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Marlo
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Dissident Sonnets:
The Contrapuntal Formalisms of McDougall and Jess
The Contrapuntal Formalisms of McDougall and Jess
In his introduction to Ravishing Disunities (2000), Agha Shahid Ali recasts the old “free verse vs. formalism” standoff by exposing how both sides of the debate have misunderstood the ancient Persian form of the ghazal. The neo-formalist, “who wishes to save Western civilization—with meters and rhymes!” pens ghazals in English but overlooks the form’s inherent disunity (12). Meanwhile, free verse poets who identify with leftist avant-garde literature also miss the cultural specificity of the ghazal’s formal constraints. “If one writes in free verse—and one should—to subvert Western civilization,” Ali concludes by asserting, “surely one should write in forms to save oneself from Western civilization?” (13).
Bringing this question to bear on the form most associated with monolithic Western tradition, the sonnet, this paper considers politically resistant poetics that engage with rather than eschew stringent formalism. While Wanda Coleman’s radical experimentation and fragmentation paved the way for a new kind of American sonnet in a post-Black Arts moment, recent years have also seen a number of works that rely on formal tradition to enact revolutionary poetics. I briefly consider a few examples, including Hawaiian poet-activist, Brandy Nālani McDougall, and Detroit poet Tyehimba Jess. McDougall’s collection The Salt-Wind / Ka Makani Pa‘akai (2008) interweaves Western formalism with Native Hawaiian aesthetics and traditions. By returning to the Hawaiian creation epic, the Kumulipo, in sonnet form, McDougall exploits the sonnet’s volta to invoke hulihia aesthetics of “overturn” or overthrow. Similarly, Jess’s formal pyrotechnics through the syncopated sonnets of Olio (2016) offer a contrapuntal reading of American history. Rather than a monument to Western civilization, Jess’s sonnets undermine national progress narratives that relegate America’s legacy of slavery to another century. Ultimately, these rigorous formal engagements raise questions about the assumed political commitments of “free verse” and “formal” poetics.
Bringing this question to bear on the form most associated with monolithic Western tradition, the sonnet, this paper considers politically resistant poetics that engage with rather than eschew stringent formalism. While Wanda Coleman’s radical experimentation and fragmentation paved the way for a new kind of American sonnet in a post-Black Arts moment, recent years have also seen a number of works that rely on formal tradition to enact revolutionary poetics. I briefly consider a few examples, including Hawaiian poet-activist, Brandy Nālani McDougall, and Detroit poet Tyehimba Jess. McDougall’s collection The Salt-Wind / Ka Makani Pa‘akai (2008) interweaves Western formalism with Native Hawaiian aesthetics and traditions. By returning to the Hawaiian creation epic, the Kumulipo, in sonnet form, McDougall exploits the sonnet’s volta to invoke hulihia aesthetics of “overturn” or overthrow. Similarly, Jess’s formal pyrotechnics through the syncopated sonnets of Olio (2016) offer a contrapuntal reading of American history. Rather than a monument to Western civilization, Jess’s sonnets undermine national progress narratives that relegate America’s legacy of slavery to another century. Ultimately, these rigorous formal engagements raise questions about the assumed political commitments of “free verse” and “formal” poetics.
Marlo Starr lives in Baltimore and teaches creative writing in The Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins, where she also completed an MFA in Poetry. She holds a PhD in English from Emory University.