Kurdistan Regional Government

Ministry of Higher Education

University of Garmian
College of Education
English Department

Fourth stage

Second Generation of New York School of Poets: Selected Poets

This paper is submitted to the Council of English Department, College of

Education, University of Garmian in Partial Fulfillment for the requirements of BA
Degree in English Language and literature.

Prepared by: Supervised by:

Fatima S. Jamal Assis. Lecturer: Bushra O. Sidiq

Amal A. Faraj

2020-2021
 i

Dedications
This research is dedicated to our beloved parents who taught us that “tough time
doesn’t last but tough people do”. It is also dedicated to our brothers, Mr. Hozan,
and to our dears who are no longer in this life. To my uncle Jwameer who I learnt
the value of the hard work from.
 ii

Acknowledgments
We would like to acknowledge and express our endless gratitude toward our
college committee especially Mrs. Bushra and Dr. Ibrahem who helped by
suggesting us some sources and guiding while facing any kind of difficulties.
Additionally, we would like to express our giant gratitude to our supervisor who
highly welcomed all our endless questions and inquiries with an incredible
patience and cooperation. Finally, the completion of this research wouldn’t be
achieved without the support of our dear teachers, Dr. Nasrin and each of Miss
Snoor and Mrs. Avin whose guidance is the most appreciated and noted.
 iii

Table of Contents
Dedications…………………………………………………………………………I
Acknowledgements……………………………..………………………………….II
Abstract …………………………………………………………………………...I

v
1.1 Section One :New York School of Poets.………………………..………….….1
1.1.1 The origin of New York School of Poets….………………………...……..1
1.2 The Pioneers of New York School of Poets:………………..………………….3

1.2.1 First generation New York School of Poets ……….…………………......3

1.2.2 Second generation New York School of Poets..............................................5

Section Two............................................................................................................7
2.1 The Features of New York School of Poets.....................................................7
2.2 Prominent Writers of the Movement:.............................................................14
2.2.1 Ted Berrigan’s Biography:..........................................................................14
2.2.2 Alice Notley’s Biography............................................................................16
2.2.3 Ron Padgett’s Biography:...........................................................................17
Section Three...........................................................................................................20
3.1 Padgett’s Poem “American Cowslip,”...........................................................20
3.2 Ted Berrigan’s Poem “Wind”........................................................................22
3.3 Alice Notley’s Poem “Dear Dark Continent”:...........................................…23
Section Four: Conclusion.........................................................................................26
Works Cited………………………………………………………………...…......27
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Abstract
New York school of poets is a group of creative poets who are gathered in USA
in the 1950s and 1960s by their shared interest and principles about both poetry
and art. Their style is challenging to be featured but their manifesto is focusing on
poetry as a process rather than a product: they call for the independency of poetry
through foregrounding the materiality of language. The study attempts to show the
vulnerability of this community to various schools such as beat movement,
confessionalsim, and romanticism through applying close reading method. It
mostly focuses on the second generation which arose in Tulsa where a group of
students such as: Ted Berrigan, Ron Padgett, Alice Notley and others were coined
and got socialized with other painters and with their teachers from the first
generation. It is more challenging to distinguish this group’s style due to their
unprecedented individuality and creativity in which their poems which are more
like letters or phone calls’ record; they are indulged with pop culture and public
figures. This paper is a comprehensive study about the school through
foregrounding its origin, characteristics, and major figures through introducing
fairly an analytical study of some poems’ sample. This research is divided into four
sections, the first section covers the history and the pioneers of both first and
second generation while the second section presents the features of the school in
addition to the prominent writers of the second generation, the third one is a
practical study of selected poems, and the last section is the conclusion.
 1

Section One

1.1 New work School of Poets:

1.1.1 The Origin of New York School of Poets:

New York school of poets is a group of creative writers who have shared
interests and ideas about art and poetry. Their story begins when John Ashbery,
Kenneth Koch, Frank O’Hara, and James Schuyler immigrated to live in New
York; during the Korean War (1950s) when USA was characterized by the
political suppression and each critic was regarded as being communist due to the
lunatic competition so called, the cold war, between USA and Soviet Union. This
group of poets regarded poetry and art as the gate to escape from such a political
and intellectual oppression and started expressing themselves by breaking the
norms and conventional rules impacted by the unprecedented lifestyle of USA after
the remarkable social change and being exposed to different kinds of progress,
literary genre, and various cultures of different races (Lehman1). Therefore, this
community is associated with Beat movement in their principles and aesthetic
means due to the synchronized period when New York school appeared, it causes a
synchronized inspiration with the heyday of beatniks (Ali 16). This explains their
recklessness and unusual style. As Lehman suggests that the reason why they were
reckless and they liked the shallow aspect of life is because most of the members
served in military during II world war which causes them to call for peace and civil
life (40).

