Archival Research (Poetry)

For the second day of our archival research, I chose a book of poetry to look through. Unfortunately, I apparently didn’t have the foresight to take a picture of it so I’m not exactly sure which one it was, but I digress. Although not as interesting or, I suppose, eyebrow-raising as Robert McAlmon’s poetry, this collection did have a few pieces that were enjoyable in their own right. Overall, there was quite a lot of nature imagery utilized throughout the collection, to the point where it seemed almost like a Modernist rendition of Romantic Era poetry; such is also (somewhat) the case with the example below as well. Edwin Rolphe’s “Recruit,” (the poem I’m showcasing here) isn’t something I remember having taken a picture of, however, looking back at it now I can certainly see why I did. It’s good at describing the subject it tackles and manages to maintain a quaint sort of wistfulness that compliments its choice of content. Despite not exhibiting much of the stylized Modernist technique that we’ve seen from the poets we’ve covered in class, I think this poem still has a lot of charm in its own way.