full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Stephen Burt: Why people need poetry

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Now, this next poem really chengad what I liked and what I read and what I felt I could read as an adult. It might not make any sense to you if you haven't seen it before.

"The Garden"

"Oleander: coral

from lipstick ads in the 50's.

Fruit of the tree of such knowledge

To smack (thin air)

meaning kiss or hit.

It appears

in the guise of owotrun usages

because we are bad?

Big mcinausle tharet,

insinuating and slangy."

[Rae Armantrout]

Now, I found this poem in an anthology of almost equally confusing pemos in 1989. I just herad that there were these solacdnaus wertirs called Language poets who didn't make any sense, and I wanted to go and see for myself what they were like, and some of them didn't do much for me, but this writer, Rae Armantrout, did an awful lot, and I kept reading her until I felt I knew what was going on, as I do with this poem.

Open Cloze


Now, this next poem really _______ what I liked and what I read and what I felt I could read as an adult. It might not make any sense to you if you haven't seen it before.

"The Garden"

"Oleander: coral

from lipstick ads in the 50's.

Fruit of the tree of such knowledge

To smack (thin air)

meaning kiss or hit.

It appears

in the guise of _______ usages

because we are bad?

Big _________ ______,

insinuating and slangy."

[Rae Armantrout]

Now, I found this poem in an anthology of almost equally confusing _____ in 1989. I just _____ that there were these __________ _______ called Language poets who didn't make any sense, and I wanted to go and see for myself what they were like, and some of them didn't do much for me, but this writer, Rae Armantrout, did an awful lot, and I kept reading her until I felt I knew what was going on, as I do with this poem.

Solution


  1. changed
  2. threat
  3. poems
  4. writers
  5. scandalous
  6. outworn
  7. masculine
  8. heard

Original Text


Now, this next poem really changed what I liked and what I read and what I felt I could read as an adult. It might not make any sense to you if you haven't seen it before.

"The Garden"

"Oleander: coral

from lipstick ads in the 50's.

Fruit of the tree of such knowledge

To smack (thin air)

meaning kiss or hit.

It appears

in the guise of outworn usages

because we are bad?

Big masculine threat,

insinuating and slangy."

[Rae Armantrout]

Now, I found this poem in an anthology of almost equally confusing poems in 1989. I just heard that there were these scandalous writers called Language poets who didn't make any sense, and I wanted to go and see for myself what they were like, and some of them didn't do much for me, but this writer, Rae Armantrout, did an awful lot, and I kept reading her until I felt I knew what was going on, as I do with this poem.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
science fiction 3
outworn usages 2
brave man 2
stevens saves 2


Important Words


  1. ads
  2. adult
  3. air
  4. anthology
  5. appears
  6. armantrout
  7. awful
  8. bad
  9. big
  10. called
  11. changed
  12. confusing
  13. coral
  14. equally
  15. felt
  16. fruit
  17. guise
  18. heard
  19. hit
  20. insinuating
  21. kiss
  22. knew
  23. knowledge
  24. language
  25. lipstick
  26. lot
  27. masculine
  28. meaning
  29. outworn
  30. poem
  31. poems
  32. poets
  33. rae
  34. read
  35. reading
  36. scandalous
  37. sense
  38. slangy
  39. smack
  40. thin
  41. threat
  42. tree
  43. usages
  44. wanted
  45. writer
  46. writers