Ranking contemporary American poems

In this paper I use computational linguistics to find the differences between poems written by amateurs and poems written by professionals. I identify a number of linguistic variables that are important in distinguishing between the two classes of poems. To a large extent the findings corroborate those of earlier researchers, such as the fact that professional poems have more concrete language than amateur poems. However, I go on to use the identifed characteristics to create an ensemble classifier using the principles of machine learning. The holdout sample classification accuracy of the classifier is 80%. Furthermore, I go on to use the scores generated by the classifier to rank a number of contemporary American poets on a continuum from "amateur" to "professional". This method could be used by publishers to run an initial check on submitted poems to determine their merit

The migrant voice : the politics of writing home between the Sinophone and Anglophone worlds

This paper addresses the politics of language, identity, and diasporic Chinese writing in old and emerging Chinese migrant literature. I opt for the idea of a “migrant subject” as brought up by Ha Jin to underscore a diverse verbal strategy and mobile literary creativity: that of the migrant writer who initiates linguistic and literary perversions to actively intervene in the cultural politics of both the host country and the motherland. The article proceeds to recuperate the diasporic narratives of Sinophone authors Bai Xianyong and Nie Hualing as two earlier examples of migrant writers before Ha, which exemplified the Cold War phase of overseas Chinese American writing. Whereas writing in an adopted tongue of English, as attested by Ha himself, unleashes his creative and critical urges, for Bai and Nie writing in Chinese in a foreign land as America does likewise and ushers in the critical distance cherished by the migrant writers to work on such subject matters as exile and cultural alienation. Originally written in Chinese or English, their migrant voices bring in a minor language to major traditions (Chinese literature and American English literature). Tracing the historical trajectory of migrant literature, in which Sinophone and Anglophone texts are increasingly translated and circulated between cultures, I stress the gains in translation and intercultural writing as the migrant subject can stand valid as a position for writers of transnational literary creativity

Half-Heard Voices of the Primal Zone; Sleep and Waking in a Poem by Cao Shuying

Initially touching artifacts and sculpture from ancient Greece, and the risk of misreading thought or emotion cross-culturally, this essay draws briefly on Wordsworth’s testimony that poetic process arises first in a primally sensual and pre-verbal zone. The essay then proposes that similar practice, carried by craft and poetic experience in the target language, may be equally advantageous in poetry translation, while helping bridge individual and cross-cultural differences. In light of this, the essay’s second half addresses translational details in rendering Cao Shuying’s poem “I Often Read, Early Mornings.

Verses of Praise and Denigration: Finding Poetic Creativity in the Tibetan Election in Exile

Between October 2015 and March 2016, over ninety-thousand Tibetans in exile prepared to elect either Lobsang Sangay or Penpa Tsering as the new political leader of the Tibetan government in exile. In a negative campaign style, which was unprecedented in the history of the Tibetan democracy in exile, the two candidates were pitted against each other. Many Tibetans now reminisce with some remorse about how this election campaign stirred up tensions and animosity in the exile community. The campaign offered a germane platform to many Tibetan poets all over the world to express their opinions about their potential future leaders in the Tibetan language. One forum where they disseminated their poems about the two candidates was an exile-based Tibetan-language website devoted to poetry, news, essays, and songs. In this piece, I offer an English translation of four of these poems and discuss the issues and themes that concerned the poets as well as the Tibetan electorate

Menorah Review (No. 53, Fall, 2001)

Uriah Levy and Monticello -- Prejudice and the Military -- The Feminist\u27s Corner -- Derrida Remembers Levinas -- Tu B\u27Shvat -- Jerusalem and Tel Aviv -- Noteworthy Books -- Understanding the Holocaus

Dialogical Interspecies Ethics: Ataraxia, Desire and Hope in the Post-Human World of Anne Carson\u27s Pastoral

This review essay implicitly revisits human and non-human power relations within a critical animal studies context that understands the affective conjunction between the manipulation of our worlds (action, partly through knowledge) and degrees of involvement with these others that live in our worlds (comportment via emotions). I take Louise Westling’s new study as the platform for an analysis of two book-length poems, The Autobiography of Red (1998) and red doc\u3e (2013), which centre on the life of a shepherd, Geryon. Rather than revisit classical pastoral, these texts extract power-relations that classical myth and pastoral spatialise. In so doing, I argue, they reclaim a site of the emotions within the scene of herding—itself a metaphor for containing animals, for channelling and managing resources, wildness. Carson’s treatment of emotions positions the reader to evaluate the border between human and non-human animals; to unpack and complicate the terms by which we might wish to make or unmake that very demarcation

A survey of literature taught to slow learners in Massachusetts high schools.

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

EVALUATING APPROPRIATE REPERTOIRE FOR DEVELOPING SINGERS: AN AFRICAN-AMERICAN ART SONG ANTHOLOGY

Finding appropriate and unique repertoire for the developing singer is a daunting task and ongoing challenge in the teaching profession. There are limited resources to help guide teachers in selecting varied, yet suitable repertoire that falls outside of the standard Western European musical canon. The early years, ages 17–21, are crucial to establishing a healthy and well-rounded vocal approach to singing, while also introducing the student to a wide variety of music. African-American art song is a great option for developing singers. Repertoire should allow a student to grow musically, vocally, and artistically according to the singer’s specific stage of learning and interests. Selecting repertoire through established criteria that considers the student’s personal and cultural interests (in addition to pedagogical needs) allows for a good foundation to support a healthy vocal development. Consideration of numerous elements, such as historical, musical, physical, emotional, and vocal characteristics offers a framework for a comprehensive approach in the selection process. In Literature for Teaching: A Guide for Choosing Solo Vocal Repertoire from a Developmental Perspective, Christopher Arneson provides a wonderful base for further study, and application into repertoire selection. Through the utilization of Arneson’s suggestions, I have created a rubric that quantifies key criteria important to the evaluation of repertoire. Through this rubric, a clear evaluation and assigned difficulty level is provided for each song in the collection. This compilation of songs is only the beginning to a proposed anthology entitled: African-American Art Song for the Developing Singer. Each song offers a historical and pedagogical summary that includes the following: composer and poet biographies, text and translations, basic form, original key and other keys available, performance notes, range, tessitura, suggested voice type, tempo suggestions, difficulty level, and other available editions. This unique anthology of African-American art song offers teachers with a resource that evaluates appropriate repertoire for developing singers, between the ages of 17–21, that is clearly accessible

Menorah Review (No. 44, Fall, 1998)

When Bad Things Happen to Anyone: Venturing East of Uz -- The Meandering Muse -- A New Jewry: Promise or Threat? -- Synagogue and State -- Theology, Justice and Memory After the Holocaust -- Book Listing -- Book Briefing