Next, those poets consider themselves as a community rather than an official

school or literary movement since it is based on sympathy, shared interests, and
 2

friendship rather than academic or strict rules. Based on this belief, Koch
proclaims in “Day and Night” that their poetry absorbs both their ideas and
friendship that’s why they did not want to have an official bond rather than
friendly one and inspiring one another. Hence, the diversity of this group led to the
noticeable popularity which they gain ; in which they collaborated with Harlem
group ( black American writers ) including : Tom weatherly and Frank Lima who
impacted New York School of poets by exposing them to the ideas of “Spanish
Harlem” such as individual voice rather than identity. Additionally, they
cooperated with Asian and colonies writers such as: Tom Clark and Bill Berkson
(Diggory x-ix).

The origin of this school is traced back to intellectuals of New York school
who were a group of conservative poets who have rigid morals related to Jewish
that stood against taboo, breaking norms and homosexuality. When the members of
this school started interacting with painters who were regarded as being immoral
and their sexual relation became obvious to public they separated themselves from
New York school of poets led by O’Hara (ibid viii).

The origin of its name according to Lehman traced back to the idea that those
poets represent the Avant _garde (an artistic movement that was held in Paris) new
version which is held in New York through using art as a tool to cause social
progress and revolution (291). When France bent to the Nazis and its intellectual
and aesthetic fame came to the end as a capital of art and the rapid change of USA
policy from isolationism to internationalism. Additionally, the roaring economy of
USA triggers the country to express its cultural mastery in the time of the cold war
when immigrants found USA as a perfect place to start their Avant –garde with
collaboration with New York’s painters who are interested in abstract
expressionism and the poets were assigned the role of being art’s critics for
 3

instance: Ashbery was a critic (Ward 2). Hence, they brought this idea into New
York due to the strong bond between art and its audience there, along with the
huge aesthetic fame that this city has (Lehman 291).They settled there because the
city provided them an atmosphere to write and it provoked them to sense the
geniality of city in addition to relaxation because the city allows anonymity and
encourages presence (Quilter 16).While for Silberge the name is ironic because
none of its members does belong to the city and they all immigrated and united
when the gallery director John Myers put them together to achieve a great
advertisement for the artistic products of his gallery (1961) which is represented by
abstract expressionists so called New York School Painting group(9). This group
believes neither in having fixed attitude nor of accepting or rejecting ideas because
poetry for them is the same as art and it should have an absolute independency
(ibid 20). As Quilter suggests that though most of the members were teaching in
academic places but they still remained anti- academic. Yet, their teaching reflects
in reinforcing their awareness of their own literary cosmology (274).

1.2 The Pioneers of New York School of Poets:

1.2.1 First Generation of Poets:

The first generation is a group of friends who are coined together by shared
interest and various styles. They are influenced by abstract expressionism in which
they believe that poetry is the same as painting regarding using its tools to extract
the poet’s feelings toward the poem itself not to the external environment which
emphasizes the independency of poetry along with painting from the world and
based on this concept O’ Hara wrote “Works as big as cities” to show the
connection between “second avenue” by De Kooning (the American abstract
 4

expressionist artist) and his poems concentrate on the surface structure with less
focus on the symbolic and the covered meaning ( Diggory 2).The first generation is
represented by John Ashbery, Barbara Guest. James Schuyler, Kenneth Koch, and
Frank O’Hara who is regarded as being the pioneer of this generation who has a
significant social circle due to his rich interests in music, ballade, movies, and
opera which help him to seem dominant and charismatic. Consequently,
collaborating with other painters and taking the lead of this community (Perloff 2).
As Silverberg states that this group of poets wants to solve the issue of art’s
autonomy from real life by connecting them within a social content and discourse
(21). As well as they worked on the gap between person and subject, real life and
text life by concentrating on the materialism of the language itself (ibid103). In
another word, they concentrate on poetry as a process rather than a product. This
influence of abstract expressionist stems from the fact that both O’ Hara and James
Schuyler worked at the Museum of Modern Art, and Guest, Ashbery, and Schuyler
were known as being critics for Art News. (“A Brief Guide to the New York
school”). Additionally, O’ Hara who is the pioneer of this group was “laureate of
the New York art scene” and was passionate and interested in visiting galleries
where he interacted with different painters such as: Kooning and Larry Rivers. In
which he started writing monograph on their work and giving constructive
criticism. Furthermore, he succeeded in expanding his social circle and gained rich
interest in music, ballade, movies, and opera which reflect later on in his work and
in the direction of the movement (Perloff 20). Consequently, they showed great
interest in the materiality of the language including: words, images, phrases,
sentences and the Page itself the same way a painter shows interests in canvas,
colors, and brushstrokes (Mambrol).
 5

1.2.2 Second Generation New York school of Poets

The second generation includes: Alice Notely and her husband Ted Berrigan,
Bill Berkson, Ron Padgett and others. They are a group of poets who lived and
studied at Tulsa in USA where literary work published and workshops were held.
They are known for neglecting the rigid rules of poetry and having a mixed style
such as: letters, use of images, plays, stories, prose poems, and mocking
interviews.
Nevertheless, they didn’t achieve a remarkable fame comparing to the first
generation due to being new and the shortage of collecting their poems so far
(Lehman 359). They published their work through their literary magazine “C and
Angel Hair”. “The world, Mother and Kulchur” in which they established their
magazine through a mutual endeavor with artists such as: Joe Brainard and George
Scheeman who produced the cover of the magazine while the poets were collecting
the work and celebrating party or poker game (ibid 360).

