American Lit

[Roy Hobbs]

Following are four sonnets-- a kind of Cliff Notes
for those who have forgotten their days in American
lit class ...

"The Ambassadors"

Lambert Strether took a boat to France
in order to convince his nephew, Chad,
that the woman he was sleeping with was bad-
that he should tend to business, not romance.
But later, when he'd had a second glance
at the way Mme. de Vionnet was clad,
Strether thought anyone would be a cad
to let her get away under any circumstance.

The plot is structured like an hour-glass
turned on its side- the men just trade places.
Chad goes back to the states (the silly ass!),
while Strether enters a state of sexless stasis.
The novel's theme is clear and unassailable-
never turn down pussy that's available.


"The Rain King"

Tormented by a voice that said, "I want,"
Henderson left his fiddle, pigs and wife
and sought to solve the riddle of his life
in Africa, that darkest continent.

Eager to serve, but heedless in his hurry,
he bombed a well, blew some frogs ker-flooey-
doing in the well, as well. Whereat the Arnewi
sent him off to visit Where The Fug Are We?

As Rain King, Hendy made water for a nation;
and so, they gave him fifty wives to service.
But one Fugggy custom made him nervous-
failure to perform meant strangulation.

So back he fled home, to farm and fiddle,
where he'd have but a single wife to diddle.

"The Sun Also Rises"

Jake and Bill and Robert, Mike and Brett
are all expatriots who spend their days
screwing, drinking and fishing-- in many ways
they aren't a responsible or sober set.

Jake's problem is that he cannot beget
children; Brett Ashley's that she lays
too many men. A general malaise
of post-war blues besets the whole quintet.

Jake and Cohen are steers who shoot the bull;
Mike and Bill are bulls who cannot steer
a straight path from bed to bar and beer.

The sun arises, sets, sets and rises--
a man's life, at best, is truly conditio-null;
at worst, it's 'nada' at the Last Assizes.

"The Leatherstocking Tales"

In the first book, Natty slew a deer
and earned the name of Hawkeye; in the next
he stalked the forest, shedding a dry-eyed tear
when Uncas fell and vanished from the text.
In the third novel, Natty blazed a trail
for a scouting party on Lake Glimmerglass;
in the fourth, he broke the law and went to jail--
in the fifth he died, on Bighorn's mountain pass.

Cooper's novels always have two plots--
one of adventure and one of pure romance.
He freely mixes love and rifle shots,
blushing girls, corset and buckskin pants.
He does so well with the scout and indian part,
but those sentimental plots?-- not worth a fart.

##

[Philatone]

will stop by in a few to take a look;
really like the idea

[Leanne]

I'm sure I can be excused my "forgetfulness" of American literature, since I'm sure you are "forgetful" of Australian literature to the same extent

I will consider my acquaintance made with the subject matter thanks to your "cliff notes"... and now I'll just speak to the structure of the sonnets.

"The Ambassadors"

Lambert Strether took a boat to France
in order to convince his nephew, Chad,
that the woman he was sleeping with was bad- -- for the sake of meter, and because we can get away with such things in a poem, I'd suggest taking "that" as read and just starting the line with "the" -- alternatively, you could drop "the" and go with "that woman"
that he should tend to business, not romance. -- depending on your choice for the line above, you might consider starting this line with "and" instead of "that"
But later, when he'd had a second glance
at the way Mme. de Vionnet was clad, -- the meter is again disrupted at the start of this line, and I'm generally ok with that, but if you wanted to render it into lovely neat and anal iambs, I'd suggest something like "at how Mme. de Vionnet was clad"
Strether thought anyone would be a cad -- the meter in these two lines is more problematic, to my reading, all different shaped feet -- I'm not entirely sure at this point what to suggest as a fix though
to let her get away under any circumstance.

