On Stein's A Carafe, That Is a Blind Glass

On Stein's "A Carafe, That Is a Blind Glass"

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ModPo quizzes will typically have two purposes. One is to help you comprehend what was discussed in the current week's videos - to help remind you of key concepts and terminology used during the conversation. A second purpose is to encourage you to go further into very close readings of lines and phrases and words - and even punctuation - in the poems. If you have questions about the quiz, or would like to discuss the issues it raises, please post a comment in the discussion forum.

Question 1

In her poem "A Carafe, That Is a Blind Glass," from the "Objects" section of Tender Buttons, what is the significance of the word "pointing"? From the three options below, choose the one that seems most correct.

Stein's poem is primarily about the referential function of language, and the word "pointing" refers to the way language itself functions as a system of codes by "pointing" to the things it represents.

The way Stein uses the word "pointing" suggests that language can't, ultimately, point to anything. Stein's poem rejects the idea that language can make meaning at all.

Stein's poem is primarily about the placement of a carafe with other objects on a table.

In accordance with the Honor Code, I certify that my answers here are my own work.

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On Tzara's "To Make a Dadaist Poem"

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ModPo quizzes will typically have two purposes. One is to help you comprehend what was discussed in the current week's videos - to help remind you of key concepts and terminology used during the conversation. A second purpose is to encourage you to go further into very close readings of lines and phrases and words - and even punctuation - in the poems. If you have questions about the quiz, or would like to discuss the issues it raises, please post a comment in the discussion forum.

Question 1

In "To Make a Dadaist Poem," Tristan Tzara claims that his cutup method will make you an "infinitely original writer." What is the significance of this claim for modernist poetics? From the three options below, choose any or all that seem correct. Select all that apply.

Tzara uses the phrase "infinitely original writer" ironically. He does not actually mean that there is anything original about this method.

In Tzara's phrase "infinitely original writer," the word "infinitely" refers to the huge (if not quite infinite) number of combinations of cut-out words from the newspaper, and so in this sense "infinitely original" means the always original and new arrangements rather than the words from the newspaper (which are, after all, borrowed).

Tzara's method suggests that writing a poem that cuts up and reassembles the words of someone else will produce a poem that is "like you." This is a direct challenge to the romantic and postromantic notion that the primary goal of poetry is original self-expression: Tzara suggests that writing a poem according to chance operations accomplishes this goal.

In accordance with the Honor Code, I certify that my answers here are my own work.

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Дата добавления: 2015-11-04