Diggory claims that the second generation is impacted by pop art , a movement
that appeared in New York 1960s that focuses on taking images of the popular
materials such as: advertisements, entertainments means including: movies,
photographs, magazines etc. This can be seen as an obvious shift in the direction of
the first generation that followed the lead of abstract expressionists who
foreground the objects of language while the second generation called for making
the poets themselves object of the language in which they started using common
images, inserting photographs of movies or advertisement (392). They use the
comic figures and the laughter tone as an object to move and influence the readers
in which it is considered as a tool of expressing and maintaining pop grace. Yet, it
can be regarded by some critics as being empty or meaningless (ibid 393).
 6

Finally, this generation has the ability to capture readers interest as well as
impacting new writers by their unbelievable ability of using every day discourse to
express profound messages and depict metaphysical challenges, state of mind and
last but not least their identity and beliefs ( Mambrol ). As Watkin proclaims that
poetry for them is an ongoing process that restores the relation between art and life
and their aim isn’t only removing the distance between art and life rather using
poetry as a method of meditation which is described as a process of poetic
cognition just like music and they achieved this aim through concentrating on the
surface structure and removing the depth of poetry which causes their poems to
seem more like ordinary communication or telephone call records with friends or a
document for the details of everyday life (31). This asserts the concept that poetry
for them is a matter of revealing oneself rather than preaching or communicating
with the audience in which it is nothing but a personal interchange which is
shallow and it doesn’t involve any implied or symbolic meaning (Ali 18). On the
other hand, for some critics it implied an allegorical meaning that criticizes the
postwar life using absurdist methods such as informal language, shallow objects,
and personal details to mediate themselves in addition to reflecting the absurdity of
life. Hence, Quilter depicts that their collaboration is a way to escape from “crises
of alienation” in which their manifesto was to write for them about them personally
(102).
 7

Section Two
2.1 The Features of New York School of Poets:

1. This school is well known for its unique style of being witty, urbanized, and
conversational in which it deals with everyday issues and mirroring life as it
is impacted by surrealism and abstract expressionists who depict life in a
witty and spontaneous way away from the rigid and pessimistic atmosphere
of post war poets (“An Introduction to the New York School of Poets”).

(Padgett poem from New York Painters &Poets, Jenni, Quilter.

Rizzoli, New York, 2014, p.157.)

 8

2. Their poetry is in motion and progress and it’s based on the pillars of chance
and spontaneity using experimental methods that lead to sink into the
materiality of the language itself (Marbol). This is a criticism for the
materiality of the age depicting the bourgeois and cultural history of
capitalists. As Watkin states that poetry for them is a gate to meditate (31).

For instance Ted Berrigan’s poem “People of the future” “People of the
future/ While you are reading these poems, remember/ you didn’t write
them, /I did.” (Collected poem of Ted Berrigan 11). As it can be noticed in
these lines, Berrigan uses a spontaneous and conversational method of
talking with his future audience, defending his view and the materiality of
language by giving himself as a poet the right to not to be direct regarding
the poems’ significance or their messages, pointing out the independency of
new York School Poets regarding their chosen style. As if he announces in a
sarcastic tone: it won’t be a concern for our group if people can’t understand
our ideas because they are not poets, and they are not blamed for their
privacy in expressing their ideas because it is their own private way to
meditate. Since their poems are personal interchange between two people
rather than a public preaching (Ali 17).

3. It is characterized by the unique and absence of punctuations and linked by

speed and intensity (Lehman 361).

Those features are clear in Alice Notley’s poem “30th Birthday”:

You talk so wonderfully in your body

that protects you with physique of voice

raps within dance

 9

May I never be afraid

Alice Notley depicted the previous features very well by skipping the
punctuations which in turn cause a continuous flow of ideas. Consequently, it
strengthens the intensity and the speed of the poem.

