choose-two-poets-we-have-read-so-far-and-discuss-these-poets-different-approaches-to-mediating-their-poems-through-other-poets-poems

Please answer ONE of the following questions in a brief essay. Please let us know which question your essay answers.

1. We have talked a lot in class about the mediation of personal expression: poems are made out of words, images, metaphors, allusions, and figures from popular culture and – we have seen many times – other poems. Choose TWO poets we have read so far and discuss these poets’ different approaches to mediating their poems through other poets/poems. What are the poets’ relationships to the other poets they reference? How do the poets’ uses of other poems (either in their titles, by completing a thought another poem had started, by imitating another poem’s structure, etc.) both permit and problematize personal expression? If you remember specific examples of lines or poems or phrases, those will help in this answer.