The plot is structured like an hour-glass
turned on its side- the men just trade places. -- with a feminine ending, you should really have another syllable -- I'd suggest "the men just trading places"
Chad goes back to the states (the silly ass!),
while Strether enters a state of sexless stasis. -- a syllable over here, I'd suggest "while Strether ends up stuck in sexless stasis" or similar
The novel's theme is clear and unassailable-
never turn down pussy that's available. -- love the triple rhymes to close, that's a great change-up both in meter and in tone

I'll have a look at the others when I have another moment of silence in my house!

[rayheinrich]

.
"American lit class"

Yes, yet another empire dies with a bluster.

[Philatone]

ok! quick notes on what I found. take what you will; I'm not going to discuss meter (at least for the first one), Leanne beat me to some of the points I was going to raise

Following are four sonnets-- a kind of Cliff Notes
for those who have forgotten their days in American
lit class ...

"The Ambassadors"

Lambert Strether took a boat to France
in order to convince his nephew, Chad,
that the woman he was sleeping with was bad-
that he should tend to business, not romance.
But later, when he'd had a second glance ...the "but later, when" strikes me as a little redundant
at the way Mme. de Vionnet was clad,
Strether thought anyone would be a cad...these rhymes felt a little barred by the form
to let her get away under any circumstance.



The plot is structured like an hour-glass
turned on its side- the men just trade places. ..."just" feels extra
Chad goes back to the states (the silly ass!),
while Strether enters a state of sexless stasis....this and line above are fun...actually, the entire closing four lines are great, especially using end words I wouldn't normally consider
The novel's theme is clear and unassailable-
never turn down pussy that's available.


"The Rain King"

Tormented by a voice that said, "I want,"
Henderson left his fiddle, pigs and wife ...last three objects are great
and sought to solve the riddle of his life
in Africa, that darkest continent...hm

Eager to serve, but heedless in his hurry,
he bombed a well, blew some frogs ker-flooey-
doing in the well, as well. Whereat the Arnewi...realize intention, but not sure how I feel about the 'wells'
sent him off to visit Where The Fug Are We?

As Rain King, Hendy made water for a nation;
and so, they gave him fifty wives to service.
But one Fugggy custom made him nervous-
failure to perform meant strangulation.

So back he fled home, to farm and fiddle,
where he'd have but a single wife to diddle.

"The Sun Also Rises"

Jake and Bill and Robert, Mike and Brett
are all expatriots who spend their days
screwing, drinking and fishing-- in many ways
they aren't a responsible or sober set. ...felt a bit telly, would like it to be a little less direct

Jake's problem is that he cannot beget
children; Brett Ashley's that she lays
too many men. A general malaise
of post-war blues besets the whole quintet.

Jake and Cohen are steers who shoot the bull;
Mike and Bill are bulls who cannot steer
a straight path from bed to bar and beer....OK!

The sun arises, sets, sets and rises--
a man's life, at best, is truly conditio-null;
at worst, it's 'nada' at the Last Assizes.

"The Leatherstocking Tales"

In the first book, Natty slew a deer
and earned the name of Hawkeye; in the next
he stalked the forest, shedding a dry-eyed tear
when Uncas fell and vanished from the text.
In the third novel, Natty blazed a trail
for a scouting party on Lake Glimmerglass;
in the fourth, he broke the law and went to jail--
in the fifth he died, on Bighorn's mountain pass....felt the rhymes worked very well in this stanza; liked the line breaks and continuations

Cooper's novels always have two plots--
one of adventure and one of pure romance.
He freely mixes love and rifle shots,
blushing girls, corset and buckskin pants.
He does so well with the scout and indian part,
but those sentimental plots?-- not worth a fart.

##

it wasn't what i was expecting, but that was more than welcome. enjoyed the read; hope the little bits can help

[Erthona]

Henry James, Saul Bellow, James Fenimore Cooper, Ernest Hemingway. The last two I can go with but no Sam Clemons, Stienbeck, or William Faulkner, not to mention Henry Miller

For my money Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne beats out "Last of the Mohicans"

I know I read something by Bellow, probably "The Adventures of Augie March" but I can't recall a thing about it. Out of the 132 hours of Literature I took, I can not recall reading anything by Henry James. I only say this to point out how different things are emphasized depending on what university one attends.