4. Unprecedented use of quotation marks to support the idea that the poet is
reporting someone else speech. Or to maintain dialect and accent privacy.
(Lehman 362). As it can be seen in the lines of Ted Berrigan in his poem
“The sonnet XLI” “my hands make love to my body when my arms are
around you / you never tell me your name/ and I am forced to write ‘belly’

when I mean ‘love’.”. As it can be seen in these lines, the poet uses
quotation marks to claim that he is only mouthing the poem and the story
does belong to someone else and to assert that his poem isn’t based on real
experience through putting the words “love” and “belly” between two
quotations as if he illustrates that for some people love is regarded as a
physical needs rather than psychological one, the same that belly is the alarm
for the need of food; love is also a physical need since people make love
and having the physical attachment without any emotions because they are
stranger and don’t know even each other names. Additionally, the use of
quotation may stand for the sense of loss of identity of the modern man.
5. The ease of transition from dialogue to narration close to prose poems. And
the random use of versification (Lehman361).They formed their poems
depending mostly on improvising just like the jazz music that they listened
to (Quilter 102).This feature is obvious in Ron Padgett’ poem:

Dress in a way that pleases both you and those around you.
Do not speak quickly.
 10

Learn something every day. (Dzien dobre!)

Be nice to people before they have a chance to behave badly.

One can feel the ease transition and the smooth narrating through the
shifting from so many points including number of recommendations that the
poet suggests starting from the outfit, the way of speaking, experience,
learning, and their attitude. Additionally, the neglecting of the conventional
rules of versification which makes the poem seems closer to prose poem.
This ease of transition is traced back to the impact of pop culture that causes
a rapid transition and narrating which makes it challenging to catch the pace
(Ward 136).
6. Happiness is a centralized theme in their poems in which they preferred the
joyful tone rather than the sulky one by focusing on the power of
imagination which is the gate to escape from the ugly reality of postwar era
which is fraud with materialism in which fiction and happiness are
interchangeably used for them. (Lehman 35). This can be considered as
being an impact of romanticism over this group, the same way Coleridge
shifted the term loneliness to the “bliss of solitude” (ibid 36). Their poems
lack seriousness due to the collaboration as friends wise; hence the
corollaries are the informal form, jokes, and juxtapositions (Ward 129).
Especially during the fifties which is called “haunted Fifties” when it was
important to go with the flow and poets were stagnant, they couldn’t do
anything to cause change so they realized that they have to stop carrying the
wrong set of convictions in USA since it’s the improper place and time (ibid
135). In which, they have to know everything and being committed to
nothing. Since social awareness started to be looked at as “checker board”
and the social bond became fragile which led to social disaffection and
 11

emptiness as Padgett describes the capitalist country as being “long gray

wooden laugh” where fun is tyrannical and forceful due to being passive and
neutral as a consequent of the new lifestyle represented by pop culture and
the rapid change of the society during post-war era (ibid 136).When USA
culture is characterized by race and sexuality as an interchangeable term for
love ( ibid 137).Yet, this joyful tone might be absurdist in sense. This is
clear in Padgett’s poem “love poem”:
That is what you gave me, I
become the cigarette and you the match, or I
the match and you the cigarette, blazing
with kisses that smoulder toward heaven.

In these lines the poet is expressing his emotion toward his lover and
being romantic enough describing himself as being a cigarette and his lover
is the match or vice versa which symbolizes the pleasant tone, impact of
romanticism, and the power of imagination which is regarded as being a
substitute for pleasure. This in turn portrays the broken psyche of the
modern man. Where the poet is passive and neutral enough and he preferred
to neglect the essential issues of the era and to concentrate on love. Yet, a
sense of cultural and self- conscious aspect can be traced behind the joy of
the poems of this school which stresses the materiality of the age (Watkin
132). In which, the terms of love and sex became interchangeably used
during that age which is materialistically operated.

7. The use of parody, irony, and weird juxtapositions (Lehman 4). This is
linked to lacking seriousness in their work that is traced back to being a
group of friends and their aim is to please themselves rather than the public
 12

(Ward 129). In which, they are passive and neutral to the empty and
meaningless life (ibid137).

This can be traced in Ron Padgett’s poem “How to be perfect” lines “Be
skeptical about all opinions, but try to see some value in each of them. /
Hope for everything. Expect nothing.” In which, the poet uses weird
juxtaposition and calls for people to doubt and value everything which are
two opposite pillars. Similarly, for hope and expectation in which he asks
people to not lose hope at meantime he tells them don’t expect anything
from life.

8. The use of figurative meaning, isolated images, and abbreviations that are
used deliberately to reflect the condition of USA at that time. For instance,
Berrigan in his poem “Words for Love” uses isolated images such as
‘‘winter crisps”, “brittleness of snow”, “darkness of clouds”, “the day of
apocalypse” to depict the overall condition of people and the speaker at that
time in which people feel fragile and gloomy just like crispy winter and the
dark cloud as if postwar life is similar to the apocalypse (the religious
reference to the bible which is the end of the world) (Lehman 292).
9. Their poems are associated with a notion of machismo (masculinity) due to
their blizzard life style represented by being involved with alcoholism and
homosexuality which portray the USA culture of that time which makes the
poets reflecting all the aspects and experience of life back then regardless
being positive or negative even death, they illustrate it as being the most awe
–inspiring experience (“The New York School of Poetry”). In which
homosexuality formed a semantic motivation in their work which led to a
particular speech discourse so called “homotextuality” in which they
represent a realistic view that mirrors the effeminate European culture
 13

(Watkin 228). This can be seen an obvious impact of beatniks upon this
community. This idea is traced in Berrigan’s lines “banging around in a
cigarette she isn’t ‘in love’/ my dream a drink with Ira Hayes we discuss

the code of the west”. Where the poet highlights the common culture of
USA presented by the concept of masculinity since he mentions the common
mariner figure “Ira Hayes” which symbolizes the concept of heroism
associated with masculinity. Second, he depicts the popular culture of USA
such as: drinking, smoking, and sexuality which are used interchangeably
with love which all are regarded as taboos.

