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    A Study Guide for Louise Bogan's "Song for the Last Act"
    A Study Guide for Louise Bogan's "Song for the Last Act"
    A Study Guide for Louise Bogan's "Song for the Last Act"
    Ebook33 pages22 minutes

    A Study Guide for Louise Bogan's "Song for the Last Act"

    By Gale and Cengage

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    About this ebook

    A Study Guide for Louise Bogan's "Song for the Last Act," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Poetry for Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Poetry for Students for all of your research needs.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCengage Learning - Gale
    Release dateSep 28, 2016
    ISBN9781535833592
    A Study Guide for Louise Bogan's "Song for the Last Act"

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      Book preview

      A Study Guide for Louise Bogan's "Song for the Last Act" - Gale

      11

      Song for the Last Act

      Louise Bogan

      1968

      Introduction

      Louise Bogan's Song for the Last Act was written in 1948, according to the biography Louise Bogan's Aesthetic of Limitations by Gloria Bowles, though it was not published until Bogan's 1968 collection The Blue Estuaries: Poems 1923–1968. It is one of Bogan's best-known poems, showcasing her heart and intellect, her customary technical precision, and her free use of natural imagery. The poem combines sorrow and hope, giving readers a sense of how an artistic eye can come away from a bad situation, such as a shattered relationship, with a stronger sense of self and an appreciation for the world.

      The situation described in the poem conveys the bittersweet memories a person has after a relationship is over. In each stanza, Bogan describes things she remembers about the person she was with: details that might have given her a sense that things were not well, and, finally, details that show her that the past is over and that she is ready to move on.

      Though she seldom published, creating only three books of original works in a career that spanned the 1920s to the 1960s, Bogan's name is familiar to poets across the United States. She was the poetry critic for the New Yorker for nearly forty years, a prestigious position that put her in contact with the best writers of the twentieth century and made her the focus of generations of aspiring poets.

      The Blue Estuaries: Poems 1923–1968 has gone through several printings since its first appearance, most recently in a 1999 edition by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

      Author Biography

      Bogan was born on August 11, 1897, in Livermore Falls, Maine. She spent her early years in turmoil. Her father, Daniel Bogan, was a clerk in the local paper mill. Her mother, Mary, displayed erratic

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