Both Argento Series and a/s/l are framed by a macro-level comparison between poetry and a form of mass or popular cultural production: film (in Argento Series) and pop music (in a/s/l). For this response, you will choose a passage from a poem (no less than 5 lines, no more than 10) and answer the following questions: 1. How is poetry linked to popular culture in the passage on a formal level? Note: you may certainly talk about the references that Killian or Hua makes to pop culture, but do not simply tell me that the link has been made because, for instance, Hua has named Beyonce in her poem, or Killian has described a scene from a horror film. You need to talk about form! 2. Why do you think this link is being made? In both cases, your response should include some general reflection on the relationship between pop culture and poetry based on your close reading. In this connection, it might be helpful to recall the two major organizing questions of our study of poetics: What is a poem for? What can a poem do? At the risk of sounding like a broken record, please bear in mind that answers should address the form of passage you choose: the arrangement of words on the page; what a text looks like, how it’s put together. If you don’t comment on the form, you have not done the assignment correctly.
