EN 2100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: D. H. Lawrence, Literary Modernism, Totalitarianism
Document Summary
To provide a documentation of society as it is at the time the poet is alive. To act as a document; actively document what life was like, for one person (the poet); or for what it was like for the society. If we think of a poem as a social document, we can read it that way whether it was intended or not. Timeless: to force us out of our particular time, and what connects us as a species. Connection: to create a connection that was not there before. Escapism; solace: to suggest there is an alternative or better way of living. Emotional prompt: to get people to feel, not just think; bring about an emotional response in the reader. The poet only has obligations to themselves. There are societies where poets had cultural obligations. In a totalitarian regime: a poet must be censored, or write an ideology. We expect from an author to entertain; what"s the reader"s expected obligation.