American Literature / Unit 17 AML 1601 short lesson, about 20 seconds
American Poetry After the War
Captions available
The idea
The witness says traditional forms no longer seemed to give meaning to American poets after the war, and that events produced a sense of history as discontinuous, with each act and moment unique. Style became provisional and reflexive, and originality itself was becoming the new tradition.
In practice
History felt broken, so form did too.
Where people slip
Originality as a tradition is a paradox.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Builds on
- Nothing. This is a starting point.
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