10. They use cut up and collage through borrowing lines or words from the
previous generation such as O’Hara and Ashbery and mix them up with their lines
or using the borrowed lines with double space form then inserting their lines along
with which lead to strange juxtaposition. Additionally, they give reference to other
writers in their poems (Lehman360). As Silverberg proclaims that their aim is to
recycle and reuse past’s fragments with a proto-of postmodern fashion (19). As
well as Ward believes that they apply the most common feature of postmodern age
which is intertextuality or collage that neglects the relative independency of the
text (152). For instance: in Alice Notley’s lines “Dear Dark Continent” “myself
and him and I’m myself and him and him // because by now I am he, we are I, I am

we.” She uses collage and borrowing ideas from Plath’s poem “Fever 103” where
Plath illustrates the issue of creation that claims Eve is created from Adam (Nelson
137).
 14

2.2 Prominent Writers of the Movement:

They are a group of students who studied at Tulsa university and coined
together to form the second generation of New York school of poets. They are
characterized by having various style of writing and they didn’t achieve the same
fame that the first generation did since they are new and most of their works
remained uncollected and not published.

2.2.1 Ted Berrigan’s Biography:

Edmond Joseph (Ted) Berrigan is an American poet who was born in
Providence, Rhode Island, USA in 1934 and died in New York City on July 4,
1983(Diggory 53). Ted Berrigan is the oldest of three children of Margaret Dugan
and Edmond Berrigan, the origin of his family was Irish by both sides (Poetry
foundation). His first wife was Sandy Berrigan who he had two children with,
David and Kate. His second wife was a poet Alice Notley. Their children are
Anselm and Edmond Berrigan who are also poets like their parents (Diggory 53).
He attended in local school and Providence College but he left it after one year.
Then Berrigan enrolled in the University of Tulsa under the GI Bill, earning his
BA in 1959 and his MA in 1962 after writing his master’s thesis on Bernard Shaw
and enlisted in the army. Berrigan was sent to Korea in 1954 he received BA in
English from the University of Tulsa (Academy of American poets).

Berrigan was influenced by the American novelist, Thomas Wolfe, who is

known for his autobiographical style as well as Jack Kerouac, the pioneer of
beatniks. Berrigan negotiated that the universe as depicted in his poetry was a
projection of himself. Berrigan noted that “One of my principal desires is to make
my poems be like my life … I can’t see myself the way that you can see me, but I
 15

can see everything else around me. If I can make everything around me be the way
that is, presumably I can create the shape of the self-inside the poem, because there
is a person inside almost all of the poems.” which means Berrigan foregrounds
making his poems similar to his life claiming that there is a person and story inside
each poem (Poetry foundation). He is well known for the use of collage and cutting
up lines from other writers especially O’Hara and Ashbery and his work is
considered as scraps of others’ lines and quotations from various sources.
Additionally, he uses his previous poems by selecting some phrases and lines for
instance in his poem “ Sonnet Workshop” he uses some lines and phrases from six
old poems which are not regarded as successful enough and retype them with his
new poems (Diggory 54). Nevertheless, while borrowing lines from other writers,
his creativity is remarkable enough since each line for him has a personal reason
(ibid 55).

“Berrigan’s principal precursor is usually said to be Frank O’Hara, rather than

Kerouac, and it is true that Berrigan is in debt to O’Hara. O’Hara’s expression
appears in early Berrigan’s work as well…Berrigan’s closest poetic associate and
cooperator was Ron Padgett, but their poems are radically told apart from each
other. While much of Berrigan’s poetry gains inspiration from intimate or private
matters, Padgett’s is rarely personal, at least on the surface…in spite of the
differences in age as well as sensibility (Padgett is eight years younger than
Berrigan), they became close friends after their meeting at the bookshop in Tulsa
where Padgett worked in 1959, and this impact can be traced in his poems in which
it’s difficult to decide whether they are personal or impersonal” (Poetry
foundation).

