Question

Write one paragraph explaining how each poem combines elements of closed form poetry with free verse and what the usage of these elements reflects about the time periods in which they were written.

Poem 1: "Imagery" by Archibald MacLeish (1892-1981)

The tremulously mirrored clouds lie deep,
Enchanted towers bosomed in the stream,
And blossomed coronals of white-thorn gleam
Within the water where the willows sleep—
Still-imaged willow-leaves whose shadows steep
The far-reflected sky in dark of dream;
And glimpsed therein the sun-winged swallows seem
As fleeting memories to those who weep.

So mirrored in thy heart are all desires,
Eternal longings, Youth’s inheritance,
All hopes that token immortality,
All griefs whereto immortal grief aspires.
Aweary of the world’s reality,
I dream above the imaged pool, Romance.

Poem 2: "Summer Rain" by Amy Lowell (1874-1925)

All night our room was outer-walled with rain.
Drops fell and flattened on the tin roof,
And rang like little disks of metal.
Ping!—Ping!—and there was not a pin-point of silence between
them.
The rain rattled and clashed,
And the slats of the shutters danced and glittered.
But to me the darkness was red-gold and crocus-colored
With your brightness,
And the words you whispered to me
Sprang up and flamed—orange torches against the rain.
Torches against the wall of cool, silver rain!

Answer 1

MacLeish's 'Imagery' fuses closed form with Modernist imagery, reflecting its time's artistic tensions, while Lowell's 'Summer Rain' employs free verse indicative of the Modernist movement's psychological depth and introspection.

Step-by-step explanation:

Archibald MacLeish's poem 'Imagery' and Amy Lowell's poem 'Summer Rain' offer rich examples of how poems can combine elements of closed form poetry with free verse, reflecting the transition of poetic styles over different time periods. MacLeish's 'Imagery' is a sonnet, which adheres to a strict, closed poetic form with a fixed rhyme scheme and meter, a reflection of the early 20th-century Modernist tendencies to bridge traditional structures with evocative imagery. However, MacLeish infuses this traditional form with modernist aesthetics, using images to evoke rather than tell, much like the Imagist poets of his time aimed to achieve.

In contrast, Lowell's 'Summer Rain' utilizes free verse, marked by a lack of consistent rhyme and meter but still resonating with rhythm through the use of repetition and onomatopoeia, characteristic of the Imagist movement. This free verse structure reflects the early 20th-century shift towards Modernism and an emphasis on the freedom to express, where traditional constraints are loosened to capture the cadence of natural speech and psychological complexity. Her work reflects a time when literary expression was becoming more introspective and form was evolving to accommodate the personal voice.