![]() ![]() These choices make the collection appear simultaneously expansive and specific, familiar and alien, and, most importantly, accessible and private. It appears, then, that Smith is able to connect with her audience in the same way pop music does as a result of two choices: her selection of space as a unifying concept, and her collage-like approach, which results in the interweaving of cultural icons and images throughout the poems. Close examination of both contemporary poetry and music indicates the necessity of connecting with audiences by appearing simultaneously private and accessible this idea is perhaps most clearly illustrated by the fact that pop music must remain applicable for a variety of audiences, who must be able to imagine themselves as the protagonists of the songs’ actions or narratives in order to identify with the speaker in question. As I attempted to examine Smith’s toolbox, so to speak, it occurred to me that one requirement for contemporary poetry is that it move us and connect with us in a way that we have generally come to expect from popular song. Smith’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Life On Mars, I began to wonder why it affected me as it did, and why it obviously affected the Pulitzer Prize judges, who praised Smith’s ability to “ readers into the universe and them to an authentic mix of joy and pain,” in the same way. Smith’s LIFE ON MARS by Andrea Rogers Ī few years ago, as I read Tracy K. ![]() SHARE THIS “The Future Once”: Exploring Alienation and Elegy in Tracy K. ![]()
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