Furthermore, Berrigan is regarded as the most famous celebrity in the second

generation of New York school of poets. His first book was “The Sonnets” (1964),
 16

and has been publicized again in 1966, 1982, and 2000; it maintains as his best-
known book. Wherever he waged to live in, he made his home as a core of
gathering young writers who they were passionate about New York School’s
poetics. From 1968 until his death he taught writing workshops at the Poetry
Project at St. Mark’s Church In-the-Bowery as well as at colleges and universities,
including the Iowa writers’ workshop, the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor,
Yale, and others (Diggory 54). Despite having his teaching position, Berrigan was
broke and he was always borrowing money from his friends that he was unable to
return it back. In 1960, Berrigan moved to New York, in 1964, Berrigan founded
“The Sonnets”, which generate his reputation and his career. At the same year he
established C magazine and C press also, where he published the works of his
friends. Berrigan was a creative writer but his career was prevented by his interest
in alcohol and other kinds of drugs. He died at the age of forty-eight from cirrhosis
of the liver after suffering from the diseases for eight years (E note).

2.2.2 Alice Notley’s Biography:

Alice Notley is one of the most considerable living poets of America. She was
born in Arizona and grew up in California. She had her BA from Bernard College
(Academy of American poet). She explored a lot around USA and abroad and she
met her husband, Ted Berrigan, and they lived in New York. The new married
couple moved to Chicago and stayed there till 1976 (Poetry foundation). She lived
with her husband and they had two children, Notley describes this period linked
with being surrounded by their babies, working from time to time, and writing
poems in which her life with her husband was an engagement of poetry.
Additionally, her husband, Berrigan, was in charge for the school since he is
regarded as a center figure who offered the membership for joining the school for
 17

five dollars but no one joined!( Nelson 132). Her work is centralized on her
personal life in New York with her husband and their children believing that her
voice represents the voice of the new writer and the new mother and that time
within sticking to the aesthetic aspect of poem rather than social revolution (ibid
134). For instance, in “Bus stop” is a street conversation and “January” is a
conversation with her two children (ibid 135). This can be categorized as being
confessional in sense.

Notley is recognized with the second generation New York school of Poets. Her
style is difficult to be characterized because each poem for her is a beginning start.
Consequently, there is a continuous shift in her style, theme, and form. She
enriches her poems with the details of motherhood and pregnancy, dealing with
daily lifestyle’s details (Poetry foundation). In 1980 she moved to live in Paris
which caused distancing her from New York school of poets, this has an aesthetic
and political impact on her poems. Since she originally belongs to the south-
western part so she wanted to empower her south- western background rather than
living in the shadow of the focus area of New York School of poet (ibid 133).

Her feminist conviction is unique in which she doesn’t believe that each
movement must include females just as a complement rather than being themselves
in spite of the movement (ibid 133). In which, she believes in cross- gender
identification as being the core aspect of being a poet (ibid139). For example, in
“The dark continent” she talks about the sexual experience of adult women. She
rejected Plath concept of I’m you and you are me where she is struggling to come
up with a term describing the identity which is neither you nor me which is
challenging within the social oppression (ibid137).
 18

After the death of Berrigan in 1983 after two years she wrote an elegy poem
entitled “At Night the States”. Then she got involved with the British poet,
Douglas Oliver, and married him in 1988. Then she moved to live in Paris in 1992
when her style shifted from single poem to length book work such as “The Descent
of Alette”1992 which is regarded as breaking the roles of fragmentation of the
modern age (Poetry foundation). In addition to writing poetry, she edited three
magazines including: Chicago, Scarlet and Gare du Nord (Driggory 348). She still
lives in Paris and she goes back and forth to USA for her reading and lectures. In
2015 she gained Ruth Lilly poetry prize (Poetry foundation).

2.2.3 Ron Padgett’s Biography:

Ron Padgett is an American writer, translator, and editor. He was born in Tulsa.
He is the founder of “The White Dove” magazine with his collaborators (Joe
Bernard and Dick Gallup). He studied at Columbia University 1960 then he moved
to Paris and started studying and translating French literature. Later, he moved to
live in New York where he joined the community of the second generation
(Poetry foundation). Next, his creativity in writing started since he was thirteen and
his first publication “Bean Spasms” appeared 1967 with collaboration with
Berrigan. He wrote collections of poems in which his masterpieces are (coffee
House Press 2013), (How to Be Perfect 2007). He was awarded Harlod Morton
London for translation (Academy of American poets). In which, translation has a
great impact over his style of writing along with his interest in collaboration with
others which stem from his attitude toward authorship which makes him free of the
anxiety of influence and forming a formal distance between himself and the first
generation of poets in which he coined “New Plagiarism” which is movement of
mock- manifesto that echoes the work of previous writers and it deals with taking a
 19

text from other language and translate it which it produces a new text which is
regarded a refreshing process for the old texts rather than “dressing up” influence
of old schools or writers without referring to its origin (Diggory 367).

His style of writing is characterized by intermingling of voices which stands

against the conventional rules of having a distinctive voice of the author and his
poems are regarded as being opaque especially at his solo collection such “Great
Balls Of Fire” but his style turned to be more obvious in his later poems at the
1970s. Later, his poems started to resist meaning as language in which he inscribes
some words such as cufflink repeatedly in his poem meaninglessly in which he
describes this kind of practice as using great words without meaning that reflects
his interest in letting his audience baffling to analyze his mental process. Most of
his images are derived from silk-screening, cartoon, and pop culture (ibid 367).

