Slowly but surely I’m making my way through an article entitled “Defining Poetry in the Twilight Interval”by Karen Kilcup. Though not obvious by its title, the article includes a heavy focus on the development of Robert Frost as a poet at a time when many of Dickinson’s poems were just being published and discovered (Frost was sixteen years old when the first series of Dickinson’s “Poems” was published) – and evidently this period in the world of poetry is known as the Twilight Interval.
Imma be honest – I’ve not heard that designation before. In college I majored in English Education, so my courses included a good number of classes in literature and poetry, but I don’t recall hearing of this designation, the Twilight Interval.
Evidently the Twilight Interval refers to the period in poetry between 1890 and 1912, and the term was coined by American critic Edward Blair Stedman “to describe the end of the Victorian era and the rise of modernism in poetry.” Stedman characterized this era as an "interregnum" or "twilight," suggesting a time of transition and decline after “the golden age of Victorian poetry.”
Have any of you heard of this before?
In exploring the Twilight Interval, I found this timeline of poetry (HERE), but it does not include the term. On the left side of the page, you can see that it identifies the Victorians as from 1833 - 1903 followed by the Georgians and then the Moderns.
Then lo and behold, as I was exploring all of this, I came across a website of Karen Kilcup’s (HERE), and it includes a now defunct link to the article I’m reading; however, the page does include a subtitle to the article which brings it into better focus: “Defining Poetry in the Twilight Interval: Frost, Dickinson, and the Critics.”
Here’s the gist of the article in Kilcup’s words:
“This essay considers two related questions: How did the late-nineteenth-century cultural and critical climate impact how Frost encountered Dickinson’s work? How did his reactions – both to the critics and to the poems – help shape his own verse, and ultimately, American poetry?”
Yesterday I posted some of the essay’s introduction, which included a (harsh) review of Dickinson’s poetry that was representative of what Frost would have encountered as critics of the time began responding to Dickinson’s work. Still, Frost recognized Dickinson’s genius in her “lawless” approach to language and style. As I read on, I’ll see how this all unfolds.
One of the first poems Kilcup explores is the first poem Frost sold and had published, “My Butterfly, An Elegy.” Can you guess which of Dickinson’s poems she compares it to? I’ll share that tomorrow.
Imma be honest – I’ve not heard that designation before. In college I majored in English Education, so my courses included a good number of classes in literature and poetry, but I don’t recall hearing of this designation, the Twilight Interval.
Evidently the Twilight Interval refers to the period in poetry between 1890 and 1912, and the term was coined by American critic Edward Blair Stedman “to describe the end of the Victorian era and the rise of modernism in poetry.” Stedman characterized this era as an "interregnum" or "twilight," suggesting a time of transition and decline after “the golden age of Victorian poetry.”
Have any of you heard of this before?
In exploring the Twilight Interval, I found this timeline of poetry (HERE), but it does not include the term. On the left side of the page, you can see that it identifies the Victorians as from 1833 - 1903 followed by the Georgians and then the Moderns.
Then lo and behold, as I was exploring all of this, I came across a website of Karen Kilcup’s (HERE), and it includes a now defunct link to the article I’m reading; however, the page does include a subtitle to the article which brings it into better focus: “Defining Poetry in the Twilight Interval: Frost, Dickinson, and the Critics.”
Here’s the gist of the article in Kilcup’s words:
“This essay considers two related questions: How did the late-nineteenth-century cultural and critical climate impact how Frost encountered Dickinson’s work? How did his reactions – both to the critics and to the poems – help shape his own verse, and ultimately, American poetry?”
Yesterday I posted some of the essay’s introduction, which included a (harsh) review of Dickinson’s poetry that was representative of what Frost would have encountered as critics of the time began responding to Dickinson’s work. Still, Frost recognized Dickinson’s genius in her “lawless” approach to language and style. As I read on, I’ll see how this all unfolds.
One of the first poems Kilcup explores is the first poem Frost sold and had published, “My Butterfly, An Elegy.” Can you guess which of Dickinson’s poems she compares it to? I’ll share that tomorrow.
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