I'm not sure that a sonnet form, regardless of which variety is the best form for this topic. Probably free iambic verse with a line more or less five feet, but without strict rhyme requirements, as some of the rhymes seem a bit problematic such as "ker-flooey" and "Arnewi". Even if "ker-flooey" were an actual word, it would still seem a bit contrived.

I thought you "The Sun Also Rises" was the most sufficient of the group. "The Leatherstocking Tales" read more like a book report.

It just seems that even for someone such as myself, with a fairly extensive background in American lit, these would seem a bit obscure for most people, making it difficult to draw much from them. On the other hand, if meant solely as a joke, ala father Quido Sarduchi (sic), it seems an awful long way to go for a punchline.

Dale

[billy]

i saw a couple of of meter lines (to my mind) and Leanne already pointed them out in the 1st sonnet so i won't, apart from;
while Strether enters a state of sexless stasis felt like it had too syls or two feet over.

Eager to serve, but heedless in his hurry,
he bombed a well, blew some frogs ker-flooey-
doing in the well, as well. Whereat the Arnewi
sent him off to visit Where The Fug Are We?

As Rain King, Hendy made water for a nation;
and so, they gave him fifty wives to service.
But one Fugggy custom made him nervous-
failure to perform meant strangulation.

felt the the meter was up and down as did a couple of other places throughout the set. that said i loved em, i'm academically challenged even for the uk and know less than i should of american lit; while some of the context may escape me (though i did get fenimore cooper in the last one ( saw his name didn't i ) ) i still enjoyed the humour of them. some good narratives.

[Roy Hobbs]

I think I have a tin ear, or a brass
one-- may I excuse my errors for
reason of poor and under metering?

As a man who died from over-bleeding
and under-aiding.

While writing the poems I was making
errors, as James Dean died while driv-
ing his car (the meaning of 'while'
is in question).

Thanks for your edits and time. I shall
give more attention, or quit sonneting.

---

Henry James, Saul Bellow, James Fenimore Cooper, Ernest Hemingway. The last two I can go with but no Sam Clemons, Stienbeck, or William Faulkner, not to mention Henry Miller

For my money Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne beats out "Last of the Mohicans"

I know I read something by Bellow, probably "The Adventures of Augie March" but I can't recall a thing about it. Out of the 132 hours of Literature I took, I can not recall reading anything by Henry James. I only say this to point out how different things are emphasized depending on what university one attends.

I'm not sure that a sonnet form, regardless of which variety is the best form for this topic. Probably free iambic verse with a line more or less five feet, but without strict rhyme requirements, as some of the rhymes seem a bit problematic such as "ker-flooey" and "Arnewi". Even if "ker-flooey" were an actual word, it would still seem a bit contrived.

I thought you "The Sun Also Rises" was the most sufficient of the group. "The Leatherstocking Tales" read more like a book report.

It just seems that even for someone such as myself, with a fairly extensive background in American lit, these would seem a bit obscure for most people, making it difficult to draw much from them. On the other hand, if meant solely as a joke, ala father Quido Sarduchi (sic), it seems an awful long way to go for a punchline.

Dale

It was more for fum. Yes, a sonnet should not be
abused in this way.

Thanks pal.

---

ok! quick notes on what I found. take what you will; I'm not going to discuss meter (at least for the first one), Leanne beat me to some of the points I was going to raise

Following are four sonnets-- a kind of Cliff Notes
for those who have forgotten their days in American
lit class ...

"The Ambassadors"

Lambert Strether took a boat to France
in order to convince his nephew, Chad,
that the woman he was sleeping with was bad-
that he should tend to business, not romance.
But later, when he'd had a second glance ...the "but later, when" strikes me as a little redundant
at the way Mme. de Vionnet was clad,
Strether thought anyone would be a cad...these rhymes felt a little barred by the form
to let her get away under any circumstance.