Padgett is interested in Kerouac and Ginsberg, the lost generation group, who
criticizes the materiality of post-war world as a result he attended Columbia
University which is the same university that those two writers attended too.
Additionally, he became interested in comic literature after he took several courses
of Kenneth Koch when he started to realize the importance of comic literature.
Furthermore, his career as a writer intermingled with his career as a teacher in
which he taught poetry to different students from various ages which helps in
making his poetry to be regarded as joy (ibid 366). Furthermore, he was a
chancellor of the academy of American poets from 2008 till 2013 and he lives in
New York so far.
 20

Section Three
3.1 Padgett’s Poem “American Cowslip”:

“American cowslip” is one of Padgett’s pieces which is classified as the first

poem in New & Selected Poems and The Big Something (The Figures, 1989). It
depicts a flight of imagination that is described as a train of imagery as well as a
story of experience. Hence, the poem is recognized as a method of thinking and
reasoning (Notley 28).

The main theme of this poem as Notley states is the power of imagination
through the journey of the train of thinking (28). Where Padgett stresses the idea
that no matter how seriously one plans or thinks, life will act unexpectedly. For
instance:

Nothing is

the way you think it is

going to be.

Take this little flower

from me, and let it go

into the way you think of it.

And so it grows

and is the face

 21

of Daisy the cow speaking, (Padgette 28).

In the above lines, the writer illustrates his cognitive and life experiences which
are both portrayed in his poem as being a flower that is passed and grows to take
several shapes such as a speaking Daisy cowslip that stands for the idea that poems
are spoken ideas and thoughts which grow and form the face of the poem. This
meaning is exemplified in the next lines supporting the view that stresses the
magnitude of imagination that may turn the grandma seems young. As well as
framing the imaginary flight as being a fallen star that moves the earth beneath
which in turn signifies the role of thoughts, imagination, and experience in forming
one’s perception of the world. As it’s proved in the following lines:

as it moved out

from under you

in the slow

rotation of the sphere

you call a star,

a flower, a mind.(Padgett 29).

As far as the style of the poem is written in free verse in which it lacks rhyme.
Secondly, it sinks into the materiality of language through the excessive use of
images and symbols to describe the power of imagination and the flight of thinking
through using flower that stands for the idea or the poem itself that grows later to
take different formation such as the speaking Daisy cowslip to portray the speaker
ideas or the poet lines as spoken cow which was a common advertising figure back
then in USA. Then it ends up being a star that falls from the sky and it rotates the
 22

sphere the same way our mind rotates our life. Hence, those broken and isolated
images and symbols represent the alienation of the speaker who is getting lost
during his own attempt to reason his world and brainstorm his sphere. Finally, the
poem is known for the absence of punctuations which gives it intensity and ease
flow of lines as well as it adds a notion of loss of identity of the modern man.

3.2 Ted Berrigan's Poem “Wind”:

“Wind” is one of Berrigan poems that had been selected in the publication of “The
Collected Poems of Ted Berrigan, edited by Notley and her sons with Berrigan, the
poets Anselm and Edmund Berrigan, which was published in 2007” (Ted
Berrigan ). This poem holds allegorical meaning which is both political and
emotional through using various images and symbols.

This poem is an expressive and emotional poem that carries multiple ideas and
controversial significance. Firstly, it expresses a notion of spirituality as it can be
seen by giving reference to angels who came out from the river happily “The

angels emerge from the rivers / Drily happy & all wet. Easy going” (Berrigan
112). This can be considered as a nostalgic poem too since it gives reference to the
missing spirituality of post- war life when people lost their spiritual aspect and lost
faith due to the traumatic events of the two bloody world wars. Secondly, it
portrays the solitude of the modern man as well as the pessimism of the age in
which the speaker is sunk into imagination and he sees imaginary angels coming
out from the water being extremely lonely in his life which is symbolized by the
river and this can be exemplified in the following lines “Difficult alone trying to
get true. / Difficult inside alone with you.”(ibid 112). Next, it has a romantic notion
 23

where the speaker is indulged with nature’s elements such as river, pure sky, and
the sunset which in turn report the broken psych of the modern man who is seeking
love and feeling nostalgic to both nature and love which are negatively influenced
by the materialism of the age as well as the people. Finally, it carries a notion of
hope and wishes for change which is clear through using the symbols of life which
are stated in the following lines “I sit here & I’ve been thinking this / Red, blue,
yellow, green, & white.” (ibid 112).

