it’s interesting to see these spread via Twitter. yes YES the tiger is out is great but I can’t say I’ve seen it used widely. Another widely memed poem is William Carlos William’s “This is just to say”: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/this-is-just-to-say
the last time I recall a poem being the subject of national discussion was Amanda Gorman’s poem for Biden’s inauguration, “The Hill We Climb”. The poem was widely praised and it also has rhyme and is easy to understand - features lacking in later poems which Scholar’s Stage says account for poetry’s decline. That said, even though I quite like the poem, I couldn’t have told you a line from it.
Oh wait now I see the author discusses Howl. But I think he's wrong about none of the phrases being added to the language. "best minds of my generation" returns almost twice the number of pages on Google as "dream deferred."
I was about to reply that “best minds of my generation” is a natural enough phrase that its prevalence probably predates Howl and is not really explained by it. But I checked and you’re right! The phrase spiked with Howl and furthermore “I saw the best minds” rises and falls with “best minds of my generation”. I’ll alert Mr. Stage!
'I saw the best minds of my generation...' is from 1956! Tough to think of more recent ones. 'yes YES the tiger is out'? Something from Rupi Kaur?
it’s interesting to see these spread via Twitter. yes YES the tiger is out is great but I can’t say I’ve seen it used widely. Another widely memed poem is William Carlos William’s “This is just to say”: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/this-is-just-to-say
The date of publication? 1934
the last time I recall a poem being the subject of national discussion was Amanda Gorman’s poem for Biden’s inauguration, “The Hill We Climb”. The poem was widely praised and it also has rhyme and is easy to understand - features lacking in later poems which Scholar’s Stage says account for poetry’s decline. That said, even though I quite like the poem, I couldn’t have told you a line from it.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/20/amanda-gorman-poem-biden-inauguration-transcript
Oh wait now I see the author discusses Howl. But I think he's wrong about none of the phrases being added to the language. "best minds of my generation" returns almost twice the number of pages on Google as "dream deferred."
I was about to reply that “best minds of my generation” is a natural enough phrase that its prevalence probably predates Howl and is not really explained by it. But I checked and you’re right! The phrase spiked with Howl and furthermore “I saw the best minds” rises and falls with “best minds of my generation”. I’ll alert Mr. Stage!