Poetry and fiction in the time between World War I and World War
II related in some ways and differed in others. Robinson Jeffers poem “To the
Stone Cutters” and Katherine Anne Porter’s “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall”
is two pieces that were written in this time period, being good examples of the
differences between poems and fiction. One of the main similarities is the need
to leave a good legacy.
In the poem “To the Stone-Cutters” Jeffers discusses how poets are
remembered in the time using the term “Stone Cutters”. It seems as though the
main focus of the poem is to discuss the legacy that poets leave on the world
after they are gone; “The square-limbed Roman letters/ Scale in the thaws, wear
in the rain./ The poet as well/ Builds his monument mockingly;” (Jeffers, 1924, p. 1630). This
part of the poem shows readers the true meaning and that the poets are like
stone cutters in that they make history and it lasts for a long time.
The short story “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” by Porter
focuses on a very similar topic as “To the Stone-Cutters”. In this story the
main character is a woman that is on her death bed. Her family is visiting her
in her final moments and she is reminiscing in her mind about her life and
things that she wished she had gotten done. “They had been so sweet when they
were little. Granny wished the old days were back again with the children young
and everything to be done over.” (Porter, 1929, 1930, p. 1735)
In this part Porter displays how the women feels about what she is leaving
behind when she dies. This story’s theme is similar to “To the Stone-Cutters”
because both discuss what the main character leaves behind after they are gone.
Many people during this time period and after were concerned with
what they left for people after them. Both Porter and Jeffers make that a clear
concern for the people in this time period. One piece discussing the poets
carving their legacy in “stone” so that people remember them when they are gone
saying, “Stone-cutters fighting time with marble, you foredefeated/ Challengers
of oblivion” (Jeffers, 1924, p.
1629). Then with the women who is concerned that she raised her children
right so that she left something good behind to be proud of. This story showed
this by saying, “Sometimes she wanted to see John again and point to them and
say, Well, I didn’t do so badly, did I?” (Porter, 1929, 1930, p. 1736).
Because both authors where writing during the same time period it
is clear that they were affected by the same trends and outside focuses. During
this time period of war many people were affected by the death of their family
members. This most likely made them reflect more on what they left behind when
they were gone because they were left behind after their loved ones died.
The environment does not seem to affect one writer more than the
other. Both the Porter and Jeffer seem to be affected by the environment in the
same way. Because both express that they are concerned with their legacy.
Jeffer expresses this by saying, “For man will be blotted out, the blithe earth
die, the brave sun/ Die blind, his heart blackening: Yet stones have stood for
a thousand years, and pained thoughts found/ The Honey peace in old poems.”(Jeffers, 1924, p. 1630).
Porter expresses how the same environment affected her by saying, “While she
was rummaging around she found death in her mind and it felt clammy and
unfamiliar. She had spent so much time preparing for death there was no need
for bringing it up again.”(Porter,
1929, 1930, p. 1735).
As one looks at the form of the poem “To the Stone-Cutters” it
would seem like it was not influenced by other art forms such as jazz music.
However, if one looks at the form that music takes they would see that poetry
and music are very similar. This is because they both typically have rhythm and
rhyme. Because of this both jazz music and poetry of the time period would
affect each other equally.
When one looks at a short story such as “The Jilting of Granny
Weatherall” they would not think that the author was affected by something such
as an essay. This is because the essay is a more formal piece of writing.
Whereas the short story is more of a creative process not held by the
boundaries that the essay has. Therefore making the short story more affected
by the authors surroundings and own ideas of how they want to convey their
alternate reality.
In the pieces “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” by Katherine Anne
Porter and “To the Stone-Cutters” by Robinson Jeffers one sees the concern of
legacy. This is one of the main similarities in these two pieces even though
they are completely different types of art. This shows that many people during
this time period were affected by the same thing and that was death.
References
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