Additionally, this poem is written in free verse and it has a nostalgic and
pessimistic tone for instance “Difficult alone trying to get true. / Difficult inside
alone with you. / The rivers’ blackness flowing just sits” (ibid 112). Berrigan uses
strange juxtapositions to expresse the weird psychology of individuals in postwar
life and this can be exemplified in “Drily happy & all wet. Easy going / But hard to
keep my place. Easy” (ibid 112). Next , it holds allegorical meaning which is both
emotional and political for example ; the speaker expresses his own emotion of
loneliness through the use of hyperbole and exaggerating to depict his sense of
solitude describing himself being alone even when he is with his lover, this is
obvious in the following line “Difficult inside alone with you.”(ibid 112). Finally,
it may report the alienated citizen or soldier who both undergo the terrifying
condition represented by severe world wars, economical depression, cold war, and
capitalism which expand the gap between people particularly writers who start to
follow the concept of “ Art for art sake” and emphasizing the personal values
rather than public or social norms.

3.3 Alice Notley’s Poem “Dear Dark Continent”:

“Dear Dark Continent” is one of the early works of Alice Notley which had been
written in the selected work of 1993 (Nelson 135). It reflects her personal story and
 24

experience in life. It depicts the unconscious part of writing that is characterized

with obscurity (Notley 161). It can be considered as confessional in sense.

The central theme of this poem is self- identification where an adult writer is
seeking for her identity and getting baffled due to the multiple roles she plays in
life as mother, wife and her career as a poet in which it depicts the state of beings
through foregrounding the gender battle (Nelson 137). Which is obvious in her
lines “I’m wife I’m mother I’m / myself and him and I’m myself and him and

him”, this idea is derived from Plath’s poem “ Fever 103” where Plath describes
the issue of creation that claims Eve is created from Adam. Additionally, Notley
stresses the idea of self- independency that women shouldn’t be followers of men
and they are independent creatures which have different motives and play a giant

role in society: she describes womanhood as a “Dark Continent” that is neglected

by the whole universe which is considered as an obvious claim of a feminist writer.
The second theme is psychological in sense and it depicts gender from a closer eye
which describes womanhood’s most remarkable figure pregnancy and this
represents a traumatic case that is as serious as death experience and this idea is
exemplified in these lines “The quickening of / the palpable coffin / fear so then
the frantic”. Finally, it involves a romantic theme which is represented by
dramatizing womanhood figure that parallels nature in which both of them are
productive in nature and they are both neglected and severely impacted by the
materialism of the age as it can be noticed in these lines “The quickening of /the
palpable coffin” where she describes the movement of the infant in her body as
quickening.

Furthermore, “Dear Dark Continent” is regarded as a dramatic monologue of a

new mother who is confused after her pregnancy and she expresses her
 25

unconscious mind through this monologue. Secondly, it is written in free verse

lines which mean it neglects the rules of versification and rhyme that these couples
of lines prove:

Dear Dark Continent:

The quickening of

the palpable cofAn

fear so then the frantic

doing of everything experience is thought of

but I’ve ostensibly chosen( Notley 161).

Thirdly, this poem is identified by its unique use or absence of punctuations

which may symbolize the self-loss identity as well as it gives the poem intensity
and speed that make it spontaneous which in turn represents the intensity of pop
culture and the age. Next, Notley represents the materiality of the age which is
characterized by broken psyche and loss as well as the masculine and feminine
battle through focusing on the materiality of the language which is obvious in the
confusing use of pronouns for instance: “myself and him and I’m myself and him

and him // because by now I am he, we are I, I am we.” Finally, the use of collage
and borrowing ideas from Plath’s poem “Fever 103” where Plath illustrates the
issue of creation that claims Eve is created from Adam (Nelson 137).
 26

Conclusion

As it can be concluded throughout the study that New York School is one of the
phenomenal communities of 1950s that is divided into several generations, the first
generation consists of Frank O’Hara, Kenneth Koch, and James Schuyler and
others who succeeded through their shared interest and profound friendship to form
such a remarkable circle that distinguished itself through its unprecedented style of
emerging poetry with art and focusing on the surface structure of the poem. While
the second generation includes Ted Berrigan, Ron Padgett, Alice Notley and others
who are well known by their indulgence with pop culture and dealing with public
figures and subjects beside their cooperation with the previous figures of the first
generation such as Koch and other painters to form a continues generation. Finally,
what can be concluded are:

1. The style of this school is fairly associated with absurdism in its ironical and
comical sense which may seem more like meaningless or empty to reflect
the emptiness of the age.
2. It is also associated with beat movement through dealing with taboos such as
alcohol and homosexuality as a way of expressing their anger against their
community which also implies an allegorical meaning, political in sense
because most of its members served in military force: in addition to the
influence of romanticism through dealing with love, nature, and dramatized
womanhood to express their broken psyche and sense of self loss.
3. One can notice that their style is confessional in sense of presenting the
details of daily life and their personal experiences and it is proved in
 27

Notley’s poem “ Dear Dark Continent” where she reflects the conflict
between being a writer and a mother and describing her feelings during and
after pregnancy.

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