Modern American literature is presented by numerous writers and poets, which present their pieces of work on different topics and of various styles. The tendency of combining science and literature appeared while the last decades. As a result, the authors present interesting works. For example, medicine and its directions have found reflection in modern literature. Moreover, these works are rather interesting and they have already found their army of fans all over the world. These works are really original but it is necessary to make some efforts in order to understand such verse correctly. These poems are set in sections, depicting the parts of the human body, gap and blissful bodies, world, animals, digits, substance, and time. There are some representatives of this literature direction that have already gained their recognition among the readers. Alice Jones with her anatomical poems about cells, blood, and larynx can be associated with this group of authors.
The readers know Alice Jones as a famous author of poems with anatomic content. All her verse has a certain type of tone, giving her poems a particular sounding. In accordance with the definition, the tone is a kind of literary technique that is used by the author to show his or her opinion towards the subject of the poem. Due to the tone of the verse, it is possible to understand what mood and character the author has, her opinion and attitude towards the hero or the things the author describes: “For tones, the things could be different. A lexically high tones have a great influence on the surroundings, in particular on the speakers and readers” (Yip 96).
In the poem, The Larynx Alice Jones tried to use a serious and at the same time informal tone in order to show all the significance and the necessity of the larynx. Anatomic terms used in the poem give the shade of some mystique and evoke the readers’ interest. Jones compares the larynx with the wings of a bird and tries to show that we can not exist without larynx like a bird can not fly without her wings:
at our core, where lip-like
folds stretch across the vestibule,
small and though, they flutter,
bend like birds’ wings finding
just the right angle to stay
airborne; here the cords arch
in the hollow of this (Sciezke 23).
Despite the fact that the poem sounds rather serious, the author avoids capital letters, complete sentences, and strict punctuation in order to make this verse not very strict, but rather understandable. Due to this fact, even those who do not specialize in medicine can read this poem and understand its main idea. One more important thing is that the poem does not have a rhyme and this creates some particular rhythm. Actually, it depends upon the reader what rhythm should be applied while reading this poem. The poem contains some medical terms which help the readers to understand Jones’s occupation and speech and sometimes informal tone provides a glimpse of her status and personality. The poem is written in a medical language that is rich in metaphorical perspective. Particular words, sounds, and tone of the poem turn out to be more evocative. Due to such poems like The Larynx and authors like Alice Jones, modern literature is enlarged with new works and tendencies.
References
Sciezske, Jon. Science Verse. USA: Viking, 2007. 23
Yip, Moria Jean Winsland. Tone. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002. 96