In the fifteen years since the 9/11 terrorist attacks in America, countless literary and artistic works have responded to the incident. This paper examines Amiri Baraka's literary response to this violent event through his most famous poem entitled "Somebody blew up America," which defies American orthodox responses to the attacks. The…

While conventional critics seek the comic aspect of parody, modernist critics credit parody with questioning mainstream literary trends and subverting literary production. For instance, Mikhail Bakhtin believes in parody's power to create "a decrowning double" by turning the official worldview up-side-down. For experimental poets like…

Ferdowsi's Shahnameh and Homer's Iliad are among the first literary masterpieces of Iran and Greece. These teachings include the educational teachings of Zal and Roudabeh, and Paris and Helen. This paper presents a comparative look at the immortal effect of this Iranian poet with Homer's poem--the Greek blind poet. In this comparison, using a…

Although Khayyam is one of the Persian poets whose school of thought and poems are studied the most, there is hardly a research in which his intellectual system is explained and made clear via a linguistic framework. In this paper one of the most debatable matters which is "Obligation" versus "Free Will" is dealt with by using…

Inspired by an experience of teaching the drafts of Elizabeth Bishop's "One Art", this article rereads the drafts as far more than imperfect precursors to the final poem. The drafts have their own prosodic features and poetic logic, one that values and enacts a vertiginous dilation of thought, expression and memory. The final version of…

This article looks at how four British-based poets born in the Caribbean exploit the rich language repertoire available to them in their work for children and young people. Following initial consideration of questions of definition and terminology, poetry collections by James Berry, John Agard, Grace Nichols and Valerie Bloom are discussed, with a…

Presents contrasting views of some French literary critics including Georges Poulet, Charles Mauron, Jean-Pierre Richard, Jean-Paul Weber, and Roland Barthes. Paper read at the Annual Meeting of the Modern Language Association of America (MLA) December 28, 1968 in New York, New York. (DS)

Reviews the poetry of Derek Walcott, a native of the West Indies, whose new volume 'Another Life' more resembles the poet-artists commentary on a gallery of scenes and portraits in Melvin Tolson's 'The Harlem Gallery' than anything else that has come from the English speaking Caribbean in the post-war period. (Author/JM)

A concept of the masses, or populace, conveyed a positive connotation in both Biblical and Renaissance literature. During Spain's Golden Age (seventeenth century) writers, especially didactic dramatists, tended to register negative and prejudiced attitudes toward the common folk and to regard them as "masa inculta" or uncultured masses. Primarily,…

Evaluates translations done in English of the works of Jorge Luis Borges. (DS)

Discusses the purpose and method for getting youngsters to approach a piece of literature with these queries: I wonder what a fellow human being had to say here...." What's his vision of things?..." I wonder how this composer has used language to express his thoughts, feelings, and dreams." (Author/RB)