Lamenting the father in modern American poetry : a study in selected elegies of Mark Strand and Sharon Olds

الملخص EN

Modern American elegy reveals a change in the attitude of mourning from the traditional lamenting approach to some anti-elegiac attitudes towards the mourned figure.

Many American poets have lamented the pass away of the stately figure of the father.

However, some poets attack their dead father, and ridiculed him in a poem that is intended to be an elegy, instead of showing passion, homage and love to him.

In this regard, two poetic attitudes to the father can be traced in modern American poetry.

The first one takes the form of tributes and praise, offering great admiration, compassion, and love for the father.

For these poets, a father is an inspiration.

The second voice develops some anger and contempt against the patriarchal authority embodied in the father.

These attitudes are menifested and incarnated in selected elegies by Mark Strand (1934-2014) and Sharon Olds (1942- ).

This paper investigates the attitude towards the muorned father as expressed by each of them in some of their elegies.