The plot is structured like an hour-glass
turned on its side- the men just trade places. ..."just" feels extra
Chad goes back to the states (the silly ass!),
while Strether enters a state of sexless stasis....this and line above are fun...actually, the entire closing four lines are great, especially using end words I wouldn't normally consider
The novel's theme is clear and unassailable-
never turn down pussy that's available.


"The Rain King"

Tormented by a voice that said, "I want,"
Henderson left his fiddle, pigs and wife ...last three objects are great
and sought to solve the riddle of his life
in Africa, that darkest continent...hm

Eager to serve, but heedless in his hurry,
he bombed a well, blew some frogs ker-flooey-
doing in the well, as well. Whereat the Arnewi...realize intention, but not sure how I feel about the 'wells'
sent him off to visit Where The Fug Are We?

As Rain King, Hendy made water for a nation;
and so, they gave him fifty wives to service.
But one Fugggy custom made him nervous-
failure to perform meant strangulation.

So back he fled home, to farm and fiddle,
where he'd have but a single wife to diddle.

"The Sun Also Rises"

Jake and Bill and Robert, Mike and Brett
are all expatriots who spend their days
screwing, drinking and fishing-- in many ways
they aren't a responsible or sober set. ...felt a bit telly, would like it to be a little less direct

Jake's problem is that he cannot beget
children; Brett Ashley's that she lays
too many men. A general malaise
of post-war blues besets the whole quintet.

Jake and Cohen are steers who shoot the bull;
Mike and Bill are bulls who cannot steer
a straight path from bed to bar and beer....OK!

The sun arises, sets, sets and rises--
a man's life, at best, is truly conditio-null;
at worst, it's 'nada' at the Last Assizes.

"The Leatherstocking Tales"

In the first book, Natty slew a deer
and earned the name of Hawkeye; in the next
he stalked the forest, shedding a dry-eyed tear
when Uncas fell and vanished from the text.
In the third novel, Natty blazed a trail
for a scouting party on Lake Glimmerglass;
in the fourth, he broke the law and went to jail--
in the fifth he died, on Bighorn's mountain pass....felt the rhymes worked very well in this stanza; liked the line breaks and continuations

Cooper's novels always have two plots--
one of adventure and one of pure romance.
He freely mixes love and rifle shots,
blushing girls, corset and buckskin pants.
He does so well with the scout and indian part,
but those sentimental plots?-- not worth a fart.

##

it wasn't what i was expecting, but that was more than welcome. enjoyed the read; hope the little bits can help

A whim and a 'biff-bam.' Nothing serious here.
Move on folks. Clear the streets.

Thanks for the read and comments.

---

i saw a couple of of meter lines (to my mind) and Leanne already pointed them out in the 1st sonnet so i won't, apart from;
while Strether enters a state of sexless stasis felt like it had too syls or two feet over.

Eager to serve, but heedless in his hurry,
he bombed a well, blew some frogs ker-flooey-
doing in the well, as well. Whereat the Arnewi
sent him off to visit Where The Fug Are We?

As Rain King, Hendy made water for a nation;
and so, they gave him fifty wives to service.
But one Fugggy custom made him nervous-
failure to perform meant strangulation.

felt the the meter was up and down as did a couple of other places throughout the set. that said i loved em, i'm academically challenged even for the uk and know less than i should of american lit; while some of the context may escape me (though i did get fenimore cooper in the last one ( saw his name didn't i ) ) i still enjoyed the humour of them. some good narratives.

I tried for humore seven-eights over proper form,
not to say that had I tried for form seven-eights,
I would have done better and earned my sonnet letter
sweater.

Thanks for the reply and edits ...

[Leanne]

Don't be silly, a sonnet may -- nay, must be abused any which way if it's to remain a living form. It's just that we like our abuses in iambic pentameter :p

There are sonnet exercises in the Novice forum if you're interested -- though you're clearly not a novice, sometimes mucking about with the basics is good practise.

[billy]

I tried for humore seven-eights over proper form,
not to say that had I tried for form seven-eights,
I would have done better and earned my sonnet letter
sweater.

Thanks for the reply and edits ...

you earned the sweat