I got 14 of these questions wrong (out of 50), and in half of those cases I didn't even get the sex of the poet right. Wouldn't you think that would be easier to guess?
I recognized a large number of the poems, so 'guessing' the sex wasn't an issue for the most part. When I was guessing, though, I wasn't wrong about sex -- female poets are usually famous for having a particular voice, which is found throughout their work. I hadn't seen the Maya Angelou or Plath poems before, for example, but they were plainly Angelou or Plath lines. Dickenson's poetry is famous because all of her poems can be sung to the tune of "The Yellow Rose of Texas."
I did cross wires on sex once, but only because I thought I recognized a poem as being by a particular author (Allen Ginsberg), when in fact it was by a woman I'd not heard of before. In retrospect, I should have known it wasn't him -- it was on his sort of theme, but the structure was too simple for the elaborate voice he favored.
I can remember we spent a whole class once, way back in High School, on that poem about how so much depends on a wheelbarrow near the chickens. At the time I couldn't understand why we were bothering with it at such length: it's quite right, like a haiku, but I'd have thought you could say what you needed to say about it in a few minutes. Or say nothing, really, since the poem had captured the thought so well.
14 wrong too. A lot of the poets I've never heard of, but figuring out the era pared away some of the options for the subsequent wild guessing. On most of the guesses I got the sex right, though.
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I recognized a large number of the poems, so 'guessing' the sex wasn't an issue for the most part. When I was guessing, though, I wasn't wrong about sex -- female poets are usually famous for having a particular voice, which is found throughout their work. I hadn't seen the Maya Angelou or Plath poems before, for example, but they were plainly Angelou or Plath lines. Dickenson's poetry is famous because all of her poems can be sung to the tune of "The Yellow Rose of Texas."
I did cross wires on sex once, but only because I thought I recognized a poem as being by a particular author (Allen Ginsberg), when in fact it was by a woman I'd not heard of before. In retrospect, I should have known it wasn't him -- it was on his sort of theme, but the structure was too simple for the elaborate voice he favored.
I can remember we spent a whole class once, way back in High School, on that poem about how so much depends on a wheelbarrow near the chickens. At the time I couldn't understand why we were bothering with it at such length: it's quite right, like a haiku, but I'd have thought you could say what you needed to say about it in a few minutes. Or say nothing, really, since the poem had captured the thought so well.
Oh geez. I gave at about #20. I recognized Coleridge, Kipling, Auden and a couple of others, but the rest are just unknown to me.
Here, Tex, this is on point and up your alley.
14 wrong too. A lot of the poets I've never heard of, but figuring out the era pared away some of the options for the subsequent wild guessing. On most of the guesses I got the sex right, though.
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