Sixteenth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

It is worthwhile to note the striking contrapuntal voices in the oeuvre of different modern-day litterateurs of America who are contemporaries. One or more of these contemporaries surprise us by their meditation upon such theme(s) which are least expected to engross a litterateur’s heart/mind, in the light of overwhelming happenings in contemporary society, local or global. However, our shock gets dissipated when we see the oeuvre of other kinds of writers and poets who are in tune with the realities of their time. The former is the case with Amy Lowell whereas the latter is true regarding Carl Sandburg. Thus, we can justly affirm that their poetic voices are contrapuntal to one another. The proposed paper intends to systematically reveal this unequivocal fact in its mainstream discourse. The plan to construct this discourse includes selective reference to the poems of Sandburg and Lowell. First, a look at Amy Lowell’s poems is appropriate to show how she keeps psychologically, sweetly aloof (and for us, amazingly so) from the tension enveloping mankind (the First World War) and even the misery and problems of her local society. Poems like September 1918, Venus Transiens, Madonna of the Evening Flowers, vindicate our affirmation regarding Lowell. Simultaneously, but quite in contradistinction to Lowell, Carl Sandburg presents his poetry as a realm that is rooted in the world and life around him. He is interested in common people and his poems mostly depict black people’s life. Poems like Chicago, Subway, etc., vindicate us.