Emotive Language in Corso’s 1959

Emotive Language in Corso’s 1959

            At the very heart of poetic construction lies the emotional appeal. This is something Beat Generation poet Gregory Orso masterfully performed during the postwar period. In his apathetic commentary on the last year of the 1950’s; 1959, the speaker enlist the seldom-used totality of The English lexicon to add powerful meaning to his poem. Line 18 reads: “Repeated nightmare, lachrymae lachrymae— “ (“1959 by Gregory Corso - Poetry Foundation."). “Lachrymae,” or the latin word for tears, is used to communicate the consequential effect of seemingly perpetual warfare historically, yet specifically during the first half of the 20^th Century ("Frederic, Lord Leighton | Lachrymae | The Met."). The result is lamentations, weeping, and an unending sadness that this word choice reflects. Repetition of a particular word in poetic verse also adds to the emotive transfer. There is an intense, sorrowful feeling that the word communicates; yet by choosing to repeat the word a second time the speaker alludes to the promise that humanity will find the same results from each instance of warfare. There is a futility implied here, a “Repeated nightmare” with a repeated result….tears.

Works Cited

“1959 by Gregory Corso - Poetry Foundation." Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation, n.d. Web.   11 Sept. 2016. <https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/46371>.

"Frederic, Lord Leighton | Lachrymae | The Met." The Metropolitan Museum of Art, I.e. The      Met Museum. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Sept. 2016.             <http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/436869>.