Annotated Bibliography Assignment

By Megan Carter, Mapping Genre/Team 3a

1. Blake, Robert W. “Poets on Poetry: The Morality of Poetry” The English Journal, Vol. 81, No. 1 (Jan., 1992), pp. 16-20 Stable URL:http://www.jstor.org/stable/818330

Blake contemplates the role of poetry in a predominantly scientific world, and its struggles to find its place in educational spheres. Starting as early as elementary school, poetry is not taught formally, or as a means to improve a student’s reading, writing, and comprehension skills, but rather, as Blake says, a “break” from “serious” learning (17). Later, in secondary school, Blake observes that poetry earns a higher standing and is only then looked at as an accepted form of literature, but still one in which very little emphasis, if any, is placed on an emotional analysis of the poem, and rather, a factual close-reading of it instead. However, Blake disputes these bodies of thinking and styles of teaching by asserting that poetry is, as Czeslaw Milosz states, “... a witness and participant in one of man’s major transformations” (17), and should be practiced as such. Blake elaborates by claiming poetry to be “a way to use words to reconstruct reality”, in addition to it being a unique method to become informed about one’s culture and participating effectively as a member within that culture. Poetry, for Blake, is undeniably a very emotional experience, as he represents himself this way within the article. He effectively pins traditional scientific methods of thinking against those of more poetic and fluid concepts of thinking, stating that poetry is just as crucial and valuable for knowing about the world as science and the knowledge it produces is. Poetry provides rich cultural insight which is something the hard sciences lack majorly. Lastly, Blake draws attention to the fact that on a fundamental level, poetry is useful in part because it helps people to better understand themselves and in turn, others. In this way, to Blake, poetry is a societal necessity.

2. Devitt, Amy J. "Writing Genres" Rhetoric Review, Vol. 24, No. 3 (2005), pp. 342-345 Stable URL:http://www.jstor.org/stable/20176669

Devitt works to define genre in a very general yet detailed sense, posing overarching questions such as ‘what is genre?’ and ‘how does a genre operate?’. According to Devitt, “genre can be a robust, generative concept for writers, leading them to make decisions not only about form and organization but also about topic, focus, evidence, persona, diction, and syntax” (342). The chief objective of Devitt’s writing is to issue an in-depth and unified definition of genre generated from previous research in addition to her own insight. In short, Devitt posits the claim that while genre orients writers, it is also constructed by writers. Additionally, Devitt hypothesizes that “genre changes as situational and cultural context changes, and as individuals encourage or inhibit their change” (344). Lastly, Devitt explores the need for creativity in writing, but also takes note of how genre can be both incredibly constraining and freeing, encouraging choice made solely by the writer. Despite the often times vigorous nature of Devitt’s work, she points to genre as a guide for its consumers, stressing that it not be taught explicitly, but rather, for there to be a limited awareness during one’s academic career so that it does not inhibit their ability to master other genres later on. In total, Devitt’s formulaic thought frames genre as a fluid organizational concept rather than one that is definitive. Essentially, as writers, genre should not be a limiting, but rather, guiding concept.

3. Etzkorn, Peter K. "Social Context of Songwriting in the United States" Ethnomusicology, Vol. 7, No. 2 (May, 1963), pp. 96-106 Stable URL:http://www.jstor.org/stable/924545 

Initially, Etzkorn addresses the ambiguities present within the medium of music, and how this presents considerable difficulty when attempting to analyze the symbolic meaning of any given song. Etzkorn starts off by saying: “the more one is interested in the social impact or meaning of music, the more will one be concerned with the social correlates of its production, reproduction, and reception” (96). In this regard, Etzkorn is satisfied with thinking of music as more than just the “production of noise”, and rather, as a primarily social act. This is due to the fact that music is a performance and thus, requires active participation and cooperation from the targeted audience. The transformation from music being basic “sound patterns” to what is recognized as “musical symbolism” occurs with an abundance of consumer involvement. Music is additionally viewed as a very strong communicative force, and as a result, plays a large role in societal life, whose conditions enable the sharing of its meaning. Finally, Etzkorn discusses the collision of audience and composer, and how the two work to meet each other’s needs. Etzkorn declares this to be a very natural process, and one that he describes as coming to fruition only with all necessary components.

4. Mayer, Rudolf, Neumayer, Robert, & Rauber, Andreas, Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference of Music Information Retrieval, 2008. Print.  

This article discusses in depth the factors that influence music, including auditory and textual elements. Mayer, Neumayer, and Rauber also claim that cultural information determines how listeners perceive a certain sound. Song lyrics are traditionally a good mode of analysis, and as these authors have found, “provide the means to identify specific genres such as ‘love songs’, or ‘Christmas carols’ while simultaneously being ‘the only available option for extracting features’ (337). Additionally, these authors point out that a difference in genre exhibits a difference in the lyrics composed for that genre, which is characterized by the degree and form of the rhymes used. To exemplify this concept, Mayer, Neumayer, and Rauber provide the notion of primarily ‘Hip Hop’ and ‘Rap’ genres making higher use of rhymes when compared with other genres such as Indie or Alternative. It is within this emphasis of rhyming that a certain genre develops the sound its known for. Ultimately, Mayer, Neumayer, and Rauber conclude that musical classification is determinant on style and rhyme features found within the song. Moreover, they conclude that the process of classifying songs based on their genre becomes easier with emphasis on analyzing the stylistic and rhyming features in the song’s most primary textual element: its lyrics. Mayer, Neumayer, and Rauber explored these concepts experimentally by investigating sophisticated rhyming patterns.

5. Weber, Robert Philip, "Basic Content Analysis", Journal of the American Statistical Association, Vol. 82, No. 397 (Mar., 1987), pp. 354-355 Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2289192 

This book delineates the basic function of content-analysis in various forms, stating that it is a research method that serves to make valid inferences from text. These inferences expose important elements crucial for understanding and interpreting the text, including the sender of the message, the message itself, and the designated audience (9). Additionally, the method of content-analysis is used to identify trends in communication content, comparing media and various levels of communication, identifying the characteristics and intentions of the speaker, describe underlying attitudinal and behavioral responses to numerous communications, revealing the focus of the individual in their work and reflecting cultural patterns of groups and institutions in society (9). Weber also describes the advantageous nature of content-analysis as one that is capable of operating within social interaction, which relates to the humanistic aspect of this course, as social interaction is vital for human survival. Weber then delves into distinct materials content-analysis has been used on in the past, with one very prominent one being song lyrics.The analysis of these lyrics generally yields very favorable results, and differs based on the genre of the song being analyzed. For instance, songs of the rhythm and blues and soul sorts generally mentioned more about “action in the objective world, less concern with time, and a greater emphasis on what Walker calls “toughmindedness” and “existential concreteness”, when pinned against white song lyrics for reasons of comparison (10). Weber also took note of shifts in narrative focus, with an increase in self-identification seen in rhythm and blues and soul lyrics, and a decrease in what Weber continually coins “white song lyrics”. In a bigger scope, Weber asserts that in smaller studies such as these, a larger contribution is being made to popular and elite culture.