
<img src="http://en.wahooart.com/A55A04/w.nsf/OPRA/BRUE-5ZKDHP/$File/Pablo%20Picasso%20-%20Studio%20with%20Plaster%20Head%20.JPG" alt="Studio with plaster head" title="Studio with plaster head" style="height: 162px; width: 222px;" align="left" /> 
 
 
 
<a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/Pablo%20Picasso">Pablo Picasso</a> 
(1881-1973) 
Picasso was a Spanish painter who 
experimented with multiple styles of art... 
 
 
 
<img src="http://uploads6.wikipaintings.org/images/gino-severini/dancer-in-pigalle-1912.jpg" alt="Dancer in Pigalle- 1912" title="Dancer in Pigalle- 1912" style="height: 237px; width: 234px;" align="left" /> 
 
<a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/Gino%20Severini">Gino Severini</a> 
(1883 - 1966) 
Severini was an Italian painter, sculptor, and graphic artist 
and a major benefactor of the Cubo-Futurist movement... 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
<img src="http://ashleighberryman.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/duchamp-fountain.jpg" alt="The Fountain" title="The Fountain" style="height: 260px; width: 209px;" align="left" /> 
 
<a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/Marcel%20Duchamp">Marcel Duchamp</a> 
(1887 - 1968) 
Duchamp is best known for his work 
in the <a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/Dada">Dada</a> and <a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/Cubism">Cubist</a> movements, 
working with both paint and sculpture... 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
<img src="http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/gris/cafephil.jpg" alt="The man in the cafe-1912" title="The man in the cafe-1912" style="height: 255px; width: 175px;" align="left" /> 
 
<a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/Juan%20Gris">Juan Gris</a> 
(1887-1927) 
Gris used Cubist stylistic techniques to 
yield abstract works of reality-based art.... 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
<img src="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/file/view/rothko.png/306522358/179x251/rothko.png" alt="" title="" style="height: 251px; width: 179px;" align="left" /> 
<a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/Mark%20Rothko">Mark Rothko</a> 
(1903 - 1970) 
Rothko was a Russian-American man who was one of 
the most well respected abstract-expressionist painters of his time... 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
<img src="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/file/view/Pollock_1_Number31.jpg/303044700/347x174/Pollock_1_Number31.jpg" alt="" title="" style="height: 174px; width: 347px;" align="left" /> 
 
<a class="wiki_link" href="http://peaceandwarpoetics.wikispaces.com/Jackson%20Pollock">Jackson Pollock</a> 
(1912 - 1956) 
Creator of a vivid and distinct style of art which stands 
under the banner of Abstract Expressionism... 
 
 
 
 
 
 
<h1>References‍‍‍